Network buzz and pull

Abstract

Those of us who follow the fortunes of business, media, and popular culture frequently hear expressions of awe and wonder at the scale of successes and failures today. Nowadays, a product, book, film, music group, or celebrity that is acclaimed to be a hit is not merely a modest success but often grandiosely so. Conversely, failures are no longer “passable” failures as in the old days, but usually abject and abysmal flops. Coke C2 (two-calorie cola) was such a flop — it barely registered a ripple on the sea of new products that are launched each year. In contrast, consider the blockbuster success of the Apple iPod, the Dyson vacuum cleaner, The Da Vinci Code, the Arctic Monkeys rock group, or the Harry Potter series. It is reported that the iPod has an unbelievable 75 percent market share in the MP3 player market — this despite the existence of several worthy competing brands that offer the same or better functionality at a much cheaper price. The Da Vinci Code reportedly has sold 40 million copies worldwide as well as being translated into dozens of foreign languages!