The Innovation Show Change: How to Make Big Things Happen with Damon Centola
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Aug 22, 2022 Damon Centola, a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of "Change: How to Make Big Things Happen," discusses the intricacies of social change. He reveals how social networks shape our responses to new ideas far more than mere viral contagion. Centola shares fascinating insights on collective action, emphasizing the importance of grassroots movements from the civil rights era to Black Lives Matter. He also explores how redundancy in connections can lead to effective behavior change, reshaping our understanding of innovation spread in the digital age.
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Complex Contagion Explains Behavior Spread
- Social behaviors spread through complex contagion, requiring social reinforcement from multiple sources.
- Networks effective for viral disease spread often hinder social behavior adoption, demanding new theories for social change.
Oprah's Twitter Adoption Misinterpreted
- Twitter's growth was grassroots, spreading neighborhood to neighborhood before influencer Oprah adopted it.
- Oprah adopted Twitter at its peak growth, showing influencers follow trends rather than initiate them.
Foundations of Network Science
- Network science emerged in the 1970s studying how information and behaviors spread through social ties.
- Weak ties often bridge social groups, enabling information like job opportunities to cross diverse networks.
