Outside the Beltway

THE INFLUENTIALS

James Joyner · Wednesday, November 19, 2003 · 8 comments

First there were the Brights, now we have The Influentials.

Craig Henry is dubious about a new(ish) book entitled, The Influentials: One American in Ten Tells the Other Nine How to Vote, Where to Eat, and What to Buy.

The book’s premise seems reasonable enough:

Who are they? The most influential Americans — the ones who tell their neighbors what to buy, which politicians to support, and where to vacation — are not necessarily the people you’d expect. They’re not America’s most affluent 10 percent or best-educated 10 percent. They’re not the “early adopters,” always the first to try everything from Franco-Polynesian fusion cooking to digital cameras. They are, however, the 10 percent of Americans most engaged in their local communities…and they wield a huge amount of influence within those communities. They’re the campaigners for open-space initiatives. They’re church vestrymen and friends of the local public library. They’re the Influentials…and whether or not they are familiar to you, they’re very well known to the researchers at Roper ASW. For decades, these researchers have been on a quest for marketing’s holy grail: that elusive but supremely powerful channel known as word of mouth. What they’ve learned is that even more important than the “word” — what is said — is the “mouth” — who says it.

One of the reviewers from Amazon’s site summarizes the characteristics of Influentials and, amusingly, I more or less fit:

* They are two times more likely to buy online than the average consumer. They like the convenience. [check]

* They like to travel and tend to like to cook. [yep]

* They tend to be “tactical consumers,” who shop around to get the best deal. [yup]

* Influentials tend to be interested in news, politics, the environment, health, technology, and science. They focus upon important “substantive, meaty areas.” [Check, although not so much science]

* Influentials aren’t particularly interested in celebrities, sports, fashion or TV culture. (They don’t mind public television, because it’s educational.) [I like sports, but pretty much hate the rest of these things]

* They value learning and tend to have active minds. [Yep and, well, sort of]

* They’re not into bowling or extreme sports. [That’s for sure]

* Influentials feel they can control their destiny. [Debatable]

* 3 to 1, they would prefer to be entrepreneurs to top executives at big companies. [I’m neither, but would prefer the former]

* They don’t want to be extremely rich (not more so than non-influentials anyway). But, they want financial security. [Well, I’d like to be extremely rich, but it’s certainly not a life goal]

* Influentials were early adopters of IRA’s, 401(k), cell phones, and the Internet. [I was very late going on cell phones, but otherwise yes]

* Influentials read a lot, especially magazines and newspapers. [And blogs!]

Now, since I’m a super-duper Influential according to the checklist, one would think people would be flocking around asking for my advice on everything under the sun and copying my every move. So far as I can tell, that’s not the case.