“In all sorts of markets—music, film, art, and politics—the future of popularity will be harder to predict as the broadcast power of radio and television democratizes and the channels of exposure grow.... The gatekeepers had their day. Now there are… — Derek Thompson Copy Share Image
“Posting dramatic charts or funny pictures is good and giving people smart reasons to believe what they already think is great.” — Derek Thompson Copy Share Image
“The trick is learning to frame your new ideas as tweaks of old ideas, to mix a little fluency with a little disfluency—to make… — Derek Thompson Copy Share Image
“Picking a few hits requires a tolerance for many bad ideas, mediocre ideas, and even good ideas cursed with bad timing. Above all, it… — Derek Thompson Copy Share Image
“Cultural products will spread faster and wider when everybody can see what everybody else is doing. It suggests that the future of many hit-making… — Derek Thompson Copy Share Image
“Imitating recent successes is a game that everybody knows how to play. But seeing the next big thing before anybody else sees it is… — Derek Thompson Copy Share Image
“The most important element in a global cascade isn’t magically viral elements or mystical influencers. Rather it is about finding a group of people… — Derek Thompson Copy Share Image
“His lullaby was an instant success not because it was incomparably original, but because it offered a familiar melody in an original setting.” — Derek Thompson Copy Share Image
“Some consumers buy products not because they are ‘better” in any way, but simply because they are popular. What they’re buying is not just… — Derek Thompson Copy Share Image
“It is the simplest phrase you can imagine,” Favreau said, “three monosyllabic words that people say to each other every day.” But the speech… — Derek Thompson Copy Share Image
“The line from psychologists is, if you’ve seen it before, it hasn’t killed you yet.” — Derek Thompson Copy Share Image
“People have all day to talk about what makes them ordinary. It turns out that they want to share what makes them weird.” — Derek Thompson Copy Share Image
“The mark of a good book is that you're happy to come home to it. The mark of a great book is that you… — Derek Thompson Copy Share Image
