Is it possible to assess individuals in such a way that will allow us to predict whether or not they will have a wide range of Weak Ties, lots of Bridging Capital and are likely to make Status Bargains? We have found a way...
ACTIVE is an acronym. It stands for: Ahead in Adoption, Connected, Traveller, Information Hungry, Vocal and Exposed to Media. We have used ACTIVE as part of both our qualitative and quantitative research as a way of gauging the extent to which people have Weak Ties, Bridging Capital and are likely to make Status Bargains.

Ahead in Adoption does not necessarily mean being at the bleeding edge, but just ahead in relative terms. Not the classic early adopters but certainly ahead of the mainstream.

Connected means having lots of connections, but it's important that there is a range of them, linking individuals with many different types of people.

Traveller means physically having more frequent contact with other countries, their people and most importantly their ideas and perspectives. Travel also takes place digitally, and people who demonstrate this behaviour travel online both literally (finding out about other countries) and metaphorically (exploring a wide range of sites and communities in order to find information).

Information Hungry people always want to learn more, they are constantly seeking out and exchanging new facts and ideas.

Being Vocal does not necessarily mean you are loud and domineering; it's about being keen to discuss your thoughts and to share information and experiences.

Exposed to Media, refers to people who are voracious consumers of mass media, particularly 'pull media' like print or the internet.

Though the individual elements that make up the acronym had long been discussed with reference to influence and word of mouth they were first pulled together by Emmanuel Rosen in his book The Anatomy of Buzz.

For us, ACTIVE is a way of checking that an individual has the necessary requirements to be influential. We believe that ACTIVE lays the foundations for an abundance of Weak Ties, above average Bridging Capital and a willingness to make Status Bargains. People whose behaviour matches the qualities described by ACTIVE are much more likely to possess our three key influencer traits.

Why? To understand that we need to look at each component in more detail. Individually they do not lead to an ability to propagate word of mouth, but cumulatively they create the right conditions. The effectiveness of ACTIVE as a measure of influence was tested during the research and the results confirmed the validity of using the metric as a way of identifying influential people.

Experts in the field agreed that when combined these elements are good indicators of an increased ability to spread word of mouth and therefore a good way of identifying influential individuals. As Ivan Palmer of Wildfire says, "all of these are strong indicators".