Ideas and opinions can often seem obscure, and only really start to spread when certain people spot how to express them in a way that is more interesting to others.
To be an effective influencer an individual must possess a higher than average amount of what we call Bridging Capital.
For the purposes of this project, Bridging Capital refers to an individual's ability to contextualise information in such a way as to make it interesting or comprehensible to individuals who would otherwise find it uninteresting or incomprehensible.
Someone with Bridging Capital, for example, might be able to make you see why it's worthwhile to take out a particular type of insurance or explain how an apparently obscure gadget is actually really relevant to your life.
Where does Bridging Capital come from? It's a combination of Social Capital and Cultural Capital.1
We define Social Capital as the size and diversity of a person's network and the interpersonal skills that a person learns as a consequence. People with more Social Capital have both a greater number of social connections and a more diverse range of people making up those connections. Meaning that they are naturally more frequent sharers and exchangers of information.
Cultural Capital is a learnt quality. People with high levels of Cultural Capital are defined as being very knowledgeable, on both mainstream and specialist subjects, and as having a better than average ability to communicate information as a result. Cultural Capital is a measure of the accumulated knowledge and experience an individual has gained through the course of their life that makes them a point of reference for others.
Together the connectivity ascribed by Social Capital and the knowledge and articulation that come from Cultural Capital create Bridging Capital. We feel that when these forms of capital are both present to a high level within the same person it places them in a unique position to influence others. They have access to a varied range of people to both give information to and receive it from. They also have a strong tendency to gather knowledge from other sources such as the media, travel and the internet. Coupled with this is the discursive and analytical ability that enables them to package and contextualise ideas for others. Once an idea has been packaged like this is becomes much easier for it to spread - it becomes memetic.2 This can happen equally to products, services or brands.
Individuals with high levels of Bridging Capital who are capable of re-packaging information in such a way that it becomes compelling, relevant and potentially memetic are key players when it comes to word of mouth and are therefore very valuable to brands and advertisers.
We define Social Capital as the size and diversity of a person's network and the interpersonal skills that a person learns as a consequence. People with more Social Capital have both a greater number of social connections and a more diverse range of people making up those connections. Meaning that they are naturally more frequent sharers and exchangers of information.
Cultural Capital is a learnt quality. People with high levels of Cultural Capital are defined as being very knowledgeable, on both mainstream and specialist subjects, and as having a better than average ability to communicate information as a result. Cultural Capital is a measure of the accumulated knowledge and experience an individual has gained through the course of their life that makes them a point of reference for others.
Together the connectivity ascribed by Social Capital and the knowledge and articulation that come from Cultural Capital create Bridging Capital. We feel that when these forms of capital are both present to a high level within the same person it places them in a unique position to influence others. They have access to a varied range of people to both give information to and receive it from. They also have a strong tendency to gather knowledge from other sources such as the media, travel and the internet. Coupled with this is the discursive and analytical ability that enables them to package and contextualise ideas for others. Once an idea has been packaged like this is becomes much easier for it to spread - it becomes memetic.2 This can happen equally to products, services or brands.
Individuals with high levels of Bridging Capital who are capable of re-packaging information in such a way that it becomes compelling, relevant and potentially memetic are key players when it comes to word of mouth and are therefore very valuable to brands and advertisers.
1 Sociologists among you may recognise Bridging, Social and Cultural Capital from the work of people like L.J Hanifan, Jane Jacobs and Pierre Bourdieu. While there is no defined meaning of any of these terms Bourdieu's usage is closest to our own. In his work with Jean-Claude Passeron, Cultural Reproduction and Social Reproduction, and his later book The Forms of Capital, Bourdieu broadly speaking defines Cultural Capital as the value that comes from experiences, knowledge and skills. He terms Social Capital as resources that are based on social connections, relationships and acquaintances and the membership of groups.
2 Meme and memetics are concepts introduced by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene. Memes are the intellectual equivalent of genes, units of thought or ideas which are structured to ensure that they spread from person to person. They do this best when there is an advantage to spreading the idea.
2 Meme and memetics are concepts introduced by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene. Memes are the intellectual equivalent of genes, units of thought or ideas which are structured to ensure that they spread from person to person. They do this best when there is an advantage to spreading the idea.