The Tipping Point

These are the outcomes from our seminar group’s brainstorming session on “The Tipping Point”

I then had to go on to reflect on what had been discussed during our group's discussions and think about issues more in-depth. I chose to look at how design can use the chapter "The Law of the Few" to help tip a product/ social trend/ social behavior.

I looked at social networking and how online networks are used by organizations to build trust and raise awareness of products and movements, how and where advertising is used to bring about change and what additional impact would advertising have made when it wasn't used but could have been.

My thoughts turned to how social networking can be used to push forward an agenda, in the recent case of Twitter being used to debate and defend the NHS from US Republicans branding it as "evil" and "Orwellian".

This led me on to thinking about the Iran Twitter revolution. In June this year when there was opposition protests in Iran the world was kept up to date in real time from a small group of Iranian bloggers and hackers who posted updates minute-by-minute. As the Iranian authorities shut down telephone networks and stopped foreign news channels reporting from Tehran they were slow to realize students were using Twitter and YouTube to reach a worldwide audience with the latest news. By portraying the turmoil in Tehran this way it sparked a solidarity movement, which spread across the web.

How could graphic design use advertising and social networking to help tip the Iran twitter movement so it was recognized not only online but in the general public. One of the most successful twitter reporters, TehranBureau, who was seen by the Iranian authorities as a major threat, and who had his website shut down only had 20, 934 followers on Twitter which isn't very many on a global scale. With Iran arresting foreign reporters and limiting news getting out, Twitter was a vital part of keeping contact with the rest of the world.

But it could of been bigger.

I have created a mind map/ poster to collect and organize my thoughts.