Mavens are information specialists, people we rely upon to connect us with new information. They accumulate knowledge, and know how to share it with others.
The term maven was inspired by the book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell. He defines a tipping point as “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point.” The book seeks to explain and describe the “mysterious” sociological changes that mark everyday life.
As Gladwell states, “Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do.” Here is his definition of Mavens: “information specialists”, or “people we rely upon to connect us with new information.” They accumulate knowledge, especially about the marketplace, and know how to share it with others. Gladwell cites Mark Alpert as a prototypical Maven who is “almost pathologically helpful”, further adding, “he can’t help himself”. In this vein, Alpert himself concedes, “A Maven is someone who wants to solve other people’s problems, generally by solving his own”.
According to Gladwell, Mavens start “word-of-mouth epidemics” due to their knowledge, social skills, and ability to communicate. As Gladwell states, “Mavens are really information brokers, sharing and trading what they know”.
Gina Katigbak and David Galvin called our site DanceMaven to share our love of dance, share our accumulated information, and create a community of dance lovers across the world.