How ideas spread

Via Pete Mandik, a Science News article summarizing a paper that suggests that "a critical mass of easily influenced individuals" is more important to the spread of ideas than superficially influential individuals. It's an interesting thought, though it's worth emphasizing that it's a purely theoretical paper. If I find the time (which I won't) I'll read the pre-print in hopes of getting a better idea of how well they did getting their theoretical ideas to match reality.