So there may not be any side kicks to the ribs......

Still, we're looking forward to the upcoming "Word of Mouth Marketing - How it Works and the Role of Influencers" WebCast this Wednesday.

From our first reading of The Tipping Point years ago, we've been interested in the notion of "influencers" and, lately, the divergent thought, data and debate that's grabbing headlines. This webcast will feature various participants, including...

...in one corner...Ed Keller, CEO of the Keller Fay Group, President of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), co-author of the landmark book The Influentials: One American in 10 who tells the other nine how to vote, where to eat and what to buy, and someone whom I both like and respect.

...and in another corner...Duncan Watts, a sociology professor of Columbia University, Yahoo! Research guy, and author and expert on social networks. Duncan's been poo-poo'ing some of the conventional wisdom of influence and taken aim -- or at least AdAge did -- at Malcolm Gladwell whose work helped popularize the concept.

Duncan Watts is a proponent of a theory he's calling "big seed marketing" which "blends viral-marketing tools with old-fashioned mass media in a way that yields far more predictable results than 'purely' viral approaches like word-of-mouth marketing," according to this HRB piece.

Well, sure. More is more. And viral marketing -- as a standalone tactic -- is misunderstood. Nevermind that peeling off any single marketing discipline from an overall mix, and trying to attach a specific return on investment isn't a cat that's truly skinnable. The discussion should be fascinating.

You can register, too.