10% = majority?
According to a study by scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, once 10% of a population shares a common belief, that belief will be held by the majority of the population. The study’s model of how beliefs spread through a population showed an exponential increase of the rate of growth at 10%. “Specifically, we show that when the committed fraction grows beyond a critical value pc=10%, there is a dramatic decrease in the time Tc taken for the entire population to adopt the committed opinion.” In an effort to explain this phenomena, the study explains that people want to come to a consensus and dislike having a view they perceive as unpopular. Therefore, when a person encounters multiple people with this committed view, they are more likely to adopt the view.
This can be explained by the triadic closure property. We can say that people who share the committed belief have strong ties between them. When a person who does not share the belief forms a stronger tie to someone who holds the belief, they are more likely to form a connection with the third person they encounter because the two people hold the common belief. This helps the common belief spread, and explains the exponential increase in how fast the idea spreads. The more people there are to spread the belief, the more likely someone is to encounter two of them.
reference:
http://news.rpi.edu/luwakkey/2902