Bestsellers And Exogenous Shock

OK, it has nothing to do with Wi-Fi or computer security, but it's still interesting: a complex systems theorist at my alma mater applied statistical physics to understand movement of books on the Amazon bestsellers list. What he found was that large increases in sales volume followed "exogenous shocks", such as a positive review in a major newspaper.
I think I found this most interesting because it mirrors the behavior of the Corriente website: we normally move along with a steady stream of visitors until we get a spike in traffic due to a mention on a prominent news site. Now we've got a name for it — "Hey, the website is getting an exogenous shock!"
via Scott Loftesness
By Chris on December 22, 2004 11:22 AM |