Maven

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) spacecraft discovered that Mars has a magnetic tail.

Mars has an invisible magnetic “tail” that is twisted by interaction with the solar wind, according to new research using data from NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft.

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) spacecraft is in orbit around Mars gathering data on how the Red Planet lost much of its atmosphere and water, transforming from a world that could have supported life billions of years ago into a cold and inhospitable place today.

Tom is an Excel maven.

She is a fashion maven with a lot of influence.

Connectors know people—lots of people. Mavens know about things. They know, or find out first, what is going on. Connectors, says [Malcolm] Gladwell, need mavens to tell them what to buzz about.

Besides an executive sponsor, you need to find a technology maven, someone within the company who understands the new technology. A maven, as defined in Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point, is a person who has both information and the social skills to pass it along. The challenge in a situation such as this one is that the maven might be outside of IT.

The goal for any media company is to be a maven—and therefore highly adept at using multiple channels of social media communication well.