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Business. Sociology. Nonfiction. HTML:The New York Times bestseller that explains why certain products and ideas become popular. "Jonah Berger knows more about what makes information 'go viral' than anyone in the world." �??Daniel Gilbert, author of the bestseller Stumbling on Happiness What makes things popular? If you said advertising, think again. People don't listen to advertisements, they listen to their peers. But why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? Why are some stories and rumors more infectious? And what makes online content go viral? Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger has spent the last decade answering these questions. He's studied why New York Times articles make the paper's own Most E-mailed list, why products get word of mouth, and how social influence shapes everything from the cars we buy to the clothes we wear to the names we give our children. In Contagious, Berger reveals the secret science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission. Discover how six basic principles drive all sorts of things to become contagious, from consumer products and policy initiatives to workplace rumors and YouTube videos. Learn how a luxury steakhouse found popularity through the lowly cheesesteak, why anti-drug commercials might have actually increased drug use, and why more than 200 million consumers shared a video about one of the most boring products there is: a blender. Contagious provides specific, actionable techniques for helping information spread�??for designing messages, advertisements, and content that people will share. Whether you're a manager at a big company, a small business owner trying to boost awareness, a politician running for office, or a health official trying to get the word out, Contagious will show you how to make your product or idea cat… (more)
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The book focuses on the reasons why things stick through the six elements of the STEPPS model presented in the book:
Social Currency - we share things that make us look good
Triggers - Top of mind, tip of tongue
Emotion - When we care, we share
Public - Built to show, built to grow
Practical Value - News people can use
Stories - Information travels under the guise of idle chatter
The thing that I really liked about this books is that the author presents practical examples of why things work and why they do not. It makes it into a translatable model that anyone can use.
The research is fantastic and it has a lot of great examples throughout. Well worth the read.
Reader received a complimentary copy from Good Reads First Reads
Very readable book with lots of examples and stories to explain his points.
Berger develops what he terms his STEPPS process by which some things become extremely popular: Social currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical value, and Stories. Using a variety of examples of things that go "viral," Berger uses his STEPPS to explain how "virality" occurs, even with things that would seem to be self defeating, such as a restaurant that succeeds because (or despite the fact that) it offers a $100.00 Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich; a hot-dog eatery that has access to a "secret" club (through an old wooden phone booth), and so forth.
The book is accessible, intelligent and witty; I would not really put it on a level with Gladwell's The Tipping Point, however. An interesting read.
I thank Simon and Schuster, as well as Jonah Berger, for awarding me with this Goodreads giveaway copy of [book:Contagious: Why Things Catch
Berger's weaving of business, psychology and marketing strategies make for such a captivating read, and the concepts of which are truly contagious in themselves. I found myself unable not to share the things I was learning. Plus, I was further compelled to actually set the book aside and look up some of the companies, commercials and viral videos that the author was talking about as I continued to read along. Any book that makes you want to dive even deeper into other resources can be labeled as truly inspiring.
I would read this book if you have an interest in any of the areas or fields that I mentioned. If you are an independent seller of anything, I would grab this book and soak up all that it has for you. If you have been in business for a long time, I would not hesitate to pick this up and see if it has anything new. Jonah has written this book in a way that literally anyone from any walk of life can understand and appreciate, and yet the information in this book is priceless and can be tied back in to so many complex concepts and theories. Even if professionally this book doesn't appeal to you, it still serves as an inside look into the industries that surround and bombard us with so many words and visuals on a daily basis. It can ultimately serve as a tool in navigating our world of prices, sales and advertising that seems so often to have the upper hand.
Jonah Berger ventures into answering those questions in his book Contagious: Why Things Catch On. After identifying six elements that help ideas stick, Berger walks through examples of each element, giving almost a history of viral information. The book is a quick, accessible read that answers many questions readers might have, with a few really surprising bits of information thrown in (the one that really got me was in the epilogue). Though once you've read them, most of the elements Berger identifies seem like common sense, Contagious is still enjoyable.
In this book Jonah Berger looks at why things catch on. A look at his credentials and there is no doubt that he did the research he describes and that his theories are sound. Not only sound, but surprisingly interesting and delivered in a concise and often humorous manner. Even someone who has never studied marketing (ME) understood and enjoyed this book. The scariest thing about reading this little book? I came to realize just how gullible I am when it comes to advertising and media. It’s a bit of an eye-opener!
The book did feel a bit short, and more advanced marketers might not find enough content here. However, as someone who dabbles in marketing, I definitely walked away satisfied.
Berger attempts to provide a coherent and comprehensive theoretical treatment. He defines several essential and mutually exclusive qualities of communication that might effectively communicate with potential customers. In the last chapter, he brings these qualities together to show why certain online communications work or didn’t work. He provides illustrations from history (or more accurately, builds his theory from historical examples). These stories not only convey his point; they also provide a context and a story that persuades the reader that he knows what he’s talking about.
This work will certainly appeal to marketers and to communicators, but it can also appeal to people (like me) who are interested in how the computer and the Internet are transforming the way we live. This book could not have been written in the early 1990s, but is essentially a foundation of marketing theory today. Berger teaches us that theory should not lag behind practice too much. He gives us a first draft of what that theory might look like. In so doing, he teaches us how we can draw a good audience for the work that is our lives.
Berger attempts to provide a coherent and comprehensive theoretical treatment. He defines several essential and mutually exclusive qualities of communication that might effectively communicate with potential customers. In the last chapter, he brings these qualities together to show why certain online communications work or didn’t work. He provides illustrations from history (or more accurately, builds his theory from historical examples). These stories not only convey his point; they also provide a context and a story that persuades the reader that he knows what he’s talking about.
This work will certainly appeal to marketers and to communicators, but it can also appeal to people (like me) who are interested in how the computer and the Internet are transforming the way we live. This book could not have been written in the early 1990s, but is essentially a foundation of marketing theory today. Berger teaches us that theory should not lag behind practice too much. He gives us a first draft of what that theory might look like. In so doing, he teaches us how we can draw a good audience for the work that is our lives.