Contagious: Why Things Catch on

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On the positive side, excite people or inspire them by showing them how they can make a difference. On the negative side, make people mad, not sad. 4. Public There are numerous other uninspiring moments in this book, similar to this. For example, in his discussion relating to "practical value", he instructs us that if you find a good Ethiopian restaurant, you are more likely to share your recommendation of it than you would had you had found a good American restaurant. The reason being you probably have many more friends who like American food than Ethiopian food; therefore, you will feel much more conviction to tell those fewer applicable friends about the Ethiopian restaurant. You simply know too many people who would be interested in American food to compel you to recommend the American restaurant. What an unremarkable observation. Blah. It's also research based, so that is a strength of the book. Chapter notes (at the end of the book) are similar to any sort of journal/text book that you may be used to. It breaks the chapters into sections, and allows one to further his or her reading. For this reason, it may be particularly useful in an education setting. The key to finding inner remarkability, says Berger, is to consider what makes something interesting, surprising, or novel. Contagious reveals the secret science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission. Discover how six basic principles drive all sorts of things to become popular. From consumer products and policy initiatives to B2B services and ideas and initiatives within organizations. If you’ve ever wondered why certain ideas get shared, brands get more word of mouth, or videos go viral, this book explains why. It provides a set of specific, actionable techniques for helping information spread—for designing messages, advertisements, and information that people will share. Whether you’re a manager at a big company, a small business owner trying to boost awareness, or a health official trying to get the word out, this book will show you how to make anything more contagious.

When it comes to public, this refers to how prevalent something is in the public eye. Things that are highly public and visible are more likely to be talked about and imitated than those that are more private. Nevertheless, there are ways to bring private phenomena into the public sphere. For example, donating to a charity tends to be a rather private affair. However, both the Movember movement in support of colon cancer (featuring the highly conspicuous mustache), and Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong campaign in support of cancer (featuring the yellow wrist-band), managed to bring charitable support into the public sphere, thus contributing to the success of these campaigns. People are inherently pro-social. Our social wiring is a fundamental aspect of the human psyche. This can be leveraged to help spread awareness in a concept Berger calls "social currency": The writing here is well done. Berger brings psychology and social psychology to bear here in his examination of what causes trends, products, and styles to hit their so-called "tipping points."Standing out in today’s market is harder than ever as advertising clutter projects 4,000 – 10,000 ads and brands at American consumers every day. But the most effective and prosperous ideas have been empowered and supported by one or more of the 6 STEPPS in some way. Leveraging good stories that are useful, engaging, and that drive value will help you and your product, idea, cause increase social influence and word-of-mouth transmission and propel it to be the next big thing. It’s possible to find the inner remarkability in any product or idea by thinking about what makes something stand out. Blendtec, for instance, was able to get millions of people talking about their products with a series of YouTube infomercials. ii. Leverage Game Mechanics Thus, it is important to think about context of the environment of the people you are trying to target: whether seasonal (candy corn and Halloween); geographic (cheesesteaks and Philadelphia). 3. Emotion – “When we care, we share” Public' factor)...you get the point -- these are just my examples; they weren't mentioned in the book - although they would have been good stories for Berger to include. 3) People can become emotional about why some things have become contagious - they can be in awe/angry over ideas and triggered to talk about what they have read in this book. 4) The book is "Public" - its cover is bright orange. Eyeballs will be attracted to it; curiosity will be aroused. 5) The topic attempts to explain a phenomenon of which an understanding would undoubtedly prove of great practical value, especially if you have something to sell/spread. Lastly, 6) it contains (attempts to contain) some entertaining stories to hopefully have a place in your memory prevalent enough for you to tell others about this book.

People do what they can see – “monkey see, monkey do”. So, they make choices based on what they see. People binge drink in college, because they see their peers doing the same. Observability plays a huge role in what products or ideas catch on. If the brand/concept can evoke emotions of anger or good will/ happiness (but note NOT sadness - since we don't want our friends/family to be sad and therefore are not inclined to share something likely to invoke sadness), then it has 'Emotion'. Why do some ideas seemingly spread overnight, while others disappear? How can some products become ubiquitous, while others never gain traction? Jonah Berger knows the answers, and, with Contagious, now we do, too.”— Charles Duhigg, author of the bestselling The Power of Habit You might also like to read Behind The Cloud Summary. Word of Mouth-The most important marketing strategyWhich gets to my second-to-last gripe. In the intro and conclusion he claims that he has used cutting-edge science to demonstrate to us how word of mouth, psychology of sharing, social influence, conformity, herd behavior work. In reality, he simply points out patterns of these behaviors. There is no "cutting-edge science" and disappointingly he tosses aside the wasted opportunity for meaningful analysis. He hasn't sufficiently explained the psychology behind any of the the "why's" that naturally arise from the reading (offering merely superficial explanations). Lastly, if a memorable story can be spun around it, then it has the added benefit of having a 'Story'. Jonah Berger has given us a very good read that builds on "Switch" and "The Tipping Point." In essence we are introduced to a means to put into practice what were simply observations in the Heath's and Gladwell's separate takes on how to influence others. Those of us who work across sectors in community are always trying to find the magic formula for engaging and moving our respective audiences to action. 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.