Name: Contagious
ISBN: 9781451686586

Jonah Berger

Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Creative Homeowner,

Why Things Catch On

Contagious

Explains why some products and ideas go "viral," citing the roles of word-of-mouth promotion and the Internet.

Ember Skies

A fascinating look at why things go viral and how to make that happen for yourself, marketing budget or no. Very informative, interesting and useful, not only for those looking to market themselves or an idea, but also those looking to be more interesting story-tellers.

Keven Wang

Jonah belongs in the same conversation with Chip and Dan Heath

Kimber Severance 

Lots of really great discourse on virality and how it works with some actionable things to help you actually do the things the book talks about.

Arturo Hernández

The overall plot of "Contagious" aims to resolve the question: Can you make any product or service something viral? Jonah provides a six step framework that attempts to answer that, he calls it STEPPS. Similarly to "Invisible influence", you realize that reading Jonah is liking taking a short Marketing class full of interesting concepts and great examples. The book is short however applicable and quite straight forward. Nice read.

Nelson Zagalo

This is a book about marketing, but not only that, it talks about a myriad of things that make us click. 

Jonah Berger, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania, wanted to understand what makes things goes viral. He started tracking the most e-mailed articles from the New York Times, and between August 2008 and February 2009, his team tracked more than 7,500 articles. With this they had plenty of data to work upon.

The book starts with this study, but develops, supported by other studies and also marketing results and stories, into the 6 criteria Berger believes to be the essence of virality. 

The interesting part of this work, and which makes it interesting for people outside the marketing domain, is that it was not merely concentrated in finding out, what people like, or why they like what they like. The real important point here, is that Berger was looking for, why people share. This means to ask, what makes people act, what makes people take a step, move out of their comfort zone. 

The research then states six criteria for this,

1. Social Currency 
2. Triggers 
3. Emotion 
4. Public 
5. Practical Value 
6. Stories 

Because I intend to write more thoroughly about the book, in my portuguese blog, I’ll end my review here. As an overview, the book is well written, interesting, albeit repetitive here and there for people that works with these subjects. However it’s a valuable contribution.

Extended review: http://virtual-illusion.blogspot.pt/2...

ANDREW BRYK

A lot of basic arguments that I have heard before but I really liked the evidence that he brought to prove his points. Very quick read.

Mary Baldwin

Jonah Berger sets out to do what every author desires - he's written a book on a topic he is passionate about which is both useful to experts and accessible to newbies. Not only that but the book is beatifully structured, well referenced and nicely caught between an engaging introduction and a useful summary.

If you are interested in human behaviour, quirky sucess stories and what makes one concept a success over it's peers - you'll enjoy the clean narative and featured examples. If you are a brand manager or marketing professional you'll see a no nonesense breakdown of Jonah's recipe for viral success. You will likely have heard of most; if not all of the ingredients - but presented in this easy to follow format you'll find them increasingly meaningful and easy to apply.

It's all very well to say something is 'just common sense' but it's another thing entirely to turn that into a strategic position.

One of the major positives here is that Social Media and Traditional maketing are not considered mutually exclusive. In these times when marketing budgets are dwindling, it's inevitable that the reliance on Viral SMM will be on the up. But as Jonah shows, the two go hand in hand.

Jonah present his recipe for 'sharing success' through the following steps:

-Social Currency, do we share something because of how it reflects on us?
-Triggers, does top of mind mean tip of tongue?
-Emotion, when we're moved are we more likely to share? How does 
 arousal impact our desire to talk about something?
-Public, if it's on show will it grow more? 
-Practical, something useful is worth passing on
-Stories, if there's a tale, the idea will carry with it.


You'll need a notepad and pen as you read the book; and you won't be able to resist looking up every youtube video referenced as you go through. It's easy to see why the example ideas/products have been so successful as it's impossible not to share their stories with your friends. Above that, the stories so well illustrate the STEPPS, that the information is effortlessly retainable and reusable.

Whether or not you intend to apply any of the principles in the book, you'll learn something new and enjoy the read. Useful non-fiction that reads like fiction. What more could you want.

Magdalene Lim

One of those books that are good to know but probably not so useful in coming up with the next big viral hit. Sure, there are common factors between each viral success but there's also another thing in common - they weren't borne out of knowing the STEPP method prescribed in this book. If anything, I enjoyed learning the origins of certain stories such as Movember: changing the face of men's health.

Brajendra V Singh

I just stumbled upon this book the other day and I thought it was related to the current pandemic issue. Little did I know it was an entirely different thing! And boy did I like it! I finished the audible version in a day. 
This book is filled with brilliant examples of why certain things qualify of being viral or contagious. It’s a light read with tons of such examples.

Contagious Why Things Catch On

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