Contagious: Why Things Catch On – by Jonah Berger

Think about the last thing you saw #online that you immediately shared – #YouTube video, #NYTimes article, #meme, etc. What made you want to share that? What exactly was your motivation?

Jonah Berger, a #marketing professor at the Wharton, studies how #social #influence shapes the decisions we make and why some things go viral, and others don’t. In Contagious, he outlines six factors that help make things go viral:

Social Currency – how much social value do I gain by sharing this?
Triggers – what internal or external cues will be associated with this?
Emotion – what does this make me feel?
Public – do I see people using this in the real world?
Practical Value – what value am I getting out of this?
Stories – what narrative can be latched onto this?

This #book essentially picks up where Malcolm Gladwell’s “Tipping Point” left off, showing how ideas catch on in the digital age. The next time you create something with the hope of it spreading, take some time to strategize over how or why someone would be #inspired to share it.