Jonah Berger on why products and ideas become contagious

Jonah Berger is the James G. Campbell Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. His research has been published in top-tier academic journals, and popular accounts of his work have appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Wired, Fast Company and many other great publications.

In his new book Contagious: Why Things Catch On (Amazon affiliate link), Jonah explores the secret science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission. In other words, he explains what makes things popular, 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.

Recently he gave a presentation at Google where he shared key points from his book and drawing on his research, he explains that there are six key steps that make products or ideas contagious. Those “STEPPS” — Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, and Stories — will help any product or idea spread like wildfire.

The presentation’s duration is around 30 minutes (with a nice 10 minutes Q&A session). Trust me, I know how valuable your time is, and I can tell you that watching these 40 minutes is most definitely worth it.

Enjoy!

Jonah Berger | “Contagious: Why Things Catch On”

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