I Have Definitely Caught The Bug

Book Title: Contagious Why Things Catch On
Author: Jonah Berger
Length: 256 pages
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Price: $18.89

I Have Definitely Caught The Bug
by: Claire White

I share certain secrets so I can look like an insider, I go to exclusive restaurants to look like I am higher up in society and I even make sure my clothes give off the vibe that I am a special person. Everyone does this, and now I understand why. We are a walking example of what Berger calls "social currency." This is an essential reason of why things catch on. Berger explains that word of mouth, just like sharing a secret to make yourself look like an insider, is crucial for things to start catching on. 

Jonah Berger is the Associate Marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and even teaches a class called Contagious: How Products, Behavious and Ideas Catch On which is centered around his book. Berger has also been published in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, BusinessWeek and more. (http://bit.ly/1cpiPmT)

In this book, Berger plainly states why things "catch on" and start trending. How something so horrible like the "Gangnam Style" song or even a distasteful ad never leaves our minds.

Now in my daily life as a student studying public relations, or just someone listening to music in my car, I completely understand why things go viral after reading this interesting novel. This book has definitely given me more insight to what I will experience when I graduate.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning why certain things start trending, especially people in the marketing, advertising or public relations field. The "recipe" Berger explains will help me in my career and I am sure it will help many more as well.

photo credit: causeweremen.com
photo credit: business insider.com

What He Said She Said

Book: Contagious

Author: Jonah Berger

Length: 256 pages

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Price: $12.20 at Barnes & Noble

What He Said She Said

by: Dusti Gasparovic

                                      

Jonah Berger, in his book Contagious claims it's not who is saying the message but the content of the message that creates a contagion. This is in rebuttal to Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point, which theorizes that people of influence are what make simple ideas contagious. Like any disease, Contagious exemplifies the ways in which ideas ‘trend,’ or go viral.

 Berger is the Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Pennsylvania. His highly publicized and credible theories and research about how something goes viral have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and more.  

http://jonahberger.com/author-bio/

            Berger writes about the, often times overlooked, powerful influence of ordinary people. Some of the best recommendations travel by word of mouth. Even Facebook, though it falls under the category of  “Social Media,” is essentially a virtual focus group that allows people to pass news to other users.  Berger suggests it’s the personalized comments from people that make a statement “trend,” adding a human element to the factual information. 

I don’t necessarily believe Berger’s theory cancels Gladwell’s; I think the two theories directly correlate. It is the content of the message and the people of power that take an idea and make it viral. Yes, the quality of the message is important. If a weak, misinformed, irrelevant or outdated message is produced it doesn’t stand much chance of going viral, unless a person of influence draws attention to it. A person of influence’s opinion on even a weak message becomes a message in and of itself.  I think when person graduates to a person of influence, their message goes viral as well. Ted Talk’s suggest it is people of influence, unexpectedness and participation that make something viral. This takes both Berger’s and Gladwell’s theories into account and suggests they both influence how and what goes viral. If the content of the message is unexpected, if people participate by spreading the message or a person influence comments on the idea, there is a good change of the idea will be contagious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpxVIwCbBK0

I would recommend this book to any aspiring entrepreneurs, business or marketing professionals. There are interesting theories supported by reliable research about how to make an idea or business a success. I would also recommend reading this book alongside The Tipping Point and using both concepts hand-in-hand to make your idea contagious.