Home > Work > Contagious: Why Things Catch On
1 " People don't think in terms of information. They think in terms of narratives. But while people focus on the story itself, information comes along for the ride. "
― Jonah Berger , Contagious: Why Things Catch On
2 " When we care, we share. "
3 " If something is built to show, it's build to grow. "
4 " Marketing is about spreading the love. "
5 " Harvard neuroscientists Jason Mitchell and Diana Tamir found that disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding. In one study, Mitchell and Tamir hooked subjects up to brain scanners and asked them to share either their own opinions and attitudes (“I like snowboarding”) or the opinions and attitudes of another person (“He likes puppies”). They found that sharing personal opinions activated the same brain circuits that respond to rewards like food and money. So talking about what you did this weekend might feel just as good as taking a delicious bite of double chocolate cake. "
6 " Useful things are important. People don’t just value practical information, they share it. Offering practical value helps make things contagious. "
7 " Making things more observable makes them easier to imitate, which makes them more likely to become popular. "
8 " Virality isn’t born, it’s made. "
9 " Word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20 percent to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions. "
10 " People don't need to be paid to be motivated. "
11 " Why does it matter if particular thoughts or ideas are top of mind? Because accessible thoughts and ideas lead to action. "
12 " most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the power of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. "
13 " In contrast to the notion that any publicity is good publicity, negative reviews hurt sales for some books. But for books by new or relatively unknown authors, negative reviews increased sales by 45%.... Even a bad review or negative word of mouth can increase sales if it informs or reminds people that the product or idea exists. "
14 " We need to design products and ideas that are frequently triggered by the environment and create new triggers by linking our products and ideas to prevalent cues in that environment. Top of mind leads to tip of tongue. "
15 " Even in cases where most people are doing the right thing, talking about the minority who are doing the wrong thing can encourage people to give in to temptation. "
16 " Research by the Keller Fay Group finds that only 7 percent of word of mouth happens online. "
17 " How does it make people look to talk about a product or idea? Most people would rather look smart than dumb, rich than poor, and cool than geeky. Just like the clothes we wear and the cars we drive, what we talk about influences how others see us. It’s social currency. Knowing about cool things—like a blender that can tear through an iPhone—makes people seem sharp and in the know. So to get people talking we need to craft messages that help them achieve these desired impressions. We need to find our inner remarkability and make people feel like insiders. We need to leverage game mechanics to give people ways to achieve and provide visible symbols of status that they can show to others. "
18 " It has been said that when people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate one another. We look to others for information about what is right or good to do in a given situation, and this social proof shapes everything from the products we buy to the candidates we vote for. The phrase ‘Monkey see, monkey do’ captures more than just our tendency to follow others. If people can’t see what others are doing, they can’t imitate them. So to get our products and ideas to become popular we need to make them more publicly observable "
19 " In fact, the messages actually seemed to increase drug use. Kids aged twelve and a half to eighteen who saw the ads were actually more likely to smoke marijuana. Why? Because it made drug use more public. Think about observability and social proof. Before seeing the message, some kids might never have thought about taking drugs. Others might have considered it but have been wary about doing the wrong thing. But anti-drug ads often say two things simultaneously. They say that drugs are bad, but they also say that other people are doing them. And as we’ve discussed throughout this chapter, the more others seem to be doing something, the more likely people are to think that thing is right or normal and what they should be doing as well. "
20 " Contagious content is like that—so inherently viral that it spreads regardless of who is doing the talking. "
