Quotes from the book "Contagious" - Jonah Berger
Few quotes I liked from my recent book "Contagious".
STEPPS model for virality:
In 2010, for example, there were almost 17,000 Olivias born in the US but only 492 Rosalies. It's always difficult to understand why some names catch fire and others don't.
Word of mouth tends to reach people who are actually interested in the thing being discussed.
One in 10 Americans tells the other nine how to vote, where to eat, and what to buy.
People share things that make them look good to others.
As the story gets transmitted from person to person, some details fall out and others are exaggerated. And it becomes more and more remarkable along the way.
Experts estimate that as many as 10 trillion frequent flier miles are sitting in accounts, unused. Enough to travel to the moon and back 19.4 million times.
Just like many other animals, people care about hierarchy. Apes engage in status displays and dogs try to figure out who is alpha. But status is inherently relational, Being the leader of the pack requires a pack, to do better than others.
After all, what good is status if no one else knows you have it?
The best results don't show up in a search engine, they show up in people's lives.
So rather than quoting statistics or providing information, we need to focus on feelings.
The way people actually make decisions often violates standard economic assumptions about how they should make decisions.
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