Why do certain products, services, or stories go viral? How can we make our own work contagious?

These are questions Wharton Professor, Jonah Berger, answers in his bestselling book, Contagious: Why Things Catch On. In this fascinating interview, he explains his six-part framework and discusses the behaviors that drive us to make certain ideas, products, and services contagious.

In this episode you will learn:

how to apply these techniques to your own work

what made the video for a seemingly humdrum product - a blender - go viral

which emotions drive us to share and which ones do not

what makes us spread the word for free

why you might suffer from the curse of knowledge and how you can avoid it

the critical difference between social media and word of mouth

Jonah also gives us a peek into his upcoming book on all the ways social influence drives our behavior. Fascinating stuff!

Episode Links

Beta testing

Social psychology

STEPPS Framework

Hooked: How to Build Habit-forming Products 

Geico ad for Hump Day

Curse of knowledge

Trojan Horse

Social influence

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