Contagious Why Things Catch On

Journal of Marketing
75 (January), 46–59. See
also 
http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/27/social-proof-why-people-like-to-follow-the-crowd
.
Millions of people use these sites:
 Eridon, Corey (2011), “25 Billion Pieces of Content Get Shared
on 
Facebook 
Monthly,” 
Hubspot 
Blog
, 
December 
2,

---

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/29407/25-Billion-Pieces-of-Content-Get-Shared-on-
Facebook-Monthly-INFOGRAPHIC.aspx
.
The actual number is 7 percent:
 This book provides a really nice perspective on the importance of
face-to-face word of mouth: Keller, Ed, and Brad Fay (2012), 
The Face-to-Face Book: Why Real
Relationships Rule in a Digital Marketplace
(New York: Free Press).
Close to two hours a day:
 See 
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10421016-93.html
.
the average tweet:
Arthur, Charles (2009), “Average Twitter User has 126 Followers, and Only
20% 
of 
Users 
Go 
via 
Website,” 
The 
Guardian
, 
March 
29,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/jun/29/twitter-users-average-api-traffic
.
offline discussions are more prevalent:
When thinking about whether online or offline word of
mouth will be more effective, also think about where the desired action is taking place. If you’re
trying to get people to check out a website, then online word of mouth is great because the desired
action is only a click away. The same thing is true with offline products or behaviors. Online word
of mouth about pasta sauce is great, but people need to remember to buy it when they’re actually in
the store, so offline word of mouth may be even better. Also think about whether and where people
do research before they buy. While most people buy a car offline, they do a lot of research online
and may make their decision before they ever step into the dealership. In those instances, online
word of mouth may sway their decision.
Only 
one-third 
of 
1 
percent:
 
See 
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2009-05-
20/tech/30027787_1_tubemogul-videos-viral-hits
.
“by the efforts”:
Gladwell, Malcolm (2000), 
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a
Big Difference
(New York: Little, Brown).
“one in 10 Americans”:
Keller, Ed, and Jon Berry (2003), 
The Influentials: One American in Ten
Tells the Other Nine How to Vote, Where to Eat, and What to Buy
(New York: Free Press).
making things go viral:
Right now there is little good empirical evidence that people who have more
social ties or who are more persuasive have a bigger impact on what catches on. See Bakshy,
Eytan, Jake Hofman, Winter A. Mason, and Duncan J. Watts (2011), “Everyone’s an Influencer:
Quantifying Influence on Twitter,” 
Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Web
Search and Data Mining
, Hong Kong; see also Watts, Duncan J., and Peter S. Dodds (2007),
“Networks, Influence, and Public Opinion Formation,” 
Journal of Consumer Research
34, no. 4,
441–58. Think about the last story someone told you that you passed on. Did you share it because
the person who told you was really popular? Or because the story itself was so funny or surprising?
Think about the last news article someone sent you that you forwarded on to someone else. Did you
pass it along because the person who sent it was particularly persuasive? Or because you knew
someone else would be interested in the information the story contained? In these and most other
cases, the driving force behind word of mouth is the message, not the messenger.