'Contagious': Jonah Berger on Why Things Catch On Published : March 13, 2013 in Knowledge@Wharton If you have watched and shared PSY's "Gangnam Style" video or gone into an unknown restaurant simply because it was full of people and appeared to be popular, you have the basis for understanding what makes things go viral. In Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger 's new book, Contagious: Why Things Catch On, he identifies six principles that cause people to talk about and share an idea or product. Knowledge@Wharton recently sat down with Berger to learn more about his findings, including why people share cat memes, which organizations and individuals have conceived and implemented the most successful viral campaigns -- from Blendtec to 'Movember' -- and why making something contagious does not have to be expensive. An edited transcript of the conversation follows. Knowledge@Wharton: Jonah, thank you for being here today. Your book is all about what makes different products or ideas catch on. What do you think are the biggest misconceptions out there about why things go viral? Berger: The easiest place to start would be cats. [If you ask], "Why do things go viral?" people usually give one of two answers. They say, "Oh, it's random. It's luck. It's just chance." Or they say, "It's cats." If you look on the web, there are viral cat pictures, so it must be cats that drive things to go viral. There are definitely some cat things that become popular, but that really doesn't tell us anything about why most things go viral. It doesn't tell us why some cat videos are shared and others aren't, and it doesn't tell us why things that have nothing to do with cats go viral. It's like noticing that Bill Gates, Bill Cosby and Bill Clinton are all names that start with "Bill" and deciding to name your child Bill because that will make them famous. It's messing up correlation and causation. What the book is all about is teasing apart the luck and random stuff, with science, and actually trying to understand what makes people talk about and share things. Knowledge@Wharton: In the book, you actually outline a framework of six principles for why things catch on, using the STEPPS acronym. Can you describe those for us and discuss how you This is a single/personal use copy of Knowledge@Wharton. For multiple copies, custom reprints, e-prints, posters or plaques, please contact PARS International: reprints@parsintl.com P. (212) 221-9595 x407. All materials copyright of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Page 1 of 5 'Contagious': Jonah Berger on Why Things Catch On: Knowledge@Wharton (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=3206 )