Berger, J. (2013). Contagious: Why things catch on. Simon and Schuster
Viral social media food trends have been on a roll since the corona virus isolated many of us at home with extra free time; dalgona coffee, pancake cereal, and garden art focaccia were just a few of the unexpected stars of the show. Jonah Berger’s Contagious: Why things catch on, attempts to explain why and how certain things spread like wildfire. I was drawn to this book because I was curious about the entertaining food trends playing out on my social media during the spring of 2020, and about how the viral spread of these trends related to my chosen information community of home cooks. Why did people all over the world suddenly want to make a loaf of bread shaped like a frog?
Berger would label this phenomenon a “social epidemic” or a “social contagion” and attempt to explain it using his six principles of contagiousness: social currency, triggers, emotion, public, practical value, and stories; which the author abbreviates to the acronym “STEPPS”.
The first principle, social currency, has a lot to do with keeping up with the Joneses. Humans, by nature, want to be seen as cultured, current, and interesting. Berger presents evidence that people are more likely to share information with others if that information makes them feel positively about themselves. In Berger’s own words, “Sharing extraordinary, novel, or entertaining stories or ads make people seem more extraordinary, novel, and entertaining” (p.39).
The second principle, triggers, deals with what we see every day. People are more likely to talk about or share something that is a constant presence in their life. Berger asserts that, although one might assume that Disney World is a more exciting topic of conversation than a box of Honey Nut Cheerios, the box of cereal actually gets talked about more often because eating cereal is a more common occurrence in the average American’s everyday life.
The third principle, emotion, is exactly what it sounds like. The tendency to pass something along to someone else is often governed by how it makes us feel. People are more likely to share something that produces the physiologically arousing feelings of awe, excitement, amusement, anger and anxiety. We are much less likely to want to pass along things that produce the less arousing feelings of contentment or sadness.
This brings us to the fourth principle, public; essentially, people will only repeat and share what they can see–monkey see, monkey do. Without photo-based social media platforms, there is likely no viral surge in frog-shaped bread. Public visibility is a key factor in information spread; in Berger’s terms, “If something is built to show, it’s built to grow” (p.127).
Practical value, the fifth principle, refers to the idea that most people like to feel helpful. When we share information that we believe is useful or beneficial to someone else, we get an endorphin boost from our own altruism.
Stories, the final principle, acknowledges the power and history of engaging narratives in interpersonal communication. Humans love a good yarn; we are more likely to absorb a moral lesson when it is wrapped up in an entertaining fable (e.g. “The Three Little Pigs). Likewise, we are more likely to accept a recommendation from a friend or acquaintance when it is couched within a personal story.
I propose that, although Berger’s theories are directed mostly towards the fields of marketing, and advertising, there is considerable correlation with our LIS literature. The author emphasizes that word of mouth is signicantly more effective than traditional advertising; this is mirrored in Fisher’s concept of “information grounds” (2015). Both theories draw on the idea that people readily absorb information while engaged in casual small-talk that is not perceived as information-seeking, or information-providing. Erdelez’s theory of “information encountering” (1999), is also very applicable to Berger’s ideas. While engaged in a casual conversation about something altogether different, important information can be inadvertently shared or “encountered”. Savolainen’s theories about ELIS also helps to explain Bergen’s evidence that people prefer to get information first-hand from someone they know and trust. Savolainen asserts that people tend “to favor human sources due to easy access to them and immediate feedback” (2017, p.1512).
While this book is advertised as being written for some readers who are simply interested in how and why things catch on, Berger’s primary focus seems to be advertisers, marketers, and business owners interested in applying his theories to boost their own brands. The author’s practical advice about how to increase the excitement or “contagiousness” generated by a particular ad or product could be used by library professionals looking to increase enrollment in programs, or to boost other library functions. I believe that his theories about the importance of person to person information sharing could also be used to tailor library search functions to be more targeted and effective. After all, marketing is essentially just persuasion, and can be applied with a broad brush.
By and large, I found “Contagious: Why things catch on” to be a breezy and entertaining read. Berger’s writing style is forward and accessible, occasionally to a fault; I found myself wanting more substance to back up his claims, I kept flipping to the notes in the back hoping for more data. My favorite sections of the book were the anecdotal examples, (e.g. The McRib, and the Livestrong bracelets) which felt meatier and more substantiated. The sections of the book that had fewer real-life examples often veered into repetition, and seemed to lean heavily on common-sense. I admit that I audibly groaned when Berger, discussing unrealistic female beauty standards as context for Dove soap’s advertising “Campaign for Real Beauty”, declared “This feeling of not living up to expectations even affects young girls” (p.191). Well, duh. This watered-down platitude rubbed me the wrong way and led me to wonder who this book was written for. One could argue that the author’s attempt to make his book accessible and widely read, perhaps even viral itself, also rendered it somewhat dilute.
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References
Erdelez, S. (1999). Information encountering: It’s more than just bumping into information. Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, 25(3), 25–29. https://doi-org.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/10.1002/bult.118
Fisher, K.E. & Bishop, A.P. (2015). Information communities: Defining the focus of information service. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: an introduction (pp. 20-26). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sjsu/detail.action?docID=2032756
Savolainen, R. (2017). Everyday Life Information Seeking. In J. McDonald, & M. Levine-Clark (Eds.), Encyclopedia of library and information sciences. (4th ed., pp.1506-1515). CRC Press. https://doi-org.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/10.1081/E-ELIS4
