About the Book:

From Facebook to Twitter, How Today's Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves

Here's something you may not know about today's Internet. Simply by designing your product the right way, you can build a flourishing business from scratch. No advertising or marketing budget, no need for a sales force, and venture capitalists will flock to throw money at you.

This book examines the spread of "virals" – ads, films and emails that get forwarded by so many poeple that they become global phenomenoms – and how they have become the business model for some of today's most celebrated companies. They are prime examples of what journalist Adam L. Penenberg calls a Viral Loop – to use it, you have to spread it. After all, what's the sense of being on Facebook if none of your friends are? The result: Never before has there been the potential to create wealth this fast, on this scale, and starting with so little.

All kinds of businesses – from the smallest start-ups to nonprofit organizations to the biggest multinational corporations – can use the paradigm-busting power of viral loops to enable their business through technology. Viral Loop is a must-read for any entrepreneur or business interested in uncorking viral loops to benefit their bottom line.

What people say:

"Adam Penenberg's lively book opens a window to all of our futures." — Ken Auletta, author of Googled: The End of the World as We Know It

"If you want to understand all things viral, this is the place to start. Penenberg's reporting gives us a ringside seat for some of the biggest viral success stories in history, from Tupperware to Ning." — Dan Heath, co-author of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

"One of the most astounding things about the Web age is how the best advertising is often no advertising at all. Penenberg masterfully explains how this works with case studies of products that were designed to spread. Every product can use a dose of this technique; this is the book to get to learn how." — Chris Anderson, author of Free: The Future of a Radical Price

"In tight, engaging prose, Adam captures the essence of the ever-scaling power of the virus. It's not just for geeks anymore." — Seth Godin, author of Tribes

"Penenberg has unlocked the secret to the most successful digital businesses. An indispensable read." — Robert Safian, Editor-in-Chief, Fast Company

"Instead of entrusting your business to a guru with an agenda and a ghostwriter, you should be turning to a pro journalist like Adam Penenberg, who understands the way media and money interact, has the critical faculty to engage with these phenomena in an unbiased fashion, and the technical facility to explain them to you in an entirely engaging, informative, and actionable way." — Douglas Rushkoff, author of Media Virus and Life Inc.

About the Author:

Adam L. Penenberg is a journalism professor and assistant director of the Business and Economic Program at New York University. A contributing writer to Fast Company, he has also written for Inc., Forbes, The New York Times, Slate, Wired, The Economist, and Mother Jones. He lives in Brooklyn.