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.