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Contagious: Why Things Catch On
Word of mouth is apparently ten times more effective compared to conventional advertising. In regards to this statement, Why are certain things talked about and shared highly compared to other things? Why do some products and ideas diffuse, and catch on more than others? Why does some online content go viral? The answers to such questions can only be found through proper research. Jonah Berger, a Wharton professor, has spent about a decade providing solutions to all these questions. In the book, Contagious, Berger exposes the secrets behind social transmission and science involved in word-of-mouth. There are several qualities that an article has to posses for it to be termed as a good research article. I believe some of these aspects have been covered by Berger’s Contagious. In this article, I will, therefore, discuss the qualities possessed by Contagious that makes it a good research article.
First of all, for an article to be termed as a useful research article, the researcher and or the authors have to show a sincere interest in their research. The answers to his research questions were provided by Berger after he completed his Ph.D. He spent more than ten years as a marketing professor in Wharton School doing studies related to the issues to be answered (Berger 16). The research was done by Berger along with a crew of incredible collaborators. Berger and group spent plenty of time coding and analyzing articles, product reviews, and YouTube videos. The efforts displayed by Berger shows a lot of dedication making the product of his work credible.
The presence of variables and constructs to be examined is a must-have for any credible research article. Berger and his collaborators did their research based on five questions: a) why certain YouTube videos and articles go viral. b) Some products getting more word of mouth than others c) specific politically-inclined messages being spread more than others d) the catching up and dying out of baby names e) the effect of negative publicity on the number of sales (Berger 16). The article explains six basic principles that act as a driving force for all kind of things that go viral, ranging from consumer products to ideas (Berger 17). These principles provide answers to the research questions and make Contagious a credible article.
Berger’s Contagious is a combination of well-done research and compelling stories. Most of the principles discussed by Berger, across the article are expounded with a highly relatable story. Most of the stories are captivating as they highlight the obvious using a different perspective. One such story is about a luxury steakhouse that derived its popularity through a lowly-priced cheese-steak amidst a huge competition (Berger 7). The story went ahead in explaining the power of word-of-mouth, one of the research questions. To tell why some of the stories online go viral, Contagious, gives an account of how a blender, one of the most boring products, got over 200 million online shares (Berger 15). The tactics on how to leverage certain concepts to create a contagious content shared in the article provide a solution to real life problems making the article highly reliable.
Contagious meets most of the criteria of a good research paper. It provides real-life illustrations of specific events from where most of the conclusions derived from in the article. The stories along with the answers and proper flow of content make the credibility of the article indisputable. It, however, does not give an in-depth description of the challenges and limitations of the research, a quality that a research article should possess.
Works Cited
Berger, Jonah. Contagious: Why things catch on. Simon and Schuster, 2016.