Viral Loop

December 21, 2009
Allen's powerful voice and thoughtful vocals are the perfect medium to relay Penenberg's pronouncements about how such Web 2.0 businesses as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Flickr are reconfiguring marketing models and the road to wealth—and how the mechanisms driving the growth of user-driven technologies are nothing new (remember Tupperware parties?). It's a snappy, topical read made even more memorable by Allen's performance: his vocal range is wide, but he wisely scales back his intensity to command our attention with his sheer charisma. A Hyperion hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 26).

November 15, 2009
Penenberg (journalism, New York Univ.) explores the "viral expansion loop" phenomenon, which simply means that growth is self-perpetuating as "each new user begets more users." He divides the book into three sections covering viral businesses, marketing, and networks. First, he examines the history of viral organizations ranging from Tupperware and Ponzi schemes to early online adopters Mosaic and Netscape. In the section on viral marketing, he illustrates how entities like Hotmail successfully combine word-of-mouth with "word-of-mouse" strategies. The notion of viral synergy is discussed in the third section as Penenberg describes how companies build or stack upon one another (e.g., eBay and PayPal). Throughout, Penenberg provides insight into the entrepreneurial minds behind the most successful and most disastrous corporate viral attempts. Financial concerns as well as technical issues of scalability are realistically addressed. VERDICT Of use to those interested in starting or enhancing a business, this will also appeal to anyone curious about the legendary rise and rebirth of Silicon Valley.Judy Brink-Drescher, Molloy Coll., Rockville Ctr., NY

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 29, 2009
In this clear-eyed collection of case studies, Fast Company contributing writer and NYU journalism professor Penenberg examines the engine driving the growth of web 2.0 businesses like Flickr, YouTube and eBay to Facebook and Twitter: the viral loop. The concept behind a viral loop is simple-in order to use the product, you have to spread it, thus creating massive, user-driven growth cycles-after all, Penenberg explains, social networks like Facebook are worthless to a user if one's friends aren't also using the products. Viral loops are nothing new, of course, and Penenberg has certainly done his homework, tracing the concept back through its analog roots via entertaining and enlightening anecdotes about companies like Tupperware, which used "parties" to turn ordinary housewives into an army of sales reps, to Charles Ponzi-yes, he of the Ponzi scheme, a viral scam recently taken to historic levels by Bernie Madoff. Penenberg truly succeeds, however, in showing how the viral loop has found its groove on the Internet, fueling a wave of billion-dollar companies all built on word of mouth-and, of course, user clicks. Solidly researched and briskly-written, Penenberg at once captures a great business and tech story, as well as a defining moment in our online culture.