How To Go Viral and Reach Millions: Top Persuasion Secrets from Social Media Superstars, Jesus, Shakespeare, Oprah, and Even Donald Trump Paperback – May 23, 2018

“How to Go Viral and Reach Millions” is actually about how to tell your story with persuasion in a modern world, which relies on social media to convey much of our messaging. We need stories, Dr. Romm argues, yet we now think and communicate in brief “sound bites”. How do you become “clicky and sticky”—grab your audience and fascinate them into reading more than the headline rather than losing them as they scan through their twitter feed? How do you use figures of speech to remain memorable in a world flooded with news and communication briefs? We all want to stand out and be memorable, whether we are trying to sell a product, teach a class or run for political office. I found that this book gave simple, straightforward and easy to remember ways to sell (this book is all about selling) and persuading others to your perspective. Like many of the reviewers, I felt was bold to review Donald Trump and credit him as a master of hyperbole. He won somehow and there are lessons to be learned there! I did have the privilege to meet Dr. Romm, and as someone in higher education I was struck when he pointed out to me that we train students to be objective, wring out all the passion in argument and teeter on being quite monotonous. Being objective and just giving the facts doesn’t really matter if you aren’t taking a position and convincing people that there are concerns we must address (like climate change). To do that, you need (among other things) compelling stories backed up by data, not just data. A very interesting read.

Ever since middle school, I was enticed by the Youtube community, and I wondered how cool it would be to do fun skits or other things like folks from Epic Meal Time or Smosh or Will It Blend do (and holy cow - Youtube celebrity-ship has changed so much since the 2006 Time Person of the Year Article).And I am beyond grateful that I stumbled into this wonderful book. It's simple, yet very informative writing style is easy to grasp that provides a stress free read where you don't need to reference back to a dictionary or encyclopedia every now and then. However, the author (who is very renowned of course and also a terrific human being as I met him briefly once) has a voice and tonality to this book that also makes it entertaining and grasping to read that you won't be bored with this material anytime soon. As a matter of fact, you'll be referencing this book constantly if you want to take becoming viral seriously (even viral in real life interactions).Fair note - be prepared to be very surprised with some of the information you will receive. A good amount of what is taught to the common eye may seem counterintuitive to common sense. However, follow this book step by step, even if you are skeptical of the information backed up by the finest research. Joseph Romm knows *exactly* what he is doing.Thank you for a wonderful work! I only hope this man provides a masterclass or workshop of the sorts of this material soon!

Very good book and insightful but you’ll learn two things, he hates Trump and he misses his brother Dave. He repeats them in every chapter.

“We want to make a viral video.” Those are the words videomakers most dread when working for a client — as if “going viral” were an option. It isn’t. There are countless uncontrollable factors involved with today’s rapidly changing audience. Which means that in the end, the best anyone can do for “what goes viral” is to examine things that went viral and look for patterns -- which is what veteran climate blogger Joe Romm does very well in this valuable book.The basic dynamic of figuring out what goes viral makes me think a bit of a book that made a big impression on me when I was in college -- the 1970’s classic, “A Random Walk Down Wall Street,” in which Burton Malkiel debunked most of the approaches of “experts” who claimed to be able to predict the stock market. You can’t predict the market any more than anyone can predict what will go viral on the internet.But that said, there are some consistent patterns among the most popular memes and media. And that’s what Romm is good at — spotting the patterns using his analytical perspective. As a result, this book is filled with sections that will make you think and push you in directions that have high probabilities of producing something potentially viral with everything from the use of metaphor to repetition to irony. It’s the kind of a book that will probably be most useful if you’ve got an idea you’re wanting to propagate that is in your head as you’re reading, letting each chapter present suggestions to you.A new update to Romm’s communication advice that gets a lot of attention here is story structure. This is very timely as throughout the business community in particular the awareness of story has exploded (Linked In recently documented that the number of people describing themselves as a “storyteller” in their profiles has gone from zero to a half million in about five years). The book covers everything from Joseph Campbell to Star Wars.There’s lots to say but I’ll pick just three themes for both the book and Joe Romm himself. The first is courage. He’s always been a fighter and in this book he has the courage to do more than just ridicule and insult Donald Trump and the current Trump movement. He puts Trump's name in the title, though wisely qualifies it with, “Even Donald Trump.”This is a very important fundamental divide — making clear he’s not a knee jerk Democrat with his fingers in his ears trying to discredit the Trump victory. There is a great deal to be learned and understood about why Trump won. Romm has the courage to wade into this.Second is passion. The entire book is interlaced with the recent death of his brother Dave. Communication must always be human. His willingness to share this painful event and draw on it underscores the passion Joe feels for the need to communicate well.And third is inspiration. He tells in places of his work with progressives, helping them improve their communication skills. He is clearly a source of inspiration to many, and this book ends up being his current manifesto. I say “current” because it’s clear he’s always continuing to listen and learn, which means that there will probably be further updates down the line. But for now, this is an invaluable resource for people seeking to communicate with the mass audience of today.

I bought this book expecting another throwaway set of social media strategies, with the hope that maybe there's one good idea that I can use. Instead, I found a thoughtful and thorough dive into rhetoric. If you are aligned with Romm's politics, then you will find this eye-opening, delightful, entertaining, but also more than a little bit disheartening and scary. If you are opposed to his politics, then you may find yourself apoplectic with cognitive dissonance. Or, to put it in a much better way which is short simple words you can feel, you might love this book and learn a lot from it. You might hate it. If you hate it, you won't learn much. But you can feel good about being real mad and real dumb. Thanks, Joseph Romm for this great read! I'll be checking out more of your stuff soon!

A highly insightful guide into writing stories that grab people's attention and ultimately go viral. The advice Joe Romm dispenses is crucial for content writers and producers and I'd highly recommend this book for understanding what makes a good story! As an existing reader and fan of Joe's work at Climate Progress, the climate links in the book were nice touches. A great read for people working in science and climate communication.

This book was filled with political views and personal opinions about Trump. The book title is: How to go viral and reach millions. Not: Why I hate Trump. The book did not deliver what I was expecting.