Virality and network effects drive organic growth.

less than 1m read

·Nov 3, 2024

The best consumer companies incorporate both virality and network effect, which are different concepts but very closely related, in order to grow their user base organically.

Virality is the idea that one user using your product introduces it to other users somehow in the use of your product, whereas network effect is the idea that the product gets better the more nodes in the network exist.

I'll give you an example from Facebook's early days. So, when you took a picture on Facebook and uploaded it, you were prompted to tag your friends, even if they weren't already on Facebook. Those friends would get an email saying, "Hey, someone's tagged a photo of you; sign up to view the photo." That's a viral mechanic.

By uploading the photo and tagging your friends, you spread it to new users. A network effect comes from Metcalfe's Law: the value of the network is the square of the nodes in a network.

What that basically means is the more people who use this thing, the more valuable it gets. So, WhatsApp is a great example of this.

Over 100,000 Sea Turtles Nest at the Same Time. How? | National Geographic

Elad Gil Shares Advice from the High Growth Handbook, a Guide to Scaling Startups

View All

Your Top Questions Answered: Part 1

What should you do if you want to be very successful and have a very, very big impact on the world? Make your work and your passion the same thing. Don’t forget about the money part, but do it in a way that you’re going to, uh, produce enough money that y…

What's it Like to Play Football in Space? | StarTalk

A lot of different venues in space where you can transplant sport. Often when people think in space, they think in a weightless environment, but that’s not realistic. What’s more realistic is playing a sport, say football, on the surface of another planet…

How this 96-year-old Secretary grew a $9,000,000 Fortune

What’s up you guys? It’s Graham here. So, I want to share a really cool story written by Corey Kildonan of the New York Times. It’s a great example of what can happen when you live frugally and invest consistently while still working a very modest nine-to…

Gee Pole | Yukon River Run

Mus: “Hy mush, mus! Oh, good job, hus! Job break! Break! This a nice trail right here. Hopefully it’ll stay this way, but I think we’re going to get into some rust country and a portage up there. We want to get up to our cabin. Laur and I want to get up t…

Secant line with arbitrary difference | Derivatives introduction | AP Calculus AB | Khan Academy

A secant line intersects the curve ( y ) equal to the natural log of ( x ) at two points with ( x ) coordinates ( 2 ) and ( 2 + h ). What is the slope of the secant line? Well, they’re giving us two points on this line. It might not be immediately obviou…

Tariff and imports worked example | APⓇ Microeconomics | Khan Academy

We’re told sugar is freely traded in the world market. Assume that a country, Lorryland, is a price taker in the world market for sugar. Some of the sugar consumed in Lorryland is produced domestically, while the rest is imported. The world price of sugar…

Virality and network effects drive organic growth.

More Articles