Viral Loop: 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.

Many of the most successful Web 2.0 companies, including MySpace, YouTube, eBay, and rising stars like Twitter and Flickr, 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.

In this game-changing must-read, Penenberg tells the fascinating story of the entrepreneurs who first harnessed the unprecedented potential of viral loops to create the successful online businesses -- some worth billions of dollars -- that we have all grown to rely on. The trick is that they created something people really want, so much so that their customers happily spread the word about their product for them.

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.

Adam L. Penenberg is a well-known investigative journalist. He currently writes for Time and Fortune, and has been on staff at Forbes Magazine and Forbes.com. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, Wired, and Playboy. He lives in New York City.