Article · ~12 min read

Virality Is a Myth (Mostly)

Lenny Rachitsky · Lenny's Newsletter Freemium Intermediate

A myth-busting piece showing most 'viral' growth is actually broadcast reach, so you can stop praying for virality and engineer word-of-mouth instead.

  • True peer-to-peer virality is rare; most spread is one big broadcast.
  • Roughly 95% of shares come from the source or one degree of separation.
  • Invest in in-product sharing and intentional broadcast channels (PR, creators).
Open on lennysnewsletter.com ↗

It answers 2 questions

  1. Is my product going to go viral, and how do I make it more shareable?
  2. What's a common mistake founders make with referral and virality?

Read with it

  1. Battle-tested referral advice from the person who turned Airbnb's host referral program into its biggest driver of supply... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~20 min read Building a Referrals Program Lenny Rachitsky
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