Viral Effects Are Not Network Effects

For products seeking virality, also having a network effects approach to the product is useful because it makes it easier to create viral language hooks using words like “share”, “get”, and “see” that aren’t as easy to build into non-network effects products.

To develop great virality you must be focused on language. Language is the rails on which products are shared, so you must play with language, experiment with it, and build the product around the language.

Another unique thing about virality is that it comes and goes over time depending on the channels available. These viral channels are constantly in flux. Not true with network effects, which are more stable over time.

Playbooks for creating viral products

1.  Novelty/Entertainment


2. Instrumented

The Future of Virality and Network Effects With viral effects there are seasons to it, depending on the channels and technologies you have available. Going viral today is more difficult than it was during the 2000-2012 Golden Age because most platforms have become saturated with the same viral strategies that worked early on...Virality has therefor... See more

Network effects are about adding value and defensibility to your product. A network effect is when every customer of your product adds incremental value to all the other customers of your product so that it becomes difficult for customers to find any alternative product which gives them as much value.

The Relationship Between Viral Effects and Network Effects

Viral effects are about growth of new users. Viral effects are when you get your existing customers to get you more new customers, ideally for free.

...we learned how much less important viral effects are to long-term value creation than defensibilies like network effects.While viral effects are a useful attribute of products to reduce the expense of acquiring new users, network effects remain the key driver of value creation for startups in the digital age by keeping people using them.