Rating: 
Summary: Good
Review: This is a fascinating book with new ideas about modern marketing that I had never heard or considered before. the author mentions another book by Malcolm Gladwell titled THE TIPPING POINT that I found fascinating, and recommend as a "sister" book to this one. Read both. It could mean literally billions of dollars to you!
Rating:
Summary: Great Concept, but "Tell a Friend" Feature Has a Flaw
Review: When I started reading this book, I was ready to be suspicious of the concept of the ideavirus. I downloaded it because it was free, and that made it attractive to me. As I read the book, though, I realized that the ideas are common sense. It hit home the first time I signed up for PayPal -- one of the best examples of an ideavirus. In fact, now that I have read "Unleashing the Ideavirus," I can spot mistakes made by Internet-based companies. For example, companies that change the rules in midstream are doomed to lose business. While Seth Godin loves the idea of the "Tell a Friend" feature, I think it has one flaw he forgot to address. Some people are afraid to enter their friends' e-mail addresses because they don't want their friends to get spam. While many companies don't sell those addresses, some do. Until more companies learn the importance of privacy, I will be reluctant to use the "Tell a Friend" feature. My other complaint was that the book gets repetitive in some spots. Certain ideas are repeated so often that I started skimming those pages. Anne M. Marble -- All About Romance
Rating: 
Summary: Unleashing the Ideavirus
Review: Seth Godin does it again. We are seeing a revolution in the way consumers make their purchasing decisions. Yesterday, companies focused most of their efforts in telling consumers why they should buy a certain product over another. Today, marketing has been democratized. Mass media is available to anybody on the web. Marketers can actually let consumers tell each other in a very massive way why a certain product is superior to another. Some companies clearly understand this new dynamic, but most are still practicing the old form of marketing - one in which consumers are expected to sit back and listen to what a bunch of young inexperienced marketers have to tell them. It is time to move on!
Rating:
Summary: Great addition to Permission Marketing
Review: I enjoyed the new book. It was better than Permission Marketing.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Permission Marketing!
Review: Here's the first handbook I've found that makes it clear how viral marketing, word of mouth and other people-to-people marketing techniques are changing the way products and services are marketed. If you read PM and were puzzled about how to get Permission in the first place, this is the best place to start. I've been a fan of Godin's for years, but this is his coolest book to date. The fact that he could give the book away to prove his point (see the link to the left) and still sell a bunch of copies is really awe inspiring. What's next!?
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining, but not infectious
Review: "If you are looking for mind blowing new ideas, you won't find them in this, or any other marketing book." Seth Godin prefaces his "manifesto" with the truth. My marketing text summed up the essence of this book in less than a page, under the Innovation Diffusion Process, which is "the spread of a new idea from its source of invention or creation to its ultimate users or adopters." This is to say that I felt Unleashing The Idea Virus, at 197 pages, is 196 pages too long winded in explaining that word of mouth marketing is more than just word of mouth marketing. Looking past the repetitiveness of the content, the entertainment value of Idea Virus is what is infectious. A sizeable amount of the book is replete with examples of thriving viruses. From Fast Company to Hilfiger Skull Caps, he supports his claim with a plethora of high profile success stories, demonstrating just how valuable a virus can be. Unleashing the Idea Virus is wordy but interesting. Similar to gossip from your best friend, this book is probably something you could live without, but none the less, it provides a certain amount of entertainment value, intended to spread like wildfire.
Rating:
Summary: Good but dated - skim it, don't read it
Review: Unleashing the idea virus is short and covers one simple idea: ideas spread through a population like viruses and by working from this point of view we can tailor and present our products/ideas for maximum spread and persistence.
Godin's idea is a simple one and relevant. Basically consumers have progressed to a point where they stop paying attention once they realized that they are being advertised to. So advertisers have to find a new approach. Godin's suggestion is that advertisers make it as easy as possible for consumers to recommend a product to one another. By using the analogy of a contagious idea to a virus spreading like a force of nature, he points out examples of successful products that have benefitted from this type of hype (whether or not they intentionally created the hype).
The main problem I have with this book is that it is starting to feel dated already and it only came out 4 years ago. Most of the examples Godin uses are internet-based. For example he describes the hot new cartoon that was circulating when he wrote Unleashing the Idea Virus. Rather than illustrating his example I found myself on a trip down memory fondly recalling 1999. This happened quite a bit.
So Godin has a compelling idea that makes sense with regards to marketing, however his presentation is very dated and it distracted me. This is a short book so it is probably still worth your time to read it. I recommend Malcome Gladwell's The Tipping Point for a much less dated and to me more interesting discussion of similar issues.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Read
Review: Once upon a time this book must have been groundbreaking. But for someone who is just beginning to delve into the topic of marketing, I found it a very good read.
Rating:
Summary: Conquer the World...Again!
Review: Every great marketing idea creates a new set of consumer defenses. The real trick is to stay several steps ahead of your competition and keep the ideas new and fresh.
Seth Godin offers some good advice, realistic overviews, and usable tactics to help you get and stay ahead with "Unleashing the Ideavirus".
Whether you want to step up your online or offline marketing, Godin will get you pumped to go out and conquer the world...again!
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