STEPPS Framework
Berger's six-part answer to why some things get talked about and others don't: Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, Stories.
What it is
It is a checklist, not a theory, and Berger is explicit that the six are independent ingredients rather than a sequence or a recipe. Its usefulness is diagnostic: given a product nobody mentions, it tells you which of six levers is missing. On this site it is read alongside Social Currency, Idea Habitat and Practical Value.
In effect
Berger runs Barclay Prime's hundred-dollar cheesesteak through all six at the end of the book. It is remarkable (Social Currency), tied to Philadelphia's most common food (Triggers), surprising enough to feel like something (Emotion), served on a plate other diners can see (Public), and it arrives as a story rather than a menu item (Stories). Practical Value is the one it lacks, which is the point: you do not need all six.
What it does not say
It is not the same thing as Social Currency, which sits close to it on this site but describes a different part of how people decide. It also does not say that the finding reaches every product, buyer or setting; where this page goes beyond the cited research, the step is an inference and is labelled as one.
Sources
- Marketing professor at Wharton who studies why things catch on.