the.com/stickiness
the invisible grip that turns a glance into a habit and a habit into an empire
means The quality of holding attention, retaining users, or making something hard to abandon — whether a melody, a website, or a sticky substance itself.
from From "stick," the Old English "stician," to pierce, remain fixed, or adhere — the same root that gives us a thorn stuck in the thumb and glue that won't let go. The "-ness" suffix turns the clinging act into an abstract quality. The literal sense (jam, tar, honey) came first; the figurative business sense — products and platforms that hold us fast — is a much later metaphor, borrowed straight from the physical grip of anything you can't easily wipe off your hands.
- physics
- Gecko feet stick via van der Waals forces, not glue
- economics
- Switching costs trap customers worth more than ads
- honey
- Never spoils, sealed tombs held edible jars millennia later
- product
- Daily-active users beat total downloads every time
- velcro
- Inspired by burrs clinging to a dog's fur
gorilla glue — adhesive brand that can bond wood, metal, stone, and ceramic with extreme holding strength
post-it notes — 3m's repositionable adhesive invented 1977 that sticks and unsticks without leaving residue
burrs on clothing — seeds from plants like burdock that cling to animal fur and fabric via hooked structures