Five years ago I would have said that locavorism was at its height and that a new fad was coming to replace it.

WSJ: Dan Barber's Culinary Crusade

Another consideration: time-shifting is not a fad and so GetGlue and all its competitors have to think about creating flexibility that allows for on-demand watching.

FORBES: Winning CES: GetGlue Takes The Lead In Social TV And Gets Personal

Indeed, today's loans to telecoms firms may turn out to be much like property lending a decade ago, a fad that caused economic downturn and, for a while, stopped the bull market in its tracks.

ECONOMIST: Is the end in sight?

Earlier this century it expanded its factory so it could churn out ukuleles, which were a huge fad.

FORBES: Stringing them along

In 2005, when we started researching an earlier book extolling its virtues, there were less than 4 million people using it and many business people dismissed it as a passing fad.

FORBES: Age of Context: Social Media Becomes a Mature Platform