The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More. Chris Anderson. New York: Hyperion, 2006. 226 pp.
Growing up an hour outside of London, I used to spend my last half-hour of waking daylight watching a short circulated cartoon on the BBC called Banana Man. It’s been years since I watched Banana Man fight General Blight, but just recently I was reminded of the cartoon, and in an event of nostalgia, I went on a quest in search of old episodes of the show. To my surprise, not only did I within two clicks of my mouse, I also found a , , and a page all dedicated to Banana Man fandom.
In , Chris Anderson gives a detailed analysis of a rising economic shift bought by the emergence of the Web that explains why I—in 20 minutes on the Internet—can close the gap in space (Banana Man never aired in Seattle) and time (the show stopped running almost 20 years ago) with little to no cost. This, Anderson argues in his thesis, is the Internet’s economy of abundance (11).
As the Internet continues to emerge as a platform for the marketplace, technologies have been developed to connect niche, obscure items of interest—like episodes of Banana Man—with people who want them. These niche markets, Anderson explains, are changing the way our economy is built. Instead of focusing on a small number of hits: summer blockbusters, Top-40 hits, etc., our culture is increasingly moving toward the non-hit markets and they are taking over by storm.
Bringing his exposure to new media as editor-in-chief of and adopting an economist’s point-of-view, Anderson weaves together a poignant analysis of the current market shift toward niche markets and argues that while “hits are great … niches are emerging as the big new market” (8). And as they emerge, our culture is finding a wealth of creativity and abundance as new content producers breed new markets, new markets are adopted by emerging demand, and demand is accommodated by new ways to find content.
Throughout the book, readers may find the conversation strictly centering on the “Information Economy,” or digital goods. And Anderson seems to be just fine with that, as he builds his argument on data from companies distributing mostly entertainment goods: , , and . And while he briefly discusses hybrid aggregators: companies that offer both physical and digital goods, like , and rounds out one of his last chapters sharing examples “Beyond Entertainment,” he does little to offer how the Long Tail actually affects goods outside the entertainment industry.
In the end, he contends that it is digital catalogues of physical items—again, sites like Amazon.com—that are still more economically efficient in bridging the gap between supply and demand than brick-and-mortar stores like Wal-Mart. Using data from numerous online markets, he gives readers a new glimpse of an already familiar world, where goods are becoming easy to produce, market, distribute, find, consume, and re-purpose. It is in this world, Anderson argues, that consumers are moving toward niches.
Thankfully, Anderson doesn’t go as far as his , namely proclaiming that niches are taking over and hits are dead. Instead, he more appropriately argues the monopoly of the hit is dead as the niche market grows. And, while this point is well belabored throughout the text and talked-to from many different angles, the most compelling piece of his argument is the underlying thread that finally emerged in his last sentence:
“On the infinite aisle, everything is possible” (226).
Of all the threads that weaved through the top of the emerging long tail of the Web, it was this topic that summarized the biggest take-away of the book:
The long tail is about choice.
It’s about the ability for people to choose between the “market of multitudes,” hits and niches, professionals and amateurs (5). Everything is possible since variety is just a bunch of 1’s-and-0’s away. Sure, most people will still buy “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by Fergie on iTunes, currently #3 in the “Top Songs” list. But the abundance of choice offers “Autumn Cannabalist” by Die Mannequin to be enjoyed by white ear-budded folks around the world.
The abundance of choice has been hotly debated on two extremes: consumer utopia and buyer’s depression. And while others thinkers like and lean toward the abundance of choice as a bad thing, Anderson firmly stands on the former, claiming, “when the choice is meaningful, more is better—it simply improves the odds you’ll find what you want” (175).
And it’s here that Anderson’s work on the Long Tail is most valuable to professionals working in digital media. With a world of unending choice, it is the call of the online professional to “order the choice in ways that actually help the consumers” by providing “filters” that work and connect people to what is most relevant (172). In the end, the power of Anderson’s thesis on the Long Tail is found in the hands of the “filters” that help people make choices in the economy of variety and connect supply and demand at the far end of the long tail.
Questions:
- Anderson claims that it’s not choice that causes a burden on consumers, but the process of choosing (172). Hence, we must seek to order the choice in ways that help the consumer by using filters such as ratings, recommendations, price comparisons, etc. With so many market aggregates, I find myself sticking to just one or two that I find reliable to help me make informed decisions: CNet and Amazon.com. With more and more market aggregates (Google markeplace, NexTag, etc.) muddying the waters, its seems that an emergence of “hit” aggregates will be unveiled.
If my prediction is true, how might this effect ways people find products since these companies will ultimately hold the key to the gateway of the supply/demand connection?
- Word of mouth has become an ever-increasing factor in product marketing. Books like “Citizen Marketers” has opened our eyes to the potential power a solitary citizen has to influence the public’s perceptions of billion-dollar corporations.
How has the architecture of participation affected customer/business relationships? And, how–or where–have you seen an effective model of businesses building relationships with influencers on the Web?
- What innovative things do you see emerging on the Web that makes you shiver and think companies like Google and Amazon ain’t seen nothin’ yet?
July 13, 2007 at 5:47 am
After reading Justin’s review of The Long Tail, I found myself dying to know just what is “Banana Man.” I learned an important lesson about filtering though; typing the term “banana man” into a search engine sure brings up a lot of interesting results.
Justin’s point about finding our small niche cravings is a great example. Anderson’s comments on filtering being critical to Long Tail success were succinctly brought home. My search yielded 2,820,000 hits, most of them not what I was looking for. When I added a few more words like cartoon and animation, I received the results I was looking for in seconds. My search went from 2,820,000 to 925,000. Yes it is still a lot, but a significant decrease and helped me get where I wanted.
The other point Justin hit on that I thought was important was the fact that Anderson was clear about: hits aren’t dead just their monopoly on our spending dollar. I read several reviews on Anderson’s book where he was raked over the coals about the Long Tail not being applicable to every business. I agree with Justin in that Anderson clearly avoids saying this. In Anderson’s terms it is just a “rebalancing of the equation.”