The Long Tail

Ever since I bought an iPod Nano, I have been fully immersed in podcasts, audiobooks, video podcasts and the like. Today I watched a lecture by Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, speak on his idea of the internet business model he calls "The Long Tail." I got the video from UC Berkely's iTunes Store site.

For a thorough explaination on The Long Tail, see the Wikipedia site here.

The best part of his entire lecture was the concept of the internet as an Abundance perspective on business whereas companies of the previous century were all built around the Scarcity perspective. An example which explains this well is the difference between a major TV broadcast network such as NBC and YouTube. With NBC, it is the editors who decide what shows people will have an opportunity to watch and at what times. They are in a sense constantly trying to predict mass consumer appeal of each show they produce. This is the model of distribution where the few dispense to the many.

Conversely, with YouTube, there is an over abundance of content, time and topics to browse. Without the constraint of channels, frequencies and editors who attempt in vain to find content with mass appeal, YouTube shatters the barriers to instant access and gives ultimate control to the end consumer. Ultimate control to the end consumer! What a powerful concept, one for which the internet is renowned.

This brings me to my point: the entreprenuers of the 21st Century understand that in order to truly gain mass appeal, they must shatter barriers between consumers and producers. They must give end users ultimate, or near ultimate, control over their experience.

Netflix, Amazon, iTunes Store are other great examples. How much more abundant in inventory and end-user control are these outlets than their brick-and-mortar competitors, Blockbuster, Barnes and Noble and the local music store?!

The businesses of the 21st Century obey the law of the long tail - more end user control and an over abundance of inventory!