Aggregation
The Long Tail Continues
At The Long Tail Churchill Club event this morning
Chris Anderson (Wired Editor in Chief and writer for
the Economist), who claims ownership of the term,
discussed his research and his upcoming book about
The Long Tail. His speech reiterated some well
understood findings at Amazon, Netflix, Rhapsody (all
of which have been mentioned here before) as well as
some esoteric analytical findings in which academia
make an attempt to approximate the outcome of Long
Tail markets with formulas. The Q&A session lead
us into some of the business impacts of Long Tail
markets. First he agreed with us, no business should
create a Long Tail without a Torso. Second, new
search technology customized to every individual
usage (vertical search) is essential. Third, new
"Taste-makers" of the world or micro-celebrities,
vocalized by blogging about niche expertise, will
fuel and direct the trust in The Long Tail.
Meritocracy with democratic production. Interesting
example mentioned was Lego, the toy company that
changed its conservative marketing strategy (Pareto
based) into a community marketing strategy, realizing
better segmentation and margins can be derived from
its very loyal community that continues to grow.
Our stance: Long Tail markets can succeed if:
1) The Torso exists and is successful in drawing the crowd
2) Long Tail demand is fed through Long Tail supply, creating a free-market
3) Arbitration is "owned" by the marketplace (not the company)
4) The marketplace offers sufficient transparency, to allow for discovery, not just search
5) The business behind the marketplace makes money on distribution (not aggregation)
6) The marketplace offers integrity, in pricing, use and abuse prevention
Read on for more information on The Long Tail in this blog series...
Our stance: Long Tail markets can succeed if:
1) The Torso exists and is successful in drawing the crowd
2) Long Tail demand is fed through Long Tail supply, creating a free-market
3) Arbitration is "owned" by the marketplace (not the company)
4) The marketplace offers sufficient transparency, to allow for discovery, not just search
5) The business behind the marketplace makes money on distribution (not aggregation)
6) The marketplace offers integrity, in pricing, use and abuse prevention
Read on for more information on The Long Tail in this blog series...