Quiver & Quill

www.Dogster.com

If you think Pug owners on Meet Up.com are outrageous, check out Dogster. It’s an online community celebrating dogs and their owners. With over 100,000 members and 6 million monthly page views, the site features extensive dog profiles and social networking tools.

Share your dog’s favorite toy. Reminisce about a memorable walk together. Rate him on qualities ranging from his disposition to his intelligence. Write a doggie diary, or subscribe to a doggie diary rss feed; Of course, share pictures with your doggie friends.

Check out the suite of viral tools. Email a dog; invite other dogs, save the dog to your friend list, or even send a bone (equivalent of a poke). They provide many resources for pet owners, including a state by state pet friendly accommodation listing. This is the most loving social networking forum I’ve seen!

P.S. If you’re a cat person, be sure to check out catster, too.
Picture: Vincent

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www.Dogster.com

If you think Pug owners on Meet Up.com are outrageous, check out Dogster. It’s an online community celebrating dogs and their owners. With over 100,000 members and 6 million monthly page views, the site features extensive dog profiles and social networking tools.

Share your dog’s favorite toy. Reminisce about a memorable walk together. Rate him on qualities ranging from his disposition to his intelligence. Write a doggie diary, or subscribe to a doggie diary rss feed; Of course, share pictures with your doggie friends.

Check out the suite of viral tools. Email a dog; invite other dogs, save the dog to your friend list, or even send a bone (equivalent of a poke). They provide many resources for pet owners, including a state by state pet friendly accommodation listing. This is the most loving social networking forum I’ve seen!

P.S. If you’re a cat person, be sure to check out catster, too.
Picture: Vincent

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I had an IPOD moment flying across country this week. I couldn’t have written a better advertisement if I tried. Picture a crying baby causing desperate passengers to seek solace in commiserating glances. Wives attempted to calm their husbands, reminding them that they once flew with infants too. Now picture a handful of us reclining in our chairs, reading peacefully and exchanging silent congratulations while sipping ginger ale and playing with our IPODs. As the other passengers contemplated jumping out of the plane, my only concern was how to avoid snoring as I feel asleep.

P.S. As a noteworthy aside, locate advertising moments and the agencies creating them.
Picture: From the plane, the crying baby culprit featured in shadows.

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I had an IPOD moment flying across country this week. I couldn’t have written a better advertisement if I tried. Picture a crying baby causing desperate passengers to seek solace in commiserating glances. Wives attempted to calm their husbands, reminding them that they once flew with infants too. Now picture a handful of us reclining in our chairs, reading peacefully and exchanging silent congratulations while sipping ginger ale and playing with our IPODs. As the other passengers contemplated jumping out of the plane, my only concern was how to avoid snoring as I feel asleep.

P.S. As a noteworthy aside, locate advertising moments and the agencies creating them.
Picture: From the plane, the crying baby culprit featured in shadows.

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Sprint

I want to make my Treo 650 into the ultimate citizen journalist machine. This brought me to the Sprint store to locate an audio adapter to conduct interviews. I plan on podcasting in ‘06.

The customer service manager didn’t find any mention of the product in Sprint’s system; He even called another store with no luck. He found the answer in a http://blog.treonauts.com/. It amazes me that employees of a multibillion dollar communications empire relies on blogger information to troubleshoot with their own products.

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Sprint

I want to make my Treo 650 into the ultimate citizen journalist machine. This brought me to the Sprint store to locate an audio adapter to conduct interviews. I plan on podcasting in ‘06.

The customer service manager didn’t find any mention of the product in Sprint’s system; He even called another store with no luck. He found the answer in a http://blog.treonauts.com/. It amazes me that employees of a multibillion dollar communications empire relies on blogger information to troubleshoot with their own products.

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There’s an old interview with an eccentric journalist at Atlantic monthly worth hearing. He is able to identify sounds at his office and correlate them to music notes and chords. The interview describes his process of finding meaning in the chords created by the noises in his office. He poses several questions about how the sounds in an office create its atmosphere.
Fast forward 13:05 where it starts.

Interview.

I like the idea that the space around us is alive. The noises, smells and sites that surrounded us aren’t passively apart of our background but vitally contribute to our experience. With Meet the Parents in the background and the space heater humming away, I’ll savor my household music.

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There’s an old interview with an eccentric journalist at Atlantic monthly worth hearing. He is able to identify sounds at his office and correlate them to music notes and chords. The interview describes his process of finding meaning in the chords created by the noises in his office. He poses several questions about how the sounds in an office create its atmosphere.
Fast forward 13:05 where it starts.

Interview.

I like the idea that the space around us is alive. The noises, smells and sites that surrounded us aren’t passively apart of our background but vitally contribute to our experience. With Meet the Parents in the background and the space heater humming away, I’ll savor my household music.

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Many of the countries that censor the internet are among those with the highest text messaging participation. With text messaging’s recent role in inciting Australian race riots and galvanizing Chinese peasants, is it any less potent a resource? Perhaps the countries that interpret it as benign view it as their own communication tool, unlike the internet, often perceived as a tool of Western cultural imperialism.

I recently read an article that suggests that text messaging challenges cultural and social norms by inspiring problematic relationships between the sexes. Arab Mobile Communication Studies noted that Bluetooth increased interaction between the sexes in Saudi Arabia. Text messaging enabled relationships to develop in a repressive environment in which they may have not otherwise formed. While this may have thrilled the men and women involved, it undermined social and cultural values. The Saudi woman interviewed for the article added, “This form of advanced technology has deprived us of the concept of traditional romance.”

While this crushed a traditional Saudi woman’s romantic ideals, it unleashed new forms of intimacy. The cultural and social challenges stem from people’s abilities to communicate with one another. While fundamentalists perceive this as a threat to their way of life, perhaps it’s apart of the evolution. Have new technologies changed both how we engage and the rules of engagement? Does the channel through which we deliver our messages change their meaning? Does a traditional message become less so when delivered by text message?

Yes. It can become more personal and interactive. It can even change ones experience with religious experience. Let’s take religion and text messaging as our example case study. Consider Rabbi Lawrence of Sydney’s Great Synagogue’s SMS and Power Point in his presentations; Hindus offering their prayers to Ganesh by SMS; Jews SMS’s to the great wall; Catholics in the Philippines Text Mary; Muslims relying on SMS for prayer and fast times. Rabbi Lawrence explains the value proposition of this new technology: “People want religious leadership that isn’t too remote from them.”

It’s ironic that technology, typically viewed as impersonal, has created such intimate connections.

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Many of the countries that censor the internet are among those with the highest text messaging participation. With text messaging’s recent role in inciting Australian race riots and galvanizing Chinese peasants, is it any less potent a resource? Perhaps the countries that interpret it as benign view it as their own communication tool, unlike the internet, often perceived as a tool of Western cultural imperialism.

I recently read an article that suggests that text messaging challenges cultural and social norms by inspiring problematic relationships between the sexes. Arab Mobile Communication Studies noted that Bluetooth increased interaction between the sexes in Saudi Arabia. Text messaging enabled relationships to develop in a repressive environment in which they may have not otherwise formed. While this may have thrilled the men and women involved, it undermined social and cultural values. The Saudi woman interviewed for the article added, “This form of advanced technology has deprived us of the concept of traditional romance.”

While this crushed a traditional Saudi woman’s romantic ideals, it unleashed new forms of intimacy. The cultural and social challenges stem from people’s abilities to communicate with one another. While fundamentalists perceive this as a threat to their way of life, perhaps it’s apart of the evolution. Have new technologies changed both how we engage and the rules of engagement? Does the channel through which we deliver our messages change their meaning? Does a traditional message become less so when delivered by text message?

Yes. It can become more personal and interactive. It can even change ones experience with religious experience. Let’s take religion and text messaging as our example case study. Consider Rabbi Lawrence of Sydney’s Great Synagogue’s SMS and Power Point in his presentations; Hindus offering their prayers to Ganesh by SMS; Jews SMS’s to the great wall; Catholics in the Philippines Text Mary; Muslims relying on SMS for prayer and fast times. Rabbi Lawrence explains the value proposition of this new technology: “People want religious leadership that isn’t too remote from them.”

It’s ironic that technology, typically viewed as impersonal, has created such intimate connections.

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How dependant are text messaging campaigns on the cultures that support them? Will the same Asian and European campaigns work in the United States? Over 1 million Koreans bank by phone . UK Coke declared the mobile channel potentially more viable than TV. Yet with over 66 million people text messaging in the United States, why hasn’t it had a greater impact on our culture?

The Ipod revolution had to occur first. With song and video ipods portable and pervasive, we’re expecting more from our mobile devices. Ringtones and mobile jewelry providing the 12-24 demographic with new ways to personalize their cell. Stock quotes and weather alerts are introducing SMS to a new demographic.
We’re due for the cultural shift.

We’ve seen it in some respects with text message advocacy. U2’s mobile fundraising, Hurricane Katrina’s sms relief, and a text campaign to save former gang member Tookie Williams are recent examples. However, text messaging is not yet nearly as essential to the average American as it is to the rest of the world.

A Boston based company is challenging that assumption by incorporating text messaging with virtual community building in real spaces. LocaModa Inc’s is launching Wiffiti, virtual bulletin boards in public spaces like coffee shops and bars. The Someday Café one of my local spots, is their first worldwide launch next week. I went there today and observed several things that might just make this idea work. College students. Nonverbal communication. Bulletin boards and collaborative art books. I look forward to seeing how this flesh and blood community translates into a virtual one and wonder if the technology will have an impact on the demographics in Someday Cafe.

Culture shifts start local; I’ll keep you informed when they launch.

*Picture taken with my citizen journalist weapon of choice
Of: Someday Cafe Bulletin Board before change

See also:
Mobile Activism
Mobile Community

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How dependant are text messaging campaigns on the cultures that support them? Will the same Asian and European campaigns work in the United States? Over 1 million Koreans bank by phone . UK Coke declared the mobile channel potentially more viable than TV. Yet with over 66 million people text messaging in the United States, why hasn’t it had a greater impact on our culture?

The Ipod revolution had to occur first. With song and video ipods portable and pervasive, we’re expecting more from our mobile devices. Ringtones and mobile jewelry providing the 12-24 demographic with new ways to personalize their cell. Stock quotes and weather alerts are introducing SMS to a new demographic.
We’re due for the cultural shift.

We’ve seen it in some respects with text message advocacy. U2’s mobile fundraising, Hurricane Katrina’s sms relief, and a text campaign to save former gang member Tookie Williams are recent examples. However, text messaging is not yet nearly as essential to the average American as it is to the rest of the world.

A Boston based company is challenging that assumption by incorporating text messaging with virtual community building in real spaces. LocaModa Inc’s is launching Wiffiti, virtual bulletin boards in public spaces like coffee shops and bars. The Someday Café one of my local spots, is their first worldwide launch next week. I went there today and observed several things that might just make this idea work. College students. Nonverbal communication. Bulletin boards and collaborative art books. I look forward to seeing how this flesh and blood community translates into a virtual one and wonder if the technology will have an impact on the demographics in Someday Cafe.

Culture shifts start local; I’ll keep you informed when they launch.

*Picture taken with my citizen journalist weapon of choice
Of: Someday Cafe Bulletin Board before change

See also:
Mobile Activism
Mobile Community

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Munk on the Yangzte River
Originally uploaded by mortsan.

Unmediated blog posted this exceptional blurb about tele-praying over the internet. It raises many questions. On the one hand, I can see this leading toward online marketing schemes, unleashing a new breed of religious ‘fundraising.’

This also raised a more interesting question about the nature of the online space. Can there be a ‘holy’ space online? In what ways can that space be created: through typing rituals and chants in virtual rooms? Perhaps the confession will take place in a private chat space with a religious official? Read along sacred texts with annotations. Email favorite passages to friends and share in the pure light of the computer screen.

*Picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mortsan/46475821/

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Munk on the Yangzte River
Originally uploaded by mortsan.

Unmediated blog posted this exceptional blurb about tele-praying over the internet. It raises many questions. On the one hand, I can see this leading toward online marketing schemes, unleashing a new breed of religious ‘fundraising.’

This also raised a more interesting question about the nature of the online space. Can there be a ‘holy’ space online? In what ways can that space be created: through typing rituals and chants in virtual rooms? Perhaps the confession will take place in a private chat space with a religious official? Read along sacred texts with annotations. Email favorite passages to friends and share in the pure light of the computer screen.

*Picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mortsan/46475821/

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Los Angeles mural
Originally uploaded by cjanebuy.

Samuel Huntington’s “The Hispanic Challenge,”
raises many heated questions about assimilation and immigration in the United States. The essay is well worth the read, and contains exceptional graphs about the Hispanics in the United States and outrageous quotes like the one below:

“Sosa ends his book, The Americano Dream, with encouragement for aspiring Hispanic entrepreneurs. “The Americano dream?” he asks. “It exists, it is realistic, and it is there for all of us to share.” Sosa is wrong. There is no Americano dream. There is only the American dream created by an Anglo-Protestant society. Mexican Americans
will share in that dream and in that society only if they dream in English.”

Huntington’s arguments are based on a vision for the United States that regards immigrants as a threat to the National identity. However, this identity no longer exists. What we have in its place is not a fixed concept, but fluid one. Our communities aren’t defined by gates, but have transcended them to include local, national, real and virtual. As we spend more of our time connecting online, we have more freedom to associate with the terms that define us.

Take the phenomena of tagging for example. We select the words that save files on del.icio.us, identify pictures in flickr and define our interests in Myspace. Our culture has become a fluid concept, exchanged as easily as you download a file, self-identified as readily as you upload.

Will the tendencies toward an online global culture have any real impact on the daily life of a recent U.S. Hispanic immigrant? Will the ideas of ethnic enclaves, which apply in large cities like New York and Los Angeles, also take hold in the virtual communities we create? Yes. We will have more choice about with whom we associate and more ability to participate in the cultures we define.

Not only is American society openly supporting the dreams of immigrants, even in other cultures and languages, it is also incorporating them into narratives supported both on and offline. We can identify as distinctly American, still, only because our voice possesses the qualities that Huntington criticizes: diversity, multicultural energy and global participation.

*Picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cjanebuy/61498779/

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Los Angeles mural
Originally uploaded by cjanebuy.

Samuel Huntington’s “The Hispanic Challenge,”
raises many heated questions about assimilation and immigration in the United States. The essay is well worth the read, and contains exceptional graphs about the Hispanics in the United States and outrageous quotes like the one below:

“Sosa ends his book, The Americano Dream, with encouragement for aspiring Hispanic entrepreneurs. “The Americano dream?” he asks. “It exists, it is realistic, and it is there for all of us to share.” Sosa is wrong. There is no Americano dream. There is only the American dream created by an Anglo-Protestant society. Mexican Americans
will share in that dream and in that society only if they dream in English.”

Huntington’s arguments are based on a vision for the United States that regards immigrants as a threat to the National identity. However, this identity no longer exists. What we have in its place is not a fixed concept, but fluid one. Our communities aren’t defined by gates, but have transcended them to include local, national, real and virtual. As we spend more of our time connecting online, we have more freedom to associate with the terms that define us.

Take the phenomena of tagging for example. We select the words that save files on del.icio.us, identify pictures in flickr and define our interests in Myspace. Our culture has become a fluid concept, exchanged as easily as you download a file, self-identified as readily as you upload.

Will the tendencies toward an online global culture have any real impact on the daily life of a recent U.S. Hispanic immigrant? Will the ideas of ethnic enclaves, which apply in large cities like New York and Los Angeles, also take hold in the virtual communities we create? Yes. We will have more choice about with whom we associate and more ability to participate in the cultures we define.

Not only is American society openly supporting the dreams of immigrants, even in other cultures and languages, it is also incorporating them into narratives supported both on and offline. We can identify as distinctly American, still, only because our voice possesses the qualities that Huntington criticizes: diversity, multicultural energy and global participation.

*Picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cjanebuy/61498779/

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addicted
Originally uploaded by GodsMoon.

I. I just returned from Target with my girlfriend. We parted ways to divide and conquer the store. As I roamed, I saw many of the same guys over and over again. Our pacing gave us away, and we connected the way guys do when they have to hold their girlfriend’s purse.

Then something happened. It was as if all the guys were drawn to the same some place at the same time. Crying six year old boys and bored 30 year olds hovered around the X-Box 360 aisle display. Suddenly, age didn’t matter and boredom was no longer a factor.

I patiently waited my turn to play and observed as the six year old champion demolished me with the same ease as he did the rest of his challengers. When his parents returned, he went back to acting like the bratty screaming kid observed only minutes earlier in the aisles. And when our girlfriends and wives returned, we went back to our mature selves – disinterested in video games – and of course, unwilling to admit defeat to a 6 year old.

II. We played “Call of Duty 2.” It’s a traditional war game providing players with realistic graphics and a controller that vibrates when shots are fired. When your character dies , the screen fades to black. A meaningful quote appears, as if to provide your imaginary life with significance. Here’s an example of three such quotes:

1. “A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.” –Joseph Stalin
2. “Old men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.” - Herbert Hoover
3. “So long as they don’t get violent, I want to let everyone say what they wish, for I myself have always said exactly what pleased me.” — Albert Einstein

Their meaning is quickly rendered absurd by how quickly it is bypassed by players far more interested in rejuvenating their characters than lamenting their life or pondering the meaning of sacrifice. Reading the quotes in this context is like opening a fortune cookie to find wisdom about the Rwandan genocide.

III. When we left the store, I shared the experience of the game and Xbox 360 with friends. They all swapped stories about the quick money they made purchasing and selling the systems on Ebay. They were surprised I hadn’t done the same.

IV. Earlier this week, I spoke with one of the big three online advertising agencies and learned first hand how lucrative and popular video game advertising is. This agency represents more than 1 billion impressions within video games and is selling them on a CPM basis. They explained that generation y spends more time with their video games than with any other media they represent.

V. Anyone up for a game of Super Mario Cart? As long as you’re older than 7, you’re on.

*Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/godsmoon/4445456/

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addicted
Originally uploaded by GodsMoon.

I. I just returned from Target with my girlfriend. We parted ways to divide and conquer the store. As I roamed, I saw many of the same guys over and over again. Our pacing gave us away, and we connected the way guys do when they have to hold their girlfriend’s purse.

Then something happened. It was as if all the guys were drawn to the same some place at the same time. Crying six year old boys and bored 30 year olds hovered around the X-Box 360 aisle display. Suddenly, age didn’t matter and boredom was no longer a factor.

I patiently waited my turn to play and observed as the six year old champion demolished me with the same ease as he did the rest of his challengers. When his parents returned, he went back to acting like the bratty screaming kid observed only minutes earlier in the aisles. And when our girlfriends and wives returned, we went back to our mature selves – disinterested in video games – and of course, unwilling to admit defeat to a 6 year old.

II. We played “Call of Duty 2.” It’s a traditional war game providing players with realistic graphics and a controller that vibrates when shots are fired. When your character dies , the screen fades to black. A meaningful quote appears, as if to provide your imaginary life with significance. Here’s an example of three such quotes:

1. “A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.” –Joseph Stalin
2. “Old men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.” - Herbert Hoover
3. “So long as they don’t get violent, I want to let everyone say what they wish, for I myself have always said exactly what pleased me.” — Albert Einstein

Their meaning is quickly rendered absurd by how quickly it is bypassed by players far more interested in rejuvenating their characters than lamenting their life or pondering the meaning of sacrifice. Reading the quotes in this context is like opening a fortune cookie to find wisdom about the Rwandan genocide.

III. When we left the store, I shared the experience of the game and Xbox 360 with friends. They all swapped stories about the quick money they made purchasing and selling the systems on Ebay. They were surprised I hadn’t done the same.

IV. Earlier this week, I spoke with one of the big three online advertising agencies and learned first hand how lucrative and popular video game advertising is. This agency represents more than 1 billion impressions within video games and is selling them on a CPM basis. They explained that generation y spends more time with their video games than with any other media they represent.

V. Anyone up for a game of Super Mario Cart? As long as you’re older than 7, you’re on.

*Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/godsmoon/4445456/

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I read once that as literacy increased in Europe 100s of years ago, the personal diary usurped the role of the priest in the church. People began to confess their souls to themselves, which undermined Church authority.

Now it’s easier than ever to confess all, and to do so as an an imaginary person - fake name, fake identity and with several email addresses matching your intention. I wonder now that it is so easy to revent ourselves, to turn private communication into public spectacle, are we undermining ourselves by performing for so many constantly available others.

Now, the main attraction. Web 2.0:

Have you ever wondered what exactly web 2.0 is? O’Reilly write clearly on the subject. Here’s a taste in which the concept is illustrated by example.

Clear here for the complete document:

Web 1.0 Web 2.0
DoubleClick –> Google AdSense
Ofoto –> Flickr
Akamai –> BitTorrent
mp3.com –> Napster
Britannica Online –> Wikipedia
personal websites –> blogging
evite –> upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name speculation –> search engine optimization
page views –> cost per click
screen scraping –> web services
publishing –> participation
content management systems –> wikis directories
(taxonomy) –> tagging (”folksonomy”)
stickiness –> syndication

Additional resources: The Overview

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I read once that as literacy increased in Europe 100s of years ago, the personal diary usurped the role of the priest in the church. People began to confess their souls to themselves, which undermined Church authority.

Now it’s easier than ever to confess all, and to do so as an an imaginary person - fake name, fake identity and with several email addresses matching your intention. I wonder now that it is so easy to revent ourselves, to turn private communication into public spectacle, are we undermining ourselves by performing for so many constantly available others.

Now, the main attraction. Web 2.0:

Have you ever wondered what exactly web 2.0 is? O’Reilly write clearly on the subject. Here’s a taste in which the concept is illustrated by example.

Clear here for the complete document:

Web 1.0 Web 2.0
DoubleClick –> Google AdSense
Ofoto –> Flickr
Akamai –> BitTorrent
mp3.com –> Napster
Britannica Online –> Wikipedia
personal websites –> blogging
evite –> upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name speculation –> search engine optimization
page views –> cost per click
screen scraping –> web services
publishing –> participation
content management systems –> wikis directories
(taxonomy) –> tagging (”folksonomy”)
stickiness –> syndication

Additional resources: The Overview

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la queue du chat !
Originally uploaded by couleurs gm.

I just came across the Long Tail blog, and in a matter of days, noticed several people using the terms to describe trends. I decided to read up on it, and here’s what I found.

Longtail is an economic theory with social implications. It was coined by Christopher Anderson in a Wired Magazine article in 2004. And you should care because it describes a new economic model where fragmentation and niche markets are more important than blockbusters and major power players.

Long Tail suggests that “low demand or have low sales volume can collectively make up a market share that rivals or exceeds the relatively few current bestsellers and blockbusters, if the store or distribution channel is large enough.” Take music for example, since Itunes can easily store and distribute songs, it is no longer limited to stocking its inventory with blockbuster artists. In fact, a niche community’s collective demand for less known artists may exceed sales for blockbuster artists.

The same applies with movies in a Blockbuster vs. Netflix scenario. Considering low storing and distribution costs, Netflix is able to house its shelves with movies in lower demand, like documentaries, which may collectively exceed the requests for blockbuster hits, which fill Blockbuster. As Anderson notes in his article, “Now, with online distribution and retail, we are entering a world of abundance. And the differences are profound.”

Long Tail explains how new distribution methods rival main stream channels. I think this is especially true with consumer generated media. Podcasts, blogs and online communities, for example, provide millions of new channels to receive news and share information, which may collectively account for more influence than mainstream paths. Three case points: At a recent Marketing Sherpa conference, marketers stated that the top 100 bloggers are collectively more read than the Washington Post and New York Times combined; Myspace just launched its record label; and the creation of the Media-Citizen and blogosphere provided new avenues to participate in the political process.

This leaves me with one question. What happens when large media player participate in these new economic models by aggregating fragmented content? If traditional media owns these new channels, will the Long Tail phenomena still take effect? For example, Rubert Murdock commented:

“We discuss that: What does a portal mean? In a sense, we say we’ve got 30 million portals: In MySpace, everyone has their own portal. All of our sites will be tightly interlinked technologically, so you can click from one to another.”

What does this mean in the context of Long Tail? While there are many niche communities that comprise Myspace, they entire platform is being monetize in the same way as traditional media.

Open to your comments.

I found these quotes helpful to my understanding of this concept:
“The key factor that determines whether a sales distribution has a Long Tail is the cost of inventory storage and distribution. Where inventory storage and distribution costs are insignificant, it becomes economically viable to sell relatively unpopular products; however when storage and distribution costs are high only the most popular products can be sold.” Wikipedia

“The Long Tail is the myriad of niche products whose collective market share can rival the blockbusters.”

“What’s really amazing about the Long Tail is the sheer size of it… Take books: The average Barnes & Noble carries 130,000 titles. Yet more than half of Amazon’s book sales come from outside its top 130,000 titles. Consider the implication: If the Amazon statistics are any guide, the market for books that are not even sold in the average bookstore is larger than the market for those that are… Venture capitalist and former music industry consultant Kevin Laws puts it this way: “The biggest money is in the smallest sales.” - Wired

p.s. photo from flickr, click for link.

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