Book Review
What is the Long Tail mean? Long ago, there weren’t many of choices when you watch shows on television or listening music from radio. This created a hit-driven economics. Everyone accepted what was offered in television or radio stations. Because of hit-driven economics, there isn’t enough space to carry everything for everybody. For example, there aren’t enough TV channels for all TV programs, not enough shelves for DVDs and CDs. Now, with online distribution and retail, we are entering a world of abundance. The audience tends to distribute as widely as the choice.
The graph above is the Long Tail briefly. It describes the demand for products. The products in the Long Tail are less trendy in a mass, but still popular in a niche sense. So Amazon and Google can make money not just on big hits, but by eating the Long Tail.
The author’s concept is pretty simple, but it has deep implications. Anderson argues that you can find everything out there in the Long Tail and you can significantly lower the costs of connecting supply and demand. The Long Tail is nothing more than endless choice. It means the audience tends to distribute as widely as the choice.
According Anderson’s research, by spring 2006, users were uploading 100,000 videos a day to YouTube and views were watching around 100 million clips daily. Today Google Video and YouTube have become the distribution channel of choice for not just the Long Tail of content produces but also studios and networks trying to reach a new audience.
There are Long Tail rules that can be summarized in two imperatives. First rule is that make everything available. It would be easier that done. Second rule is helping to find out. This factor requires moving more quickly. Anderson shares nine rules of successful Long Tail aggregators: Rule 1 is move inventory way in, or way out. Rule 2 is let customers do the work. The advantage of crowd sourcing is not just economic: customers can do a better job, too. Rule 3 is one distribution method doesn’t fit all. It may sound like metaphysics, but the best Long Tail markets transcend time and space. Rule 4 is one product doesn’t fit all. Rule 5 is one price doesn’t fit all. One of the best understood principles of microeconomics is the power of elastic pricing. Rule 6 is share information. Rule 7 is think “and,” not “or.” The more abundant the storage and distribution, the less discriminating you have to be in how you are use it. “And” is a far easier decision than “or.” Rule 8 is trust the market to do your job. Online market’s information is rich and it’s relatively easy for people to compare goods, and spread the word about what they like. Last rule 9 is understands the power of free. One of the most powerful features of digital markets is that they put free within reach; because their costs are near zero.
All of these rules combine to take us to an amazing time in history of economic. I think the head and Long Tail are one family that the head of demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail.
