Okay, I didn’t contribute actual Jell-O to the infosphere[^1], but weirdly enough, after reading Chris Anderson’s “The Big Lie About Free” I got to thinking that what’s really silly about all these complaints about the seeming decline in value of media is that the idea of the promotional giveaway is so old! How old, you say? Read more…
I found this entry from Chris Anderson over at The Long Tail regarding how he sees an explosion in market space (read: used-to-be-shelf-space) online causing a lot of trouble for brands. I don’t disagree with his conclusion that tastemakers (i.e. Oprah, Martha Stewart, Paris Hilton) will be more important or that many companies will decline in marketshare as information in the market increases and the number of competitors increases but I disagree that they all will.
Chris Anderson of the Long Tail blog identified a trend in commerce that he calls the Long Tail some issues ago in Wired Magazine. To summarize his observation, most (offline) stores have a limitation of physical capacity that keeps them from selling everything under the sun to you. The problem is, you didn’t know that some of the more “nichy” things out there under the sun were things that you wanted. Online commerce is allowing this situation to change. Netflix is giving you access to movies that Blockbuster can’t store on its shelves. Amazon.com is getting you books that Barnes & Noble can’t store on its shelves. And ebay getting you stuff that your neighbors can’t store in their garages. Read more…
