http://www.futurist.com/2008/06/05/the-long-tail/ This is the blog of Glen Hiemstra, futurist speaker, keynote speaker, futurist consultant, and founder of futurist.com Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:54:01 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://www.futurist.com/2008/06/05/the-long-tail/comment-page-1/#comment-51248 Ruth Wed, 18 Jun 2008 08:35:44 +0000 http://www.futurist.com/2008/06/05/the-long-tail/#comment-51248 This is a question that has bothered my brain a lot. I believe it boils down to a social issue. It's all very well to have a surge of content, but where is the answering surge of consumption supposed to come from? For instance, everyone is creating and publishing music, books and movies on the web, but who is listening to/reading/watching them, let alone paying for them? Who can afford to spend time surfing oceans of stuff of dubious quality and/or applicability? Speaking for myself, I would rather use the time productively creating my own unique content to share with others! Perversely however, with $20 to spare I admit that I would rather buy something mainstream on Amazon than borderline on Lulu.com. That's why the content pre-selectors such as StumbleUpon, delicious etc. are going to become ever more important in generating communities of interest on the internet. Networks will be the key to growing the consumption of user-generated content. This is a question that has bothered my brain a lot. I believe it boils down to a social issue. It’s all very well to have a surge of content, but where is the answering surge of consumption supposed to come from? For instance, everyone is creating and publishing music, books and movies on the web, but who is listening to/reading/watching them, let alone paying for them? Who can afford to spend time surfing oceans of stuff of dubious quality and/or applicability? Speaking for myself, I would rather use the time productively creating my own unique content to share with others! Perversely however, with $20 to spare I admit that I would rather buy something mainstream on Amazon than borderline on Lulu.com. That’s why the content pre-selectors such as StumbleUpon, delicious etc. are going to become ever more important in generating communities of interest on the internet. Networks will be the key to growing the consumption of user-generated content.

]]> http://www.futurist.com/2008/06/05/the-long-tail/comment-page-1/#comment-49425 Brenda Cooper Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:58:55 +0000 http://www.futurist.com/2008/06/05/the-long-tail/#comment-49425 I like the long tail idea a lot. I first saw it a few years ago - in Wired, I think. We've talked about it a lot in the writing industry. Because some books can't be found in brick and mortar bookstores ahortly after they come out, Amazon and other etailers give them longer life, and a chance to develop consumer buzz. I like the long tail idea a lot. I first saw it a few years ago – in Wired, I think. We’ve talked about it a lot in the writing industry. Because some books can’t be found in brick and mortar bookstores ahortly after they come out, Amazon and other etailers give them longer life, and a chance to develop consumer buzz.

]]>