The Long Tail
I’m late to the game on this one, but finally finished reading The Long Tail
by Chris Anderson. Overall, it’s an interesting read (with some interesting points I’ve highlighted below), but it didn’t really revolutionize anything for me. I may have been a little too aware of the “plot” since it’s been released for a while. Here’s the link to the wired article that started it all. (If I had to to it again, I’d save yourself some time and just read the article, and not the book)
One interesting thing is my timing of finishing this book just as Anderson’s book Free has been getting some reviews. Malcolm Gladwell, Fred Wilson, Seth Godin and Mark Cuban have all weighed in on his new book.
- there’s more to creativity than Hollywood hits, and people who can strike a chord can come from anywhere, via any path
- a company’s brand is not what the company says it is, but what Google says it is.
- “We are leaving the Information Age and entering the Recommendation Age. Today information is ridiculously easy to get; you practically trip over it on the street. Information gathering is no longer the issue — making smart decisions based on the information is now the trick…Recommendations serve as shortcuts through the thicket of information, just as my whine shop owner shortcuts me to obscure French wines to enjoy with pasta”
- There does now seem to be a natural connection between mavens, who know a lot and like to share their knowledge and blogging.
- (on the 80/20 rule) The 80 and the 20 are percentages of different things, and thus don’t need to equal 100
Tags: books, malcolm gladwell