Wondering where the tail ends?
Posted by Vicky
The Long Tail and Facebook are probably two of the most hotly discussed issues in the digital world during the last 12 months.
We wondered what parallels could be drawn between these two. Do they both draw from the same principles, or are they perhaps two entities at either end of a very long tail?
Most people know the premise of The Long Tail; diversify choice, help people find new things and reap the commercial rewards of selling things to a much wider audience. It's no longer necessary to only offer the top-selling products, because there are millions of other products that are in demand. OK, so you may not sell a million of each of these items, but what happens if a few people each buy one of the millions of products you have on offer? The Long Tail has revolutionised eCommerce and changed the way many business models have been constructed. Most digital marketers could now quite comfortably discuss the niche v hits and the much-debated Wisdom of Crowds in modern decision making. We're all using this now, even if we might not know it; think Usability Testing, Wikapedia, Forums, Blogs etc.
A true embracer of the concept, Facebook helps us find The Long Tail in our personal lives connecting us with long-lost friends and expanding our social network. Without realising it, we're all widening our circle of friends, tracking down child-hood sweethearts and finding new groups to connect with. With this connectivity, we're pushing ourselves further and further down the tail. It's The Long Tail in practice, just without the fancy buzz-words and academic explanations. But what about the other side of Facebook; could it possibly go against everything that The Long Tail prophesises, or is it a brilliant example of the same product operating at both ends of the tail?
How many friends do you have, do you have the latest 'app' on your profile page, what wall postings have you shared and have you joined the latest group that everyone's talking about? Facebook's attempt at social networking could arguably serve to constrict the world we live in, forcing us to conform to the latest fad or phase. It's like being back at school, needing to 'fit in' with the crowd and deferring to the 'hits' of the market (read 'society'). To some extent, Facebook is an exercise in conformism with an incredible ability to harness the power of the crowds; just look at how a Facebook community encouraged Cadbury's to re-launch Wispa, or HSBC to ban overdraft charges on graduate accounts.