Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality. Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality First published February 8, 2003 on the "Networks, Economics, and Culture" mailing list. Subscribe to the mailing list. Version 1.1: Changed 02/10/03 to point to the updated "Blogging Ecosystem" project, and to Jason Kottke's work using Technorati.com data. Added addendum pointing to David Sifry's "Technorati Interesting Newcomers" list, which is in part a response to this article. A persistent theme among people writing about the social aspects of weblogging is to note (and usually lament) the rise of an A-list, a small set of webloggers who account for a majority of the traffic in the weblog world. Prior to recent theoretical work on social networks, the usual explanations invoked individual behaviors: some members of the community had sold out, the spirit of the early days was being diluted by the newcomers, et cetera.
A Predictable Imbalance # We are all so used to bell curve distributions that power law distributions can seem odd. Kevin Kelly -- The Technium. Will the "Long Tail" Work for Hollywood? — HBS Working. Much has been written about the long tail phenomenon in the entertainment industries. Long-tail enthusiasts claim that low-selling books, CDs, and movies, which are not available in brick-and-mortar stores, will collectively take up a majority share of the market over time. A bestseller itself, Chris Anderson's The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More is currently one of the more visible proponents of this perspective.
Could the long tail really provide increased profits for Hollywood? And is it true that it is better to be Netflix with its tens of thousands of titles than a Blockbuster store, stocking a limited number of popular movies? Intrigued with these questions, HBS assistant professor Anita Elberse and associate professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee analyzed the distribution of revenues in the U.S. home video industry from 2000 to 2005. Which view is right? The increasing clutter may be a problem, she notes. Place your bets "I don't know," Elberse admits. Scobleizer - Tech Geek Blogger » The screwing of the Long Tail. Why does Jon Udell dislike the term "user generated content?
" For the same reason I did. When I spoke at Google's Zeitgeist conference last fall I heard all the CEOs and important people speaking of how they were going to make gigantic new profits: user generated content. What is User Generated Content? Well, when you blog. Or add photos to a photo sharing site. Or when you tag some info or Digg it. Or when you leave a comment on a forum. You see, lots of people out there think that you're gonna do all the hard work and donate it to companies so they can put advertising next to it. No, they are gonna take all your content AND take all the money that the advertising generates. Even when you build your own thing on your own domain and spend time building your own audience they'll only give you 20%.
I think this whole system is vile. Huh? Easy. They will figure out they are getting screwed and they'll move elsewhere as soon as there is a choice. Maybe. Numbers. Or, lack thereof. Why? Micro Persuasion: 10 for 10. The Clip Report: An eBook on the Future of Media In the early 1990s when I began my career in PR there were clip reports. These were physical books that contained press clips. It seems downright archaic now but that’s how I learned about the press - by cutting, pasting up and photocopying clippings. My fascination with the media never abated.
Today my role is to form insights into how the entire overlapped media landscape - the pros, social channels, and corporate content - is rapidly evolving and to help Edelman clients turn these learnings into actionable strategies. Today I am re-launching my Tumblr site with a new name, a new focus and a new format. It all kicks off today with a 15-page installment of The Clip Report.