Want a glimpse of the future of business? Read The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. One of the editors at Wired magazine, Anderson has been writing about technology for a while. The subtitle of the book is "The New Economics of Culture and Commerce" which may sound like a heavy subject, but the book is a surprisingly easy read.
The Long Tail opened my eyes to just how much the Internet has changed and is changing our buying habits. We are changing from a mass market society to a niche market society. (That explains the decline of Top 40 radio, for one.) People out there want to buy specialized products. The Internet gives businesses unprecedented access to those people. I found it fascinating to examine the limitations of a physical big-box store, like Wal-Mart.
The book also made me realize some strange stereotypes that people (including me) sometimes have. For example, the thought that self-publishing is less "authentic" than having a publisher or that a movie that goes straight to DVD must be sub-par. These ideas are based on limitations of physical space; after all, there is only so much space in a bookstore or so many screens in a movie theater.
I found the book very thought-provoking and informative. It's definitely worth the time. By the way, the edition of the book I read was published in 2006, but Anderson published an updated version in 2009. I'm curious to see the newer edition.
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