...is not to generalize about the blogosphere. I am reminded of this every time I read a hand-wringing article about what blogs are or aren't, such as this one by Adam Cohen in today's NYT.
Jeff Jarvis unloads on Cohen at length, but this to me is the key point:
He is, again, trying to turn blogs into an institution, like journalism. But they are not. Blogs are all individual.
You can find responsible and irresponsible blogs, journalistic and non-journalistic ones, male-dominated clusters and female-dominated clusters, snarky blogs and serious blogs, and superficial, derivative, navel-gazing ones alongside ones of such depth and scholarship that they put even the serious press to shame.
In short, blogs are a Long Tail, and it is always a mistake to generalize about the quality or nature of content in the Long Tail--it is, by definition, variable and diverse.
The presumption that things that are less popular are less good is a classic fallacy; indeed,tail content is often of higher quality than head content, simply because it is uncompromising. Content that is perfectly targeted for some people will be, by definition, wrong for other people--and that's okay.
Head content satisfies us in areas where we are similar (watching beautiful, talented people interact amusingly); Tail content satisfies us in areas where we are different (watching geeks talk about remotely programming DVRs). Me, I'd rather watch the latter than the former, but the beauty of the Long Tail is that you don't have to agree with me to make that geek show worth making. Vive la difference!
Chris
Two pieces in today's NYTimes
The one you mention, and the profile on Gwaker
A Blog Revolution? Get a Grip
I had a flash of the Wicked Witch from Wizard of Oz... "I'm melting, I'm melting..."
Maybe this is a rear guard action on the part of the Times
"Trust Us"
Keep up the good work(s)
Posted by: JTH | May 08, 2005 at 02:38 PM
Rear guard action? Yeah.
The NYT seems to do less and less non local reporting, instead relying on wire services and press releases these days. The thing is, anybody can do this. ANYBODY. And in fact, the attitude of the traditional press is that they don't have the time to become familar with economics/culture/technology/whatever. But the average person who WANTS to can and often does do this.
And compare the Times op-ed page to the blogosphere. Frankly, it's a bunch of hacks. (The only one that even remotely gets out of hackville, is Krugman).
The real danger to the establishement is if long-tail culture overtakes the head. The little band that goes big (Frankly, I've been recieving Linkin Park MP3s for about a year before they hit it big), or the blogosphere are good examples of this. The blogosphere might be the closest to the tail choking the head of all media. Another year? And the biggest blogs, and through the trickle-down effect inherent in most of blogdom, means that the popularity of political/current event blogs may blow out of control.
Posted by: Karmakin | May 08, 2005 at 05:01 PM
This struck me as a very bizarre remark:
"tail content is often of higher quality than head content, simply because it is uncompromising"
Content quality is in the eye of the beholder and, I believe, simply not measurable in the abstract or on an objective basis. The beauty of the Long Tail is that it unlocks "quality" content; relative worth beyond that is individualistic.
Eric.
Posted by: Eric Goldman | May 09, 2005 at 09:45 AM
Interesting stuff.
When I first heard of "long tailing" I figured it had something to do with a cat in a room full of rocking chairs...
I have noticed that certain ENTIRE categories of products are BETTER to sell over the internet... and the only and best way to sell it is to Long Tail. Accesories which only fit specific cars... are a good example.
-S
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