The long tail concept has so many positive and negative ramifications. Is the birth of the Internet, and the long tail concept good or bad? The death of journalism as we know it is a scary thought for many of those university students majoring in a journalism, some say the increase of weblogs and citizen journalism threatens the credibility of this profession…
"...mass professionalization is an oxymoron; a professional class implies a minority of members"
(Shirky, 2000)
However, this can be perceived as an exciting notion for those of us majoring in digital communications. As up and coming professionals, we must find a way to harness the shift in the corporate sphere by manipulating our knowledge, degree, and resume to take advantage of the digital revolution and position ourselves in alignment of the approaching opportunities.
The new retail frameworks made available through novel exercises such as electronic distribution, is fantastic for the convenient purchasing of music or e-books as these can be transformed into an entire digital experience. There is little to no delay between time of purchase and obtainment of product, even if you’re shopping at 2am – when traditional methods of shopping would be out of the question. Retailers must understand, employ and celebrate this new form of e-commerce or risk redundancy.
For other tangible items such as clothes and home wears, the Internet provides a much more competitive environment. There is an increase in price transparency… comparing products, brands and retailers is done with ease. Countless forums and blogs are available providing discussions on the best brands and products to buy to satisfy ones needs. For those of us that have a ‘here and now’ attitude, this may not be the best option as shipping time may take away from the excitement of the shopping experience.
Smaller, niche markets can find products appealing to there individual style with ease! This has led to the ‘boom of the indie’ as I like to say. Indie music, art, clothing and films have somewhat shifted the cultural hegemony which mass media once used to have complete dominance over. And from a marketing perspective, the Internet provides opportunities to target advertising efforts effectively and efficiently as new pull methods can be utilised. I feel Anderson's assertion…
"In the tyranny of physical space, an audience too thinly spread is the same as no audience at all" (Anderson, 2004)
… is no longer relevant in the digital age.
Interesting post Gabby. Isn’t it strange that as little as five years ago, if we wished to purchase clothing or homewares, we would have to physically be in the store between the hours of 9am and 5pm to buy our desired goods, this being a little hard for myself coming from a small town where the range of clothing and homewares stores is definately lacking! However today, we can purchase from all over the world without leaving our desk at home! I must say it defiantly takes the hassle out of shopping.
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