This is the Shape of Our Age

A more thoughtful Long Tail.

“Bottom Line: A Long tail is just culture unfiltered by economic scarcity.”

We want variety. People want variety. This is certain. Things become less relevant when everything is relevant. How will this affect business? Well, big business becomes less lucrative, unable to provide the type of variety that is in demand. Does that make sense? I mean, this has to be impossible if the variety that is in demand is infinite variety, right? Of course. Heads spinning, yet?

Businesses, to stay in business, must focus on niches. Which niches? I guess it depends on how much money a business wants to make. Random example. Let’s take bubble gum pop music, for example. The niche: teeny boppers. Is this niche a large one? Ridiculously huge. Hypothetically, I will enter the business of production and sales in the teeny bopper market in order to receive the greatest return. Anything wrong with that? Just the volatility of the teeny bopper market. But hey, great risk yields high return. What happens when the teeny boppers grow up, put filtered ipods in their ears, and pass it to their posterity. Damn. Sorry business, teeny bopper niche go bye-bye.

Businesses face great challenges in evolving society. The goal of business changes. The purpose of Big Business becomes obsolete. But, they won’t go down without a fight. And, we won’t either. We’ll scream “we want variety!” We want VARIETY! That is, until someone or entity comes along and convinces us differently. And who or what will that be?

Mass Collabo, Wiki Wiki, Mass Collabo

Stop! Read it again. Yes.

Now read it again.

Okay. You are an official old school DJ! (Crowd cheers!)

So, that was my very corny way of demonstrating how cool I think mass collaboration really is. Where am I going with this? No freaking where, really. I think mass collaboration is one of those things that it is just inevitable. With our very wired and extremely connected global communities that are being created everywhere, every second, we now have the apparatus for mass collaboration i.e. Wikipedia. This is pretty darn cool! I’m contributing to wikis with people from across the globe! I don’t know these people!

Of course, certain contributions will be more significant than others. Duh. Inevitably, the questions of “what is credible?” and “who is credible?” will arise and make us question very nature of credibility itself. Finally, we find ourselves encumbered in endless philosophical discourse – which I find quite stimulating and intriguing – that ultimately conclude in metaphysical existential inquiries! However, at the end of the day, we will visit our wikis and make friends with our co-contributors. We will agree to disagree, and get on with our lives. Yet, we may feel a bit bothered by the possibility of inaccuracy, but we will move on with our lives, nonetheless.

Can we trust Wikipedia and the lot of wikis? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I still think we will constantly arrive at the question of “who is the omnipotent author-editor?” of some sorts, and I don’t think we should be looking for that person-entity. We must face it! Mass collaboration, wikis, and all that forces us to reposition human knowledge as we know it. What does it mean “to know?” -this is an ultimate question. I think we must all position ourselves in socratic thought for a moment and proclaim that indeed we are are all fools. The truth ( or that which is credible) will raise itself, and it will be known. If truth does not emerge as such, then untruth will. We must face that fact, as well. Wiki, wiki right? Or wiki, wiki wrong? –Official DJ status.

Ya-who? Just Google it.

That day did come for me.

The day when ask.com didn’t roll off my dainty fingertips. The day when I stumbled upon search.com, immediately felt uncomfortable, and blew imaginary dust off of my computer screen. The day when superpages.com became less relevant. The day when I uttered “Ya- who?” and chuckled as if I had been brainwashed.

I love my Yahoo mail account. I can’t get rid of it. I hold onto it like my “Daisy Dukes” tape and my elementary school “Camp So and So” shirts. At first, I didn’t know what @gmail.com meant. I thought it was a phone or cable service email account. I was so, so wrong. They made me do it. They made me get a Gmail account. They knew what it would do to me. Oh, them!

I spit “Just Google it” like wildfire (please imagine me rapping this, pun intended). There are so many ways to say it. So many emotions to put to it. That would be a great video series. How people say “Google it.” It’s an addictive phrase. You can make people feel really stupid when they ask you a question about anything. Google it + expletive makes it really seep in with them. Try it. But, only with your close friends, or you will offend someone.

Google didn’t just transform our culture. Google jumped into us like Patrick Swayze jumped into Whoopi on Ghost. Bad analogy, but good enough for me. Google started walking around with us, becoming everyone’s best friend. Google is the most popular kid -in the world. Google’s walking around giving everybody high fives and dappin’ people up and saying “wassup” -in a million different languages. Google said bye-bye Gayle, I’m Oprah’s NEW best friend. Google said “I’m Rick James, B@#!” and we laughed like it was the first time we heard it. Google’s got on the Jordan’s that will never come out.

We recognize that Google may get rid of privacy as we know it, but we are too busy Googling to care that much. Ariel view of the Cruise’s house, anyone? Wait, that’s my house?! Heey….wait a minute…..

Confessions of a Blog Virgin

I was going to call this Confessions of a Blirgin. But, I didn’t think people would get it. Hehe.

I’ve changed the title of my blog several times, now. I’ve written blogs on the most random of subjects. And, my stream of consciousness writing is all too reminiscent of my day-to-day battle with ADD (See Generation ADD).  But, all-and-all, I am enjoying my blog journey. I’m enjoying these naked conversations, as Scoble and Isreal so perfectly articulated- butt naked conversations- as Bart Simpson would so perfectly articulate.  I am enjoying the raw nature of the blogosphere, and the praise of authencity- blogthenticity (<–insert copyright here)- if you will, in it. I feel like a bird soaring above the sky free to splatter white crap on anything and anyone beneath it. Just kidding. I got carried away. The soaring bird + the crap = the ultimate critic. I like being a critic. It’s okay. You don’t have to laugh. That was kinda’ gross, anyway.

Scoble and Isreal are on point with the fact that “the dull should not blog.” Because, as I began my journey, I learned some valuable lessons: alot of blogs suck, most people don’t read long blogs, and yummy juicy blogs = readership. I learned some other interesting stuff too, but my disorder won’t let me remember. Why “the juicier the blog the more popular,” you say? C’mon now, that’s like me explaining why the Enquirer and Us Weekly still exist! Jeesh! And really, “juicy” is completely self-explanatory. But, for those of you who don’t know what self-explanatory is (hehe), a “juicy” blog encompasses the component of intellectual fervor in a blog to just pure gutter gossip – although, exquisitely articulated in such a way that gets audiences hooked like crackheads. Damn those catchy Britney headlines!

By starting this third full paragraph, I have just lost about a dozen readers. Damn! And, I thought I could have been a pro at this blog stuff. All-and-all, throughout my journey, I feel like Hilary Clinton (<– insert Obama link here for fairness): I found my voice! It’s humorous (hopefully). It’s raw (c’mon now if I was that raw I’d be the uncensored Popeye). It’s real (no, I am not Pinocchio, no). That’s why you should vote for me as the next president…..Oh, and it’s random. And, I like it that way.

I am really diggin’ this no blog rules stuff.