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?