A two-tailed beast
by John Craig
This great article by Chris Anderson called The Long Tail has received much comment. It's point is that online providers like Amazon can reach much further down the popularity chart, catering to broader tastes. Of course, the internet is also good for getting things first - pre-ordering or scooping an early relase on Ebay. This Morgan Stanley report by Mary Meeker, out this week, argues that this might be a general feature of the internet - that it is very often of most value to 'laggards' or 'early-adopters'. From Amazon and book sales, to blogs and news cycles, to Ebay and anything, perhaps online activity is most important before the storm and after.
I wonder what this means for its eventual significance for the social policy agenda - will it mirror this two-tailed pattern?