Posts tagged “long tail”

Every trend has a counter-trend

In The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less and The Substance of Style we learn about the dramatic increase in choice for so many products and services, why that is, and what it means to our experience with those products and services.

But let’s not forget that things go other way as well. Like the banana convergence I blogged about before, apples are a paradox of limited choice.

The United States was once home to more than 10,000 named apple varieties, but nowadays it’s hard to find more than a handful, even at farmers’ markets.

Although theories like those authors put forward (and I’ll throw in the Long Tail too) are useful lenses to help make sense of out what we see there often completely opposite gravities occurring simultaneously. But hey, culture is a complex beast, isn’t it? Because both of the contradictory trends are indeed true.

Spin story

I bitched about Spin magazine and questioned the notion of relaunch vs. loyalty vs. targeting in a previous post, only to read in Wired (in a piece by Chris Anderson excerpted from the just-released The Long Tail”) that “money-losing Spin magazine was just, well, spun off for a fire-sale sum.” Wikipedia sez

[Under the direction of new editor-in-chief Andy Pemberton] The [May 2006] issue’s format took a dramatic turn to many readers’ disgust. The new style has been compared to celebrity gossip magazines such as Us Weekly, even going as far as to have a cover story and picture on Kevin Federline. Prior to the issue’s release, much of the staff quit or were fired.

and

As of June 26, 2006, Andy Pemberton resigned from Spin as editor-in-chief amid much criticism of his handling of the magazine.

and

Vibe’s recent sale of the magazine for only $5 million, given the fact that VIBE paid over $45 million for the publication in 1997.

I left my last issue at the post office, didn’t even take it home to flip through. I didn’t even open the magazine before discarding it. Sad, really.

Meanwhile, Chuck Klosterman has created a big stir in the blogosphere with his Esquire article about the lack of criticism in the gaming scene.

The Future of Marketing

MSquared is a mini-conference in SF in late September, put on by Influx Strategic Consulting. I’m serious about the mini aspect – between 8am and 12:50pm there are 7 presenters (including Chris Anderson and Howard Rheingold), Q&As and a coffee break. Anderson presents for 20 minutes. Rheingold for 30. Yeesh.

Given that the aim is obviously to promote Influx’s brains (and services), one might wonder what it costs. That information is nowhere to be found. The registration page simply asks for contact information. Submitting that, however, takes to you a page where you are asked to pay $185.00. I don’t think that’s unreasonable, but how hard is it to put that information upfront so people can decide to register or not? It might be nice to be a little clearer that this is happening in San Francisco, specifically.

Update: They’ve fixed the price thing; it’s right up front now. Thanks!

The event might be fun, however, we’ll be on vacation (well-deserved I might add; it’s been a few years).

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