'Long Tail' May Not Wag the Web Just Yet

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Expanding on an article he wrote in 2004 (and discussed on Slashdot), Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson argues in his best-seller 'The Long Tail' that the web is changing commerce from a hit-driven business to one focused on niches. But Wall Street Journal columnist Lee Gomes questions Anderson's data, and adds, 'I don't think things are changing as much as he does.' Gomes writes, 'At Apple's iTunes, one person who has seen the data -- which Apple doesn't disclose -- said sales "closely track Billboard. It's a hits business. The data tend to refute 'The Long Tail.' " ' On his blog, Anderson responds that Gomes 'stumbles over statistics and more, and in the end simply makes a muddle of what might have been an interesting debate over the magnitude of the Long Tail effect.'"

The message is clear:

[THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR]

The web has FAILED!

Re:The message is clear:

['nother poster]

Yeah. Now all the rest of you kids get off my internet! Using my electrons and clogging my tubes up with their pr0n and myspaces and Youtubes. Back in my day we had Gopher, and we were damn glad to have it, even though our electrons had to go uphill both ways. In the snow!

Re:The message is clear:

[Ingolfke]

The web has FAILED!

Thank goodness for Web 2.0!!