October 2009 Archives

Long-tail distribution in the real world

By Patrick J. Lynch on October 27, 2009 1:25 PM | No Comments

We mention long-tail phenomena often in the latest version of the Web Style Guide, so I thought I'd post these analyses from the Wharton School and from author Chris Anderson on real-world distribution data from Netflix. The long tail indisputably exists - the core question is how much should you base a business or content strategy on the availability of seldom-used products or content.

This isn't just a business problem: it's the crux of the issue for the fate of large university libraries, for example. How many books must remain on our (expensive) shelves to remain a credible research institution, and how many could be more economically warehoused offsite?

An excellent summary of An Event Apart-Chicago

By Patrick J. Lynch on October 17, 2009 9:23 AM | No Comments

Great summary write-ups on the talks, with useful links.