The Long Tail

I've been snowed under with assignments lately so I haven't gotten a chance to put up a new post in a few weeks.

Now that I've got a bit of breathing room I thought I might take a look at some of the books that were mentioned in the lectures. I bought a copy of Wired editor Chris Anderson's book, The Long Tail at the weekend. I'll be reading it over the next few weeks and I'll try and put up a post on my thoughts about each chapter as I go along. If it all goes well I'll be doing the same for Don Tapscott's book on mass collaboration, Wikinomics.

I came across some of Anderson's stuff while doing some research for an assignment. He's got some interesting thoughts on the new business models that are emerging on the web. Here's a good video featuring his take on "freemium", which he calls "the first business model of the 21st century":

In the video Anderson references Alan Murray, executive editor of The Wall Street Journal Online. Here's a link to another interesting video where Murray gives his opinion on what content should be charged for, and what should be free.

In his second book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price, Anderson discusses his ideas on the future of free.

That's it for now. I'll try and post again as soon as I've finished the first chapter of The Long Tail.