Anderson argued, in short, that the internet's ability to provide unlimited choices makes it as profitable to focus on products that might only sell a few units (niches) as it is to focus on the big sellers (hits).

Long Tail graph

Image 1: A Long Tail (Picture by Hay Kranen / PD)

If the demand curve looks something like Image 1 then traditional retailers would have focused on the items that sell the most (at the left hand of the curve, shaded green) because they only have limited shelf space available and doing so maximises their profits.

But Anderson suggested that in reality there is the potential to sell, in total, far more niche goods than hits. And internet tools drive demand down the tail while also making it more profitable to service these niche markets by removing the limitations of physical shelf space.

Most importantly, he argued that "all those niches add up" so that the true Long Tail is "just culture unfiltered by economic scarcity".

The importance of recognising the cultural as well as technological change is a view shared by Jules Peck and Robert Phillips, who published a draft of their book Citizen Renaissance online. They write:

"Many people, even professional communicators, still fundamentally misunderstand the Digital revolution. To them it is just about technology and the way that you receive or communicate information. But it is a cultural transformation – it's about democracy and empowerment. We all have the ability to blog, campaign, engage and lobby. In the Digital Democracy we are more enquiring, less respectful or even trusting of authority." [i]

Footnotes:

[i] Peck, J. and Phillips, R. (2009), 'Citizen Renaissance' (online draft). Available at http://www.citizenrenaissance.com/the-book/part-one-three-seismic-shifts/chapter-three-the-digital-revolution-and-a-new-democracy [December 23, 2009].