The "long tail" discussion concerns the growing number of information outlets with small audiences and their impact on mass media at the high point of a distribution curve.
My favorite quote: "demand is far more difficult to create on the Web than supply.
"
More food for thought... Blossom mentions a research report from
Physics Web that says this (and more) about the "half-life" of news stories:
"If you think you're reading the news, be warned that this story --
and any other on the web -- will be barely read by anyone 36 hours
after it was first posted. That's the message from a team of
statistical physicists who have analysed how people access information
online....
"The short life of a news item -- combined with random visiting patterns
of readers -- implies that people could miss a significant fraction of
news by not visiting the portal when a new document is first displayed,
which is why publishers like to provide e-mail news alerts. The results
also show that people read a particular web page not just because it
looks interesting but because it can be accessed easily."
