Chris Anderson paints a great picture of the limitations of the big-hit model of distribution with his metaphor the “tyranny of physical space” - and let’s face it, the online market place has to be one of the best things to happen to the distribution of entertainment media. Its still quite amazing to see though that even with the unlimited possibilities for choice, the mainstream media industry – the Biebers, Transformers, Gaga… in other words the worst type of music and movies (in my opinion) – still remain just that: big hits.
While I use Amazon all the time, I’ve never stopped to think about how truly revolutionary it is, and how they manage to offer a personalised service – without having to do any of the leg work. Another interesting fact about the new digital model that Anderson mentions in an interview with Folio Magazine is that the freshness of media content matters less these days – people will continue linking to the story even after its “old news” if the story strikes a chord with people. Anderson says:
“A study recently showed that half the traffic to Web sites is after 36 hours. The old model of newspapers was that 100 percent of their readership is within first 36 hours and zero after that. The extraordinary interest in things we previously discounted, like archives, is the real lesson of the search and blog traffic era.”
I guess for budding entrepreneurs the key priority is a great search functionality. In the attention economy whether your product is or isn’t used often comes down to its accessibility. I know when I’m doing my uni work, if Summon directs me to a broken link on a journal article, I’m not going to pursue it, rather I move on because I know there’s more out there. Another tip, for those in the market for success, is to consider this very surprising statistic from researchers Bernardo and Huberman:
“…an analysis of the production histories and success dynamics of 10 million videos from
YouTube revealed that the more frequently an individual uploads con-tent the less likely it is that it will reach a success threshold. This paradoxical result is further compounded by the fact that the average quality of submissions does increase with the number of uploads, with
the likelihood of success less than that of playing a lottery.”
I completely agree with what you said about entrepreneurs needing a good search function. The best online markets are the best because they have different types of buying engines, for example, eBay uses the auction-like style engine and even sites like Catch of The Day use a popularity engine where the more people who want it makes it more available. Having these engines are essential but it is also got to do with your product. As you and DXW1 have said, it all has to do with selling something that no one else can get. The big question is though, what else is there?
ReplyDeleteI find the Wu and Huberman paper very thought-provoking. Great find Jess!
ReplyDeleteJess, it is fascinating how in this digital environment, which is often thought of as synonomous with a population that demands immediacy, that old news seems to be benefitting just as much. I've never really thought about the fact that one of the most useful things about the internet is our access to archives of information. Now, we do not have to go to the library in order to see old editions of newspapers, as they are more easy to find on Google. Now, when there is a fire in a tv company's warehouse, it is unlikely that we will lose all footage of their archived shows, as we are sure to find them on the internet. It's weird how digital information can be both more fragile and more resilient than the physical.
ReplyDeleteI do the exact same thing with Summon, or any other search for that matter. The ease of access to online content, coupled with the amount that's out there, if you're link doesn't work for me, I'm moving on.
ReplyDeleteThis is a new challenge for publishing content online. Sure you can publish news instantly to reach the masses, but you still have to maintain it.
Also, with this new 'instant' news reporting there isn't as much fact checking and we now see a falling of quality news story's. The rise of internet and multimedia Journalism is completely impacting on the nature and content of news reporting.
ReplyDeleteIts funny how you take so much technology for granted. I love online shopping and also use Amazon quite a bit and I too are in the same boat of not thinking about how revolutionary it is (well... until now). Your blog has stimulated my thoughts into questioning every aspect of my online presence. It all seems revolutionary.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lydia, i take the internet and the information i have access to for granted! i have recently moved to reading online newspapers (i mean i did read them before its just i have kinda given up on reading physical newspapers). I have also recently changed to google chrome and i find myself not even needing to think about what it is i am looking for i swear it already knows (based on previous searches ect.) But then again i think... wait is this bad is this suppressing or steering information flow?
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