Wall Street Journal columnist Lee Gnomes highlights new research that counters The Long Tail theory, which argues that the Internet's unlimited choices decreases the popularity of mainstream products while greatly promoting more narrowly targeted niche offerings. The widely accepted concept was introduced in 2006 by Wired editor Chris Anderson, who discusses it in his blog, thelongtail,com.
But Harvard marketing professor Anita Elberse's research suggests that people are still buying the same way they always have. Popular items like hit movies are actually selling more on the Internet, not less.
Gnomes summarizes that "the mere fact that other people are experiencing and liking something makes us like it even more. Far from being cultural rugged individualists, most of us are only too happy to have others suggest to us what we'd like."
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Download the full Harvard research report, Superstars and Underdogs: An Examination of the Long Tail Phenomenon in Video Sales.
