Starting to see a strong uptick in the use of the phrase, the 'long tail', recently. 'Drill down' is, well, long gone and thankfully so. As for the 'long tail', TechCrunch writers are apparently using it as it seems to be particularly relevant to their topics of interest. There is a trademark angle too in all of this so please keep reading.
Here are a couple of referenced to the 'long tail' I've seen just this morning:
• TechCrunch ENTERPRISE
Amazon Takes Redshift, Its Cloud-Based Data Warehouse Killer, Global
by Ingrid Lunden, Feb. 15, 2013
CRUNCHBASE
"Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), is a leading global Internet company and one of the most trafficked Internet retail destinations worldwide. Amazon is one of the first companies to sell products deep into the long tail by housing them in numerous warehouses..."
http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/15/amazon-takes-redshift-its-cloud-based-data-warehouse-killer-global/
• TechCrunch SOCIAL
You Think You Know What You Want Out Of Twitter Search, But It’s Not What You Really Need
by Drew Olanoff, Feb. 14, 2013
"Twitter is mostly real-time and mostly will be, people overestimate how valuable older stuff is going to be to them. I think in general, for a search product to be great, you have to cover the long tail."
and
"What does a Twitter long tail look like if it’s so real-time? That’s what the company has to grapple with as far as what the search experience will morph into over time."
http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/14/you-think-you-know-what-you-want-out-of-twitter-search-but-its-not-what-you-really-need/?icid=wym1 amp;grcc2=9e325718ee7c4117b6c78e96e0dd2e49~1360948721128~fca4fa8af1286d8a77f26033fdeed202~9051ba0d265fd4eabc07782072cd7d94~1360948410854~8~13~0~0~0~13~51~16~7~13~12~25~8~7526975527903714072~~http%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2013%2F02%2F15%2Famazon-takes-redshift-its-cloud-based-data-warehouse-killer-global%2F~18~
• Other Reference Sources
1. Definition of 'Long Tail'
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/long-tail.asp#axzz2KzWqXERg
2. Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_tail
excerpt:
"Marketing
The drive to build a market and obtain revenue from the consumer demographic of the long tail has led businesses to implement a series of long-tail marketing techniques, most of them based on extensive use of internet technologies. Among the most representative are:
New media marketing: The building and managing of social networks and online or virtual communities to extend the reach of marketing to the low-frequency, low-intensity consumer in a cost effective way, often through blogs, RSS feeds and podcasts.[citation needed]
Buzz marketing: The strategic use of word of mouth and transmission of commercial information from person to person in an online or real-world environment.
Viral marketing: The intentional spreading of marketing messages using preexisting social networks, with an emphasis on the casual, non-intentional and low cost, commonly through YouTube videos, viral emails and standalone microsites.
Pay per click and search engine optimization: The marketing of websites on search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing by focusing on long-tail keywords which have less competition.
Demand-side platforms/DSPs: Similar to how search engine marketing monetizes the long tail of keywords, auction-oriented buying/selling mechanisms are also viable to help monetize the long tail of ad impressions available across niche publishers in the display advertising realm. Publishers utilize these ad exchange environments, such as Right Media or AdECN, to efficiently sell display inventory that might otherwise go unsold through direct sales force operations. As a result, by January 2011 between 20–25% of all US ad spending was derived from long tail advertisers.[34]"
3. The Long Tail (book), by Chris Anderson (July 11, 2006)
excerpt of book description:
"...However, this is not just a virtue of online marketplaces; it is an example of an entirely new economic model for business, one that is just beginning to show its power. After a century of obsessing over the few products at the head of the demand curve, the new economics of distribution allow us to turn our focus to the many more products in the tail, which collectively can create a new market as big as the one we already know.
The Long Tail is really about the economics of abundance. New efficiencies in distribution, manufacturing, and marketing are essentially resetting the definition of what's commercially viable across the board. If the 20th century was about hits, the 21st will be equally about niches."
http://www.amazon.com/Long-Tail-Future-Business-Selling/dp/B001Q9E9F6
---
4. And this is apparently where the phrase started with Chris Anderson in his article in Wired Magazine in 2004 (see link below; excerpt from page 2):
Excerpt:
"This is the Long Tail.
You can find everything out there on the Long Tail. There's the back catalog, older albums still fondly remembered by longtime fans or rediscovered by new ones. There are live tracks, B-sides, remixes, even (gasp) covers. There are niches by the thousands, genre within genre within genre: Imagine an entire Tower Records devoted to '80s hair bands or ambient dub. There are foreign bands, once priced out of reach in the Import aisle, and obscure bands on even more obscure labels, many of which don't have the distribution clout to get into Tower at all."
You can find everything out there on the Long Tail. There's the back catalog, older albums still fondly remembered by longtime fans or rediscovered by new ones. There are live tracks, B-sides, remixes, even (gasp) covers. There are niches by the thousands, genre within genre within genre: Imagine an entire Tower Records devoted to '80s hair bands or ambient dub. There are foreign bands, once priced out of reach in the Import aisle, and obscure bands on even more obscure labels, many of which don't have the distribution clout to get into Tower at all."
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html
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Comments:
Though first coined in 2004, this phrase is finding current relevance in 2013 on the web amongst the media and social media pundits.
Additionally, from a trademark perspective, it appears that at one point Chris Anderson had plans to use "The Long Tail" for a series of non-fiction books but the trademark application he filed in this regard was eventually abandoned (see USPTO "TESS" record below):
Word Mark THE LONG TAIL
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 016. US 002 005 022 023 029 037 038 050. G & S: Non-fiction books in the field of business and economics
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Serial Number 78566195
Filing Date February 12, 2005
Current Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition July 4, 2006
Owner (APPLICANT) Anderson, Gregory Christopher INDIVIDUAL UNITED STATES
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date March 27, 2007
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In conclusion, who knows where the long tail will eventually lead us all. In the meantime, we can add it to the long tail list of internet jargon/keywords...
Respectfully submitted,
William E. Maguire
LAW OFFICES OF WILLIAM E. MAGUIRE
Santa Monica, Calif.
web: http://www.TrademarkEsq.com
blog: http://TrademarkEsq.blogspot.com
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