Hi, everyone, I was so mad at myself because of the poor explanation in the long tail theory in class. Because this is a really interesting theory, but does not sounds that interesting after my explanation. So I decided to rearrange my words and put that on the blog, even though it is about crowdsourcing, a topic related to last week’s readings.
Probably most of us know the 80-20 rule, which refers to the fact that 80% of the profit a company make comes from the 20% of its projects. So this rule tells us to “achieve more with less”. For example, a video store, with limited shelves, would probably use most of the space to put the hottest CDs and movies, because those are what most customers want.
But the new era of internet changed everything. Amazon.com found that 25% of its sales volume for books comes from those ranking after 100,000 in the best seller ranking list. So long tail theory was popularized by Chris Anderson in 2004. Opposed to the 80-20 rule, this theory views the 80% “not-hit-items” as a long tail, and asks us to think about “selling less of more”.
So let’s think about crowdsourcing, which can be a perfect solution to the long tail. For those things that nonprofit organizations lack the time and energy to do, with the access of internet, we would be able to find many people who are willing to donate their time and energy to do it for free. So if we use crowdsourcing successfully, we would be able to concentrate on the programs that meet the organization’s mission, as well as maintaining those things that we neglect which might make changes as well.
Probably most of us know the 80-20 rule, which refers to the fact that 80% of the profit a company make comes from the 20% of its projects. So this rule tells us to “achieve more with less”. For example, a video store, with limited shelves, would probably use most of the space to put the hottest CDs and movies, because those are what most customers want.
But the new era of internet changed everything. Amazon.com found that 25% of its sales volume for books comes from those ranking after 100,000 in the best seller ranking list. So long tail theory was popularized by Chris Anderson in 2004. Opposed to the 80-20 rule, this theory views the 80% “not-hit-items” as a long tail, and asks us to think about “selling less of more”.
So let’s think about crowdsourcing, which can be a perfect solution to the long tail. For those things that nonprofit organizations lack the time and energy to do, with the access of internet, we would be able to find many people who are willing to donate their time and energy to do it for free. So if we use crowdsourcing successfully, we would be able to concentrate on the programs that meet the organization’s mission, as well as maintaining those things that we neglect which might make changes as well.
Xiaofei,
ReplyDeleteI also believe that the 80/20 rule works in a different way. What I mean is that as an employee here at the University, my office spends 80% of it's time on 20% of the work that comes in. The volume of the work that we process is routine and goes through without problems or hurdles. However, roughly 20% of them need our 80% of our time.
So although the theory you presented applies to profits and projects, it also applies to the work that most companies do as well. So how do we solve this? If only 20% of our users/customers are problems, how come we can't fix them?
Sorry - Schoph9 is me
ReplyDeleteMost of time, the long tail theory is used in business. When I was in business school, we tried to find out in real life whether the profit can meet the cost especially at the beginning. In public administration organizations, fully used Internet could help them make it. But it requires more network. If the organization is new, the cost for them at the beginning maybe too high to develop.
ReplyDeleteXiaofei,
ReplyDeleteI think that you make a great point in your last paragraph. In our earlier reading, we read that organizations can sometimes become nervous about using social media because they do not want to lose control of a program or a message. Yet, if the organization does not have the time, or other resources, to dedicate to getting the word out, or running a program, they can use social media. They may be able to not only spread information about it, but also gain support and possibly volunteers – particularly if the program addresses an issue that is not being addressed in the community. This is a perfect example of a situation in which organizations should allow themselves to lose control. They can allow others to spread the message, while explaining that the organization does not have the capacity to support the program (which would serve the “20%”) and it may encourage people to help, one way or another.