MIS 373 – Social Networking The Long Tail & The Power Law MIS 373 - Social Networking, SP09, Cho, Lang, McCaskill

Power Law Distributions Occur in socio-technical systems Very different from bell curve distributions Examples include traffic to internet sites, weblog readership, page views, content downloads, etc. MIS 373 - Social Networking, SP09, Cho, Lang, McCaskill

Occur in socio-technical systems

Very different from bell curve distributions

Examples include traffic to internet sites, weblog readership, page views, content downloads, etc.

Weblogs arranged by #of inbound links. MIS 373 - Social Networking, SP09, Cho, Lang, McCaskill

All mailing lists in the Yahoo Groups Television (ranked by number of subscribers) MIS 373 - Social Networking, SP09, Cho, Lang, McCaskill

LiveJournal users ranked by number of friends listed. MIS 373 - Social Networking, SP09, Cho, Lang, McCaskill

Dynamics of Social Systems When many people express their preferences among many options inequalities arise Most elements are below average As the number of option rises, the curve becomes more extreme People are affected by others Any tendency towards agreement in diverse and free systems creates power law distributions MIS 373 - Social Networking, SP09, Cho, Lang, McCaskill

When many people express their preferences among many options inequalities arise

Most elements are below average

As the number of option rises, the curve becomes more extreme

People are affected by others

Any tendency towards agreement in diverse and free systems creates power law distributions

Is this Inequality Fair? What is the cost of failure? Are there talented people who don’t get the traffic they deserve? Are new users more likely to go to top sites or to niche places? Will the gap between the most and least popular increase or decrease? MIS 373 - Social Networking, SP09, Cho, Lang, McCaskill

What is the cost of failure?

Are there talented people who don’t get the traffic they deserve?

Are new users more likely to go to top sites or to niche places?

Will the gap between the most and least popular increase or decrease?

But is Small Necessarily Bad? When most creators/contributors get below average traffic, audience size cannot be the only metric of success Publishing a self-made video and having only twenty random people watch is disappointing But publishing a video of Lola’s first birthday and getting comments from twenty of your best friends and family feels great The larger you get the more you resemble big media because you can no longer hold personal conversations MIS 373 - Social Networking, SP09, Cho, Lang, McCaskill

When most creators/contributors get below average traffic, audience size cannot be the only metric of success

Publishing a self-made video and having only twenty random people watch is disappointing

But publishing a video of Lola’s first birthday and getting comments from twenty of your best friends and family feels great

The larger you get the more you resemble big media because you can no longer hold personal conversations

The Long Tail vs. The Fat Middle Traditional stores Focus on mainstream needs Target the average customer E.g., Blockbuster E-Tailers Can focus on niche markets E.g., Netflix Information Systems Today: Managing in the Digital World 5-

Traditional stores

Focus on mainstream needs

Target the average customer

E.g., Blockbuster

E-Tailers

Can focus on niche markets

E.g., Netflix

Everything has an Audience MIS 373 - Social Networking, SP09, Cho, Lang, McCaskill

The Long Tail: Stocking Up MIS 373 - Social Networking, SP09, Cho, Lang, McCaskill

Making Money from Everything MIS 373 - Social Networking, SP09, Cho, Lang, McCaskill

LT: Information Sharpens Taste MIS 373 - Social Networking, SP09, Cho, Lang, McCaskill

Net Neutrality Data sent over the Internet is handled in a neutral manner All traffic treated the same way ISPs and telephone companies argue for prioritization Traditional Internet traffic suffers due to high bandwidth applications (esp video content) Should YouTube have to pay for bandwidth use or get deprioritized? Multi-tier Broadband consumer plans? MIS 373 - Social Networking, SP09, Cho, Lang, McCaskill

Data sent over the Internet is handled in a neutral manner

All traffic treated the same way

ISPs and telephone companies argue for prioritization

Traditional Internet traffic suffers due to high bandwidth applications (esp video content)

Should YouTube have to pay for bandwidth use or get deprioritized?

Multi-tier Broadband consumer plans?