Long Tail Primer

Michael Hiemstra:”If you look at the long tail as a graph, traveling along the X-axis you would see a short period of very high values quickly tapering off to a much longer period of shorter values. For instance, if you record every time you hear your kids screaming for a month and line them up on a graph based on the actual severity of the problem from most severe to least severe, chances are you would end up with a good picture of the long tail. There might be one or two real reasons for concern with the majority of the issues having something to do with a bothersome brother or sister flipping channels on the TV or making the wrong type of face.”