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William has asked me to guest blog here while he wilts with over work and high temperatures. Meanwhile here in the air conditioned penthouse on the 15th floor of Broadcasting House in Belfast, I’m happy to write. It has taken a few days because I couldn’t find my password.

If you haven’t noticed it, the buzzword/buzzphrase of the month is “The Long Tail”. With the publication of Chris Anderson’s book and his recent UK tour, the phrase is on the lips of every new media .

The idea of The Long Tail began in Chris’s Wired Magazine’s article of the in October 2004. The first time I heard it was much more recently on Radio 4’s In Business (which I recommend to anyone interested in emerging/new media. I think in this programme. I had the book by last Friday and finished it on Monday. The book is really interesting and an easy read – as you would expect from the editor of Wired. But I’m not convinced it needed a whole book. The original article covers the essence of the argument and there is a very good section on Choice and Finding Content which I found provoking and informative. What’s the point of all this content if you can’t find it or you can’t lead people to it? It is a fundamental question in this digital age and the biggest challenge to all of us in digital media.

That (rather) minor criticism aside, I enjoyed the book and I learned something. While I didn’t throw it away half way through – I rather scan read it to the end.

If digital media is something you are interested (and particularly the economics of digital media I suggest you start with the Wired article before progressing to the book.

You can also follow Chris’s progress on