editor-in-chief - TheWayoftheWeb

Changes, they are a-coming…

Three things are going to have an effect on my somewhat erratic blog posting regime over the coming month, so I figure it’s time to share…

Firstly, impending fatherhood is likely to have major implications for my work-life balance, and particularly anything I do in addition to escaping from the house 8 hours a day. So forgive me if posts tend to stop for a while during the adjustment to not being the biggest baby in the house, or they tend to be posted at 2am, and cover the topics like nappies, not being able to sleep, and the merits of microwave baby bottle sterilisers!

With that in mind, and after a great 18 months or so, I’ve decided to step down as Editor of Disposable Media. Having had our first ever real life meeting about DM, there’s a clear vision of what we want to achieve over the next 12 months, and I’ve got a lot of confidence and faith in Keith Andrew, the new Editor of DM. However, my escape hasn’t entirely succeeded, as I’ve somehow found myself volunteered to become Editor-in-Chief! It’s not quite the right title, but will do for the moment, as I’m now basically looking after the strategy, direction, marketing etc, and more longterm stuff, and letting Keith do all the hard work of getting each issue out!

And lastly, I’ve got a stinking cold/flu and possibly a chest infection. Which is nice…very helpful when I’m trying to get as much sorted as possible before paternity leave – including several presentations etc… Try evangelising about social media when you’ve got tears in your eyes from trying not to sneeze!

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The Long Tail: Inspiration and Context…

Developing my ideas about the missing piece of The Long Tail theory has taken a surprising turn, as a rather hopeful email to Chris Anderson, The Long Tail author and Wired Editor-in-Chief was met by a prompt and thoughtful email helping me to crystalise some of my ideas… Just goes to show that the connectivity of the internet is more than theory – it’s reality. And also helping are my constant discussions, disagreements and challenges to blog chum Dave Cushman from Faster Future…

As I said previously, Chris does a superb job of reminding readers that the new culture of niche interests in the internet-accessible long tail does not mean the end for big entertainment companies producing hits aimed squarely at the short tail. But the justification for this is left implicit, understandably, as it’s the Long Tail which is the radical new idea. Just a shame then, that a surprising amount of people manage to completely miss the point and go straight to proclaiming all mass media dead.

But there are reasons for these big companies to survive, as they transform into agents of the new prosumer, rather than content creators.

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