Monday, March 19, 2007

Long Tail v/s Elongating Tail

My fellow ideator Blaiq says in a paper, which can be found here, that Chris Anderson's Long Tail should actually be called 'Elongating Tale'.

In principle, what Blaiq says makes sense. Accurately speaking, the Long Tail concept is an 'Elongating Tail' concept. The problem though with calling it 'Elongating Tail' is pretty obvious to me. And for those of you out there to whom it isn't, here's why Long Tail works better than Elongating Tail. The word 'Elongating' sounds like a description of a process of/for for something that is an abberation and doesn't roll off the tongue easily. Long Tail on the other hand, sounds pithy, right and familiar; good qualities to have in a name for a new concept. Adverbs and verbs do not make for good brand names. (Great brands, though, might make for good adverbs and verbs!) I'm quite sure 'Elongating Tail' wouldn't have worked.

Indeed, 'Elongating Tail' might be a more correct description of the product but that's not the only thing a good name should aim for. In fact, correctness of description is hardly one of the important principles of naming. Fact is, Anderson wanted to create a brand/brand theory and had to choose a memorable name for it. Good call, Chris.

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