Google, Ebay and Amazon are all successful Long Tail businesses: the reasons they flourish financially are, in the main, the rise and spread of computer networks and the ease with which the more affluent are increasingly using and exploiting them for consumer choice. However, one of the main strengths behind these businesses is that they are able to aggregate customers' opinions, and then analyse and feed them back into the sales cyde with very precise marketing - their power lies in providing a mechanism for differentiating to a spectrum of different customers' needs and wants, and then using these to make further sales
Around the same time the academic internet book publisher Tim O'Reilly" released his meme map" diagram describing some of the dements of Web 20. Tun O'Reilly's diagram can be used to outline and map some main equivalents in education. The underlying mechanics of joining information up in newer, faster and more efficient ways that anyone can control in a commutative way is one of the keys to greater productivity, and results in a greater engagement on the part of the consumer or learner.