Chris Anderson, the editor of the magazine, Wired, visited the SBS station to participate in the 2007 Seoul Digital Forum. At the conference, he gave a presention called the “Long Tail Effect.” It all started as an article in the 2004 issue of Wired, an IT magazine. This article has been cited more times than any other article by media critics, marketing analysts, and company chairpersons, suggesting that the ‘Long Tail Effect’ exists . The main source of the theory is the Pareto Principle, which states that 20% of all consumers, buy 80% of all products sold. Ironically, he his theory is based on overturning the Pareto Principle’s concept. He focused on the ‘Tail,’ not the ‘body’ of the graph. 

Mr. Anderson wanted to talk about “What is the ‘tail’?”.

The typical broadcasting model was to supply programs by meeting audiences’ taste. Now, it is rare to find examples of unique products that are sold as the prime source for making record-breaking sales rates. Right after the Second World War, Hollywood blockbusters competed with the public media. TV and radio shows lost ratings, because audiences were separated into separate media resources, public media customers and movie customers. For instance, in the case of Nsync, their volume of album sales sloped downward over time, despite their increasing popularity. This was because consumer’s needs for diverse music resources, moved from buying CDs to preferring mp3s or digital music albums. This phenomenon is not only applied to music, but other industries as well, and proves that consumers of media have become interested in different materials.

Through the Internet, it is easy to access media materials. Many websites provide space for people who produce and upload short video clips. This new trend came about when people started to consider these new media sources and services as an expression of their own identities. So, the UCC sites such as “YouTube”, became one of the major webpages visited and used by Internet users. Although, they are mere amateur creations, UCC sites  and Blogs, have broadened their range of social networking. Surfing on the waves of technology, users now do not just accept contents given to them by larger media organizations, but enjoy the variety of cultural expressions with unlimited choices.
 
Of course, the ‘Long Tail Theory’ first appeared in marketing, but we can also read about these trends by watch consumer buying graphs. Since buyers concentrate on individual medias, this trend has become a hot potato, as diverse new media channels are entering the market in the media industry.
 
Sales and marketing administrators anticipate these new consumer movements, and hope to pick-up marginal revenues in the tens of thousands dollars that complement their new products and service sources. There are worries about just how accurate these graph trends can be, because there are so many critics and rumors to watch. Nevertheless, we have to observe the advantages of diversity and speed. It is not true that the more people involved, the less logical the information will be. In the demonstration against beef imports, Netizens showed how they can inact change through this new access to the power of the media, constituted by individuals. One Netizen corrected the article by writing comments to let people know the present situation. Right after seeing the comments, the article’s reporter started to collect more current information. The correspondent later confessed that it was hard to keep up with Netizens, so he felt it was time to hold back.

The Mass Media Industry gives priority to ‘objective accuracy’. However, the Mass Media cannot always be absolute and objective in their reporting, as various issues and concerns of ideology and its marginal issues are different for various groups. For this reason, new media sources allow Netizens help smooth issues with the Mass Media.

Because of this initiative tendency, the tail tends to have a fat tale. People start looking for special interests, and form small groups to communicate. With the pool of information, the importance of personal tastes, and these new developments in technology, the free-speaking era has been reborn. No matter what the majority say, it is time for minority to raise their voices and look for their place among others, which the majority have had monopoly. A new type of democracy is immerging on the Internet.

For more information, the Chung-Ang Herald contacted the owner of the Blog, ‘rkparadigm’. He is an active Blogger, who at the same time runs his own Korean channel site called Afreeca.

- What activities are you doing as a one-person-media?
I have only progressed into broadcasting about current events since April. From May to July, I covered the candle-light demonstrations. Then I mainly covered events that were related on the spot, and now I am planning to go back to events of the day.

- Why did you choose “Blogging” among the many ways you could spread your voice?
 I thought that a ‘Blog’ is the most efficient channel to speak online to others. In the case of minihompy at ‘cyworld.com’, their research function is too limited and too personal to call it an agora, at the same time, it’s structure is an inappropriate platform to write my opinion. Self-homepages have boomed but it costs to use their servers and needs a little technical knowledge. However Blogs offer word processes features for nothing and opens its door to everybody.

- What is the purpose of the Afreeca channel? Do differences exist in Internet live broadcasting?
 First, I wanted to have a chance to make our society better by sharing what I learned and discussing it with many people as a person who is eager to be a future educator or politician. My candle-light channel was focused on a lot, as much as ten-thousand people accessed it simultaneously. Most of them upload their own words after seeing Internet cafes or Blogs, it was a tremendous spread of activity for a no-line channel.

- Generally, we talk about the media’s tendency toward objective validity; it is now possible to immerge one’s thoughts to the media channel’s. Is there anything you concern yourself with when you broadcast?
Through my Blog, there is no reason for basic fairness, so I write in my own voice. When it comes to Afreeca TV, I try to be neutral in broadcasting the demonstrations to transmit undistorted facts and make others think for themselves. I mainly focus on affirming facts.

- Is there any common opinions around people who run their own media sites?
 It will be very difficult to find a common opinion among BJs and Bloggers, because their aims are to be fair and descriptive. However, it is clear that people who have their own self-media channel should be industrious and creative.

- I heard you also work on a special committee, Center for Media Responsibility and Human Rights. Please introduce this committee.
 In Korea, the term, one-person-media, appeared as citizen correspondents started broadcasting their BJs and Bloggers. For example, many things can be shown through our websites concerning the candle-light demonstrations, which were too private. In this situation, a special committee was formed to help, one-person-media members, avoid infringements of their rights or legal problems.

- What are you aiming for? And tell us what you want to do.
 It was difficult broadcasting, because I am only an individual and collecting a variety of information. I am also thinking about starting a discussion program with citizens’ direct communication between each other, and then sending their messages to the government. Until this year, I have needed to try various  accessible systems and receiving feedback from viewers about how easy the system is to use, and to gain the necessary recognition as a valued site.

- Say something to your audiences.
 Most people simply consider the media as something that functions as a means of current issues and news. However I think anything can be media that transfers information to unspecified individuals and affects their way of thinking. (For example, not only news but also music programs and gag programs.) Those are not mere programs, but mouth pieces for everyone. Today, eyes throughout the world pay attention to one-person-media outlets. BJs and Bloggers are ahead in the world, but there are some difficulties with these media outlets due to limitations on the Internet and issues of commercialization. Therefore, I think the government has to support their growth and advance Internet media.
Of course, there can be some error and blame, but if Bloggers, who are running their own stations, acknowledges what they are actually talking about responsibly and readers also communicate actively. I am sure that we can build an environment for progress and take part in global media  frontiers.