It is based upon the premise that visual literacy, "the ability to interpret, negotiate and make meaning from information presented in the form of a moving image", is a powerful force in how humans communicate, entertain and learn.
These applications have changed video content from long-form movies and broadcast television programming to a database of segments or "clips", and social network annotations.
And the generation and distribution of content takes on a new dimension with Web 2.0 applications—participatory social-networks or communities that facilitate interactive creativity, collaboration and sharing between users.
From 2006 to 2008 this trend continued to gain steam as individuals and businesses pursued new combinations of video and social networking across a wide range of entertainment, communication and learning applications.
Within the past decade, video use has rapidly evolved across a broader range of devices, multiple locations and user applications.
A key advantage of video relative to other media is its superior ability to communicate ideas and emotions economically.
The unparalleled potential of the Internet to promote such connections is only now being fully recognized and exploited, through Web-based groups established for that purpose.
The Long Tail also has implications for the producers of content; especially those whose products could not—for economic reasons—find a place in pre-Internet information distribution channels controlled by book publishers, record companies, movie studios, and television networks.
One example of this is YouTube, where thousands of diverse videos—whose content, production value or lack of popularity make them inappropriate for traditional television—are easily accessible to a wide range of viewers.
A potential negative side effect of the long tail is the rapidly growing inventory of text, audio and video content.
The storage and distribution systems of the past restricted the number of songs, video, and books making it easier to search for what was relevant to the individual.
The idea is that users may or may not start out searching for something, but they soon begin reacting to things they find, exploring links on pages they stumble upon and taking cues from fellow surfers about where to go.