Small is the new big is the new line
Back in June, I wrote, inspired by some posts by Seth Godin, that small is the new big. Seth was similarly inspired by his own posts and wrote that small is the new big. Seth liked the line so much he used it as the title of his new book (and was nice enough to acknowledge the synchronicity). But now we both get beat to print by Inc magazine’s cover this month. And they’ll both be in print before The Long Tail.
The internet makes everything smaller, even the useful life of good lines.
: My friend Tom has been telling me to make T-shirts with the saying and maybe I’ll do it. But, of course, I want them only on small shirts.
: In the comments, A.W. says he’s sick of “_____ is the new ______.” To which I say, didn’t you know that ‘is the new’ is the new ‘is the new’?
Tags: Book
February 11th, 2006 at 3:09 pm
I suppose putting it on T-shirts - especially those made for women - might be construed as having several meanings. Who know what the eventual effect might be on the plastic surgery field?
February 11th, 2006 at 5:21 pm
I think it’s great you pay attention to Seth Godin - I think he’s very bright and very observant. One of his free e-books just blew me away, because he picked up on a lot of things I’d been noticing, but hadn’t quite put together (I’m relieved to know that he doesn’t have all the answers, either, even though it seems like he does).
Even when I disagree with him, I find that he’s careful not to ignore how many strange and almost contradictory phenomena exist all at once, because of this strange bunch of creatures we call “humanity” that make business and marketing and communication very difficult…
Bleh. I’m ranting. I’m just happy you mentioned someone I think highly of. I’ll go hide now.
February 11th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
I think my luck at the local bar/meat-market would be smaller if I wore a shirt with “Small is the new big” on it.
February 11th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
personally i am sick of the cliche: “____ is the new ____.” It grates on me every time i hear it.
February 11th, 2006 at 8:56 pm
But AW, didn’t you know that ‘is the new’ is the new is the new?
February 11th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
let me coComment,
LOL
February 12th, 2006 at 12:30 am
Measuring the success of a meme by its placement on a print magazine’s cover is so “old media.”
February 12th, 2006 at 1:58 am
Increasingly for many of us, it’s also a beta life (daily and weekly) and a beta world .. which just means that we are slowly starting to acknowledge the presence of rolling change and some constant degree of *randomness* in our lives after a good run of Taylorism.
Imo it’s a good thing, and I like very much “small is the new big”. I’d argue that it will ever be thus, unless we find that the Net and IT are used more for control and efficiency than for connection, interaction, innovation etc.
February 12th, 2006 at 6:25 am
Good suggestion A.W. Now I’m going to make me a T-Shirt that says ___ is the new ___
February 12th, 2006 at 12:46 pm
“Small is the new big one” - you should give it to Paris Hilton, she is a good example og small but big and surely could make t-shirt sales big!
But jokes aside, I guess this is the good way to describe the way people feel today. We are tired of huge corporations and being just the part of the huge machinery. We are tired of having no influence.
Today, we seek our identification through smaller groups, where we can feel safer and can change things. We don’t want to be part og masses anymore, we are more individualized.
February 12th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Jeff, you now what the worst thing is?
I blurbed Bo’s book. On the blurb, I wrote, “…small is the new big…”
and Inc. stole my blurb!!
Obviously, coined phrases are the new blogs.
February 12th, 2006 at 5:23 pm
I think this is actually a different trend - and that’s Dan Pink’s concept of the reversing of the bell curve. There’s clearly a trend of, on the one hand, focused, niche, high-end, and/or customisation (think whole foods, rocketboom) vs. on the other end of the curve - large scale, mass-produced and/or low cost (think walmart, Fox). Wrote about this a while ago - is it bad form to post a link to one’s blog? Probably…you can find it on my blog if you’re interested.
February 12th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
Wait. Isn’t the meme over by definition when it hits printed media?
February 12th, 2006 at 8:26 pm
It can’t be long now before “Over is the new In.”
– Jack Krupansky
February 15th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
It’s a cliche, sure, but it has to be true. Small isn’t the new big.
What is true: 50s are the new 20s.