I first met Ken in the late 80’s in San Francisco, where and when we both had our early books out. And I must admit, that back then, I found the pig in a python notion to be flattering—befitting of an already somewhat inflated generational self-image, used to hearing about how big and important we are. But, I must also admit, that however big I thought the pig might be, I thought the snake was bigger.

When I visualized the snake’s inner anatomy at all, I imagined then that we were barely a foot or two inside, at least one cloven foot still dangling from the python’s wide open mouth. Somewhere along the way, perhaps in the 90’s, I instinctively knew that the pig had made it into the belly. And that, my friends, is where until yesterday we stayed put.

What happened yesterday? Face to face with a very young marketer, using the pig and python metaphor to sell her on the notion of our generation’s importance, I could see it in her eyes. One does not stay in the snake’s belly forever, no matter how big and powerful one is, and then suddenly, there it was, the tail was in sight. And beyond the tail? One shudders to follow this metaphor to its, shall we say, untidy conclusion.

So, like any baby boomer worth his/her salt, I do what we do best. Go into denial. I am herewith swearing off this metaphor. And thankfully, MPlanet has supplied me with a compelling substitute: it’s called “Long Tail Theory”, illuminated by Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine and Jason Zajac, General Manager, Social Media, Yahoo! Think tail, think Long Tail Theory…and on Monday, I will share with you my new favorite snake metaphor—thanks to Anderson and Zajac--one that happily has absolutely nothing to do with pigs.

Carol Orsborn