Are long tail keywords dying? I’m just asking?

I started using long tail keyword strategies well before Chris Anderson’s book arrived on the scene. Back then I called them embedded keywords. And yes, for the sarcastic readers, this was long before the Iraq war too. I coined this phrase because a more popular keyword was embedded into the longer search query.

Fast forward to the present.

Each year it seems a little more difficult to crack into the top rankings for long tail keywords. The traffic doesn’t appear as strong either. I have a few ideas about this:

1. The Internet and the Web have grown to the point where there are no long tails, at least not many useful ones. Web sites are competing for every conceivable term whether by intention or not.
2. With the growth of the Web comes greater competition and choice. As a side-effect of more offerings and variety, searchers are more likely to find what they want early on, without diving deep into the lower ranking results or querying more specific long tail searches.
3. Search engines produce better results. Again, this means people will more likely find the result they want earlier in their search efforts.

What do you think?

Are long tail keywords an endangered species? Are they passing on? Expiring? Going to meet their maker? Stiffening-up? Pushing-up daisies? Kicking the bucket? Shuffling of this mortal coil? Running down the curtain and joining the bleedin’ choir invisible?