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Attention is a really hard commodity to get now because of the short attention span people have. In this internet space, trying to catch the attention of people you want to sell to is hard and keeping that attention is way harder. There are some savvy marketers who are replacing Life Time Value (LTV) of a customer with the Attention Span Value (ASV). This means how long are you able to catch the attention of your customer?
The term "attention economy" was coined by psychologist, economist, and Nobel Laureate Herbert A. Simon, who posited that attention was the "bottleneck of human thought" that limits both what we can perceive in stimulating environments and what we can do.
In this post, we will be taking a dive into the attention economy.
The Beginning
Social media has facilitated the birth of many creators, through the content they create, creators are able to amass large followings on this platforms. Building a community is hard as an individual or as a business, it requires huge efforts and takes time. So businesses harness the communities of this creators to promote what they have to sell. At least, creators are willing to put in the time. Through this, internet influencers were born. Influencers influence the buying decisions of their followers. To the businesses, it was magic. Just giving out their product to creators to promote brought huge ROI. That's the birth of the attention economy, more or less.As time pass, the number of influencers grew in number, there was value in becoming one. Businesses keep using this new found method. Before influencers, the only way to advertise was through Google or social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat etc. This was not available to everyone, especially SMEs. Not so of the influencer method. It was accessible to everyone.
Evolution
Influencers start to realise their true worth, businesses have the potential to 10X their investment from just a single promotion. So they charge more and some no longer take a product, just the money. Shitty products were been promoted by influencers which end up harming their reputation, so they become picky. On the other hand, influencers manipulate their stats and give businesses wrong data. Influencer platforms start 'popping out'. There are now macro and micro influencers, everyone wants to become an influencer because the more attention you can grab the more powerful you are in this social media space.Too many influencers, too many ads, too many businesses. Consumers are rekt. The supply far outweighs the demand. Regulations sets in, Fierce competition sets in, other platforms come in.
Celebrity and high net worth individuals join the party, platforms that cater for both influencers and businesses start emerging. Now the attention economy is so big and complex with different moving parts and layers. What I often wonder about is how to balance the supply and demand? Is it even possible? The cost of supply is nearly zero, all you have to do is create an account and start posting. On the demand side, consumers can't take in all of this content, their attention span keeps dwindling more and more. That's why personalized or customized platforms are becoming a thing.
Real Value
Entertainers are more wealthy than educators, scientists and engineers. Nothing against entertainers but do they actually bring much value? Are they more valuable than scientists and engineers? Yet they've become mighty forces in the distribution network capitalizing on the attention economy.With the attention economy, being valuable only doesn't cut it, you have to be able to attract attention too. There are many valuable projects that are not able to attract attention and remain relatively unknown. But there are many not so valuable projects that have attracted much attention and become famous.
I'm no judge to decide which deserves recognition or not but I'll like to end with a saying from Peter Thiel in his classic Zero To One book. He said "Customers won't come because you build it. You have to make that happen, and it’s harder than it looks."
With the multifaceted attention economy, this has become more true.