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ATTENTION | Noah Brier

Why We Do What We Do

If it's not money that's driving the web, what is it?

July 27, 2006 | RSS | EMAIL | PRINT | 5 COMMENTS

I want to talk about attention. More and more lately I've been thinking about it as the primary driver of people's actions on the web. But when you think about it in a larger context, it's really at the center of what much of the population does off the web as well. Think about it, how many people want to be famous? What's fame? A whole lot of attention.

The vast majority of the world don't get paid to contribute to culture, they do it for free. That's why artists starve and actors wait tables. The light at the end of the tunnel is never just fortune, it's always paired with fame. People want to be noticed and that's the bottom line.

As I understand much of traditional economic theory is based on the idea that people are completely rational beings, but if that's the case, why is attention so valuable? Sure, sometimes you can convert attention into profit (think infomercials), but what about all the people that just do stuff to get on TV. Come on, you know the guy, the one who stands behind the newscaster making funny faces so that maybe, by some stroke of crazy luck, one of his friends is watching.

We're not rational in any way, television did a good job breaking that. But now, with all these people on the web, it's becoming all the more apparent. There are millions of people adding content to the web with no apparent goal in sight. My writing here is not a profitable endeavor. I have to pay for my hosting and, assuming my time has some value, waste my time. The result is a site that I hope will attract interesting people. I want attention.

Sure, down the road I may have a hair-brained scheme to turn that attention into profit by using this site as a springboard, but the fact is that most of us don't even do it for that. We do it because we like being a part of something. We want attention. We want to feel connected. We want to meet people of likemind. In fact, most of these things are probably worth more than money to a lot of people.

So the big question is, what happens when the non-web world catches on? If the web economy is made up of things like attention and trust, what happens when, like most trends nowadays, it exits the digital realm and enters 'real life'?

Anyone??????

Update (7/26/06): Just ran across this Anil Dash entry about the current Digg vs. Netscape feud and why people contribute content.

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COMMENTS

1Alexander Ljung

One point made by many people is that since we today in a sense have a complete abundence or resources i.e. there is no real "struggle" for survival we have entered the post-scarcity economy. In economic sense this really turns things up-side-down since tradintionally economy is about having a scarcity of one resource that depending on the demand results in a market price. However, if there is no scarcity (think anything digital with zero duplication costs) what happens to demand? And furthermore what happens to price?

In this scenario money is not an issue anymore and one of the things proposed as the "new currency" is attention. Just like you write attention seems to be something that all humans inherrently seek. It is like water or food, we simply need it to survive. Furthermore, it certainly appears that people can not get enough of it (e.g. rockstars, the guy behind the news-anchor).

If attention is what we all want, if our attention is our resource we should naturally be careful with how we spend it. This is where trust enters the picutre. Trust becomes our guideline both on and offline as to where to spend our attention.

A friend and I were discussion the issue and stumbled upon the question of currency conversion - how do you exchage attention at market border? Also, I can give you a dollar but how do I give you attention-credit?

July 27, 2006

2Noah Brier

Thanks for the comment, Alexander. Beyond Goldhaber, who else has helped inform your opinion on this attention stuff. It sounds very thought through, and I would love to read some of the stuff that got you there.

Also, on the web, a link is a form of 'attention credit,' right? So is there any paralell in the offline world? I guess it can manifest itself in a look or a compliment.

July 27, 2006

3Roger Kahlon

Seeking attention (and hopefully getting it) confirms that we are not alone.

In the online world it could mean anything from "hey i have a great idea, let's talk about it" to "please look at my body."

In the real world we use all kinds of devices as symbols that hopefully are intrepreted and therfore processed as attention. The clothes we wear, the products we use, the cars we drive, and the address on our envelopes all can be used to get attention...or might get attention by accident...

but the motives must vary from person to person or can at least be classifiiable in several catagories for both those that give and and those that receieve it...no?

the chains, big rimmed cars, and scantily clad women in rap videos could be saying:

"keep an eye on this and remember me" just as much as they could be saying "i was poor and fantasized about overt signs of wealth, look at me now."

great topic by the way...a very broad subject that deserves some dissecting...

July 28, 2006

4Brian Clark

So glad that Chartreuse pointed out your blog Noah. A great new subscription for my feed reader. :)

July 28, 2006

5howard Lindzon

I second that.

August 3, 2006