The Development of the Attention Economy

The scarce currency of the Attention Economy is the attention itself. It’s what is traded for normal currency. It’s the main source of income for the larger social media based businesses. There are plenty of other means of sourcing income, but that particular micro-economy developed with traditional commerce. The term commercial is pertinent because that’s been the model that has promoted distribution, by cutting the overall cost of it. The valued attention of viewership has existed since the newspaper and silent film. Signs existed even before that, however the scale was very small by comparison. Approaching the mid 20^th century, the radio and television increased the reach of individual businesses. This increased the value of their business. The attention economy thus became very profitable. It had other value as well. It had the value of the information it distributed. Many of course, were interested in influencing the information being distributed. The fact that many get the information that forms and changes their views makes that information valuable to the power structures. This is the power of both the reach and the information pipeline. That development was of course immediately coopted by governmental regulation and campaigns for censorship.

Fast forward to the 21^st century, and the internet is expanding commerce with e-commerce. Once again, the technologies and micro-economies are passing down advancements to the average person. Like the explosion of small business in the 20^th century, a similar development is happening in the Attention Economy. The average person having access to the platforms, which is what development is being passed down, is leading to many individuals with a sizable following selling their own reach to marketing firms. The platforms are of course being pressured by regulation and it may (probably does) have something to do with the power the individuals with large followings wield in mass. Campaigns of censorship and divisive influences have risen immensely, over the past few decades, coincidentally (?) with the rise of the ‘influencer’. The first strategic target, the proverbial hammer of top down influence is the economy itself. Through the platforms and the marketers, the campaign of censorship flows and affects the income of the influencer. Fair trade and freedom of expression is thus compromised by coercion.

The model for the economy is thus Feudalistic as opposed to Capitalistic, in that, it is primarily influenced in a top down manner. This is due to the limits on economic freedom that would otherwise make it more Capitalistic. The primary notional value of the economy itself appears to be construed as the value of the capital that invests in it. This is the most common manner of measurement. It’s the context of market share. The contribution to the GDP is of course measured, however it’s the market share that is commonly attended to and analyzed. This makes the attention economy a typical extension of the traditional economy. Whether or not it becomes an expansion probably depends upon how scarce the small endeavors are within it.