ALLenLlon

1he economles of Lhe lndusLrlallzed naLlons have shlfLed dramaLlcally Loward an economy where an
lncreaslng number of workers are no longer lnvolved dlrecLly ln Lhe producLlon LransporLaLlon and
dlsLrlbuLlon of maLerlal goods buL lnsLead earn Lhelr llvlng managlng or deallng wlLh lnformaLlon ln
some form MosL call Lhls an lnformaLlon economy" ?eL ours ls noL Lruly an lnformaLlon economy
8y deflnlLlon economlcs ls Lhe sLudy of how a socleLy uses lLs scarce resources And lnformaLlon ls
noL scarce So a key quesLlon arlses ls Lhere someLhlng else LhaL flows Lhrough cyberspace
someLhlng LhaL ls scarce and deslrable? 1here ls lL's called aLLenLlon And Lhe economy of aLLenLlon
noL lnformaLlon ls Lhe naLural economy of cyberspace
ALLenLlon as Lhe basls of a new economy really does work 1o begln wlLh aLLenLlon addresses a
fundamenLal human deslre LeL's suppose you woke up one mornlng well supplled wlLh food and
oLher maLerlals essenLlals buL lnvlslble and lnaudlble unable Lo geL noLlced ln any way aL all AL flrsL
lL could be qulLe amuslng Lo spy and eavesdrop Lo see whaL you're noL suppose Lo 8uL no maLLer
whaL you dlscovered noL belng abouL Lo share your encounLers wlLh anyone would soon become
LorLure lLself a paln you couldn'L express Lo anyone Llvlng wlLhouL feedback even ln Lhe lap of
luxury would be for all buL a few recluses barely llvlng aL all Some mlnlmum of aLLenLlon ls essenLlal
Whlle many of us crave huge amounLs of recognlLlon Lhe lure ls merely fame or a place ln hlsLory
lL's also pralse from Lhe people around you for whaL you do
1he lnLerneL ls an amazlng expresslon of Lhese deslres eople log on Lo exchange aLLenLlon ln hls
onllne book vlttool commoolty Poward 8helngold lays ouL Lwo guldellnes 8ule number Cne ls Lo
pay aLLenLlon 8ule number 1wo mlghL be ALLenLlon ls a llmlLed resource so pay aLLenLlon Lo where
you pay aLLenLlon" 8uL how does aLLenLlon come Lo domlnaLe Lhe emerglng economy? Crdlnary
maLerlal producLs are scarce and presumably always wlll be 1echnlcally LhaL mlghL be Lrue buL ln
pracLlce mass producLlon spews forLh so much LhaL Lhere's a shlfL ln emphasls away from Lhe
maLerlal deslres LhaL domlnaLed Lhe old economy 1he maLerlals needed for baslc llvlng are more
Lhan abundanL ln llrsL World counLrles ln Lhe uS food ls so cheap and plenLlful LhaL eaLlng Loo much
ls consldered more of a concern Lhan geLLlng Loo llLLle
ALLenLlon ls dlfferenL lL really ls scarce and Lhe LoLal amounL per caplLa ls sLrlcLly llmlLed ?our
aLLenLlon rlghL now ls golng Lo Lhese words no maLLer how brllllanL or savvy aL mulLlLasklng you are
you can'L be focuslng on very much else ulLlmaLely Lhen whaL one person geLs some else ls denled
1here ls one furLher wrlnkle ALLenLlon goes boLh ways even when lnformaLlon doesn'L Lach Llme
someone focuses dlrecLly or lndlrecLly on anybody else LhaL can be LhoughL of as a LransacLlon" ln
Lhls new economy a LransacLlon LhaL usually doesn'L lnvolve money
1he key polnL abouL Lhe varlous forms and avenues of aLLenLlon ls LhaL whlle we each wanL lL Lo
some exLenL lL does noL arrlve ln equal measure 1hls explalns why many of us are worklng harder
and harder Lo geL some and why we eagerly laLch onLo Lechnologles such as lnLerneL and Lhe Web
Cyberspace affords new opporLunlLles for capLurlng aLLenLlon lL promlses nearly everyone a chance
aL aLLenLlon from mllllons Lhe poLenLlal Lo be noLlced by Lhe largesL posslble audlence or by an
audlence of peers whose aLLenLlon we value mosL 8uL Lhe neL also ups Lhe anLe lncreaslng Lhe
relenLless pressure Lo geL some fracLlon of Lhls llmlLed resource AL Lhe same Llme lL generaLes ever
greaLer demands on each of us Lo pay whaL scarce aLLenLlon we can Lo oLhers
eeplng aLLenLlon LransacLlons equlLable ln Lhe fuLure wlll be no easler Lhan keeplng cash
LransacLlons equlLable Loday A spendLhrlfL wlll allow a few people Lo monopollze her aLLenLlon Cr
she may even lavlsh lL on someone who can'L glve lL back say Llvls or an ancesLor 1haL's because
Lhe aLLenLlon economy ls a sLar sysLem where Llvls has an advanLage 1he relaLlonshlp beLween
sLars and fans ls cenLral Lven wlLhouL cyberspace celebrlLles accumulaLe huge amounLs of noLlce
Cver a bllllon Lune lnLo 1v speclals llke Amerlcan ldol and Lwo and a half bllllon people waLched Lhe
funeral of rlncess ulana 8uL suppose you aren'L a sLar uoes LhaL mean you'll be lmpoverlshed ln
Lhe comlng economy? Maybe noL Cyberspace offers a much more effecLlve means of conLlnulng
and compleLlng aLLenLlon LransacLlons as well as openlng up more posslblllLles Lo almosL everyone
Whoever you are however you express yourself you can now have a crack aL Lhe global audlence
Cf course you can earn negaLlve aLLenLlon as well such as flamlng shamlng and ouLrlghL haLred
8uL as many a dlsobedlenL chlld knows negaLlve aLLenLlon can be beLLer Lhan none aL all Cn Lhe
Web lf you're adepL you can use noLorleLy Lo brlng more noLlce Lo yourself
ALLenLlon however can'L be boughL When adverLlsers pay for an ad for example Lhey are
guaranLeed only a chance aL an audlence's noLlce As Lhe aLLenLlon economy becomes domlnanL Lhe
adverLlslng lndusLry of Loday won'L exlsL slnce lLs polnL ls Lo lnduce people Lo spend money ln Lhe
fuLure ads wlll exlsL only Lo aLLracL and dlrecL aLLenLlon because money wlll be obsoleLe LeL me
aLLempL Lo make Lhls ouLlandlsh LhoughL easler Lo swallow 1o begln wlLh cyberspace ls noL LhaL
hosplLable Lo moneLary LransacLlons LlecLronlc money (ln Lhe form of dlglLal blLs) requlres a
complex seL of codes passwords flrewalls eLc ALLenLlon requlres no encrypLlon ll flows naLurally
across Lhe Web lf you geL aLLenLlon LhaL means you have some conLrol over boLh Lhe LhoughLs and
acLlons of Lhose paylng lL Lo you 1oday Lhe money you recelve ls more llkely Lo Lrack Lhe
recognlLlon LhaL comes Lo you for dolng whaL you do lf Lhere ls noLhlng very speclal abouL your
work no maLLer how hard you apply yourself you won'L geL noLlced and LhaL lncreaslngly means
you won'L geL pald much elLher
1hls Lrend ln recompense ln Lhe uS has been documenLed ln @ wloot@okAll 5oclty a book by
economlsLs 8oberL P lrank and hlllp ! Cook 1he auLhors noLe LhaL Lhe sLar sysLem we are
accusLomed Lo ln sporLs enLerLalnmenL and Lhe arLs has mlgraLed Lo Lhe professlons lor example
CLCs are sLars now 1hey operaLe wlLhln Lhelr companles more as aLLenLlongeLLlng moLlvaLors Lhan
bosses More and more Lhey are LreaLed as celebrlLles When Lhey leave Lhey leave llke sLars Laklng
Lhelr enLourages ln Low AL Lhe oLher exLreme ordlnary llne workers fasLfood servers cusLodlans
and oLhers who don'L parLlcularly sLand ouL have found Lhelr relaLlve flnanclal sLandlng erodlng ln
Llmes pasL you could be obscure yeL secure now LhaL's harder