Attention economy

The economy of attention, also known as attention economy is a concept of the information economy, which considers the attention of people as a scarce resource, and economic theories to explain human behavior and theories of the economics of information used. With the increasing networking and new media, the cost of information and entertainment continue to fall. Limiting is no longer the access, but the attention.

• 2.1 Media and advertising
• 2.2 Science
• 2.3 policy

Conceptual history

Model of Georg Franck

The city engineer Georg Franck published in 1998 a book called The Attention Economy, in which he explains the cohesion of society via the exchange and management of attention. He comes from the constellation of a " mental capitalism " of which has largely been solved by a fixation on material production and consumption. The attention economy exists alongside the economics of money and compete with her. Attention is a scarce resource and a popular form of income.

"The attention of other people is the most irresistible of all drugs. Your reference stands out from any other income. Wherefore also it is the glory over the power, so fades the next wealth of prominence. "

At the core of Franck's philosophical foundation of the orientation is to Heidegger's concept of existence, extended by an ethical perspective with the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. His theory revolves around the power of the individual to play a role in the foreign consciousness. The questions of the reality content of the world and strange awareness are addressed by the working assumption of their existence. Similarly as in the struggle for recognition of Axel Honneth a human constant is suspected, hidden behind the seemingly dominant economic logic of exploitation.

"There is the economy of the swap and there is the economy of giving. If economics is mentioned, but is mentioned almost only from the swap and hardly ever from giving. It has something to himself, but mainly to do with the economy with those that talk about it. "

The economic logic of utilization is attributed to a rhetorical modernization, the economy of attention by Franck follows. However, attention Get only the character of a tradable, objective good, when it is viewed as an abstract quantity in large quantities. But doing so also loses its advantage over the money since it originally just do not care, is related by whom this attention. Therefore, the mental capitalism is not automatic morale ahead of the material.

Application

Media and advertising

In the mass media and pop culture attention is actually accumulated as capital factor. In the field of advertising in the criteria range also specifically made ​​for money.

Science

The science served on the search for truth and objectively verifiable realities of a mechanism in which the production of knowledge is decentralized, linked by "markets", but without having to rely on the motivation of money income. Reputation is the consolidated income of collegial attention. The attention here is not any as far as their origin. The reputation of the attention donors goes directly to their value with. At the same time the attention of the exchangers are dependent on each other as competitors AND reciprocal suppliers. The most important form of expression herein is the quote. The own, scarce attention is the reference, and the mention of other scientists as a kind of payment to their account of the relevance of, in exchange for the use of their findings. At the same time the mutual appeal and review forms with each other the actual production process of "knowledge " from. While there is a competition with each other for attention and its accumulation form of " prestige ". About the markets of recognition and an objectivist rationality of this, however, is oriented towards the shared goal of producing knowledge. The greatest punishment for a scientific work and its author is not the scathing criticism but the total disregard.

" The scientific community is also organized on an industrial scale economy of knowledge -producing attention. "

Policy

With Axel Honneth and Georg Franck can be stated that human action takes place against the background of a competition for attention. At the level of firm (s ) can be in such ' battles ' progress in the sense of breaking through existing structures and the establishment of new realize the geared to diverse visions of the good life through the existing system of values ​​also. In the process continuously reformulated validity claims and the delimitation of what already exists arise in historical perspective, constantly new forms of society and old ones are discarded. On the collective level, organizations and agents operate social change ( change agent ) in creative destruction in the sense of Schumpeter structures are questioned and new designs of needs and their satisfaction are enforced in markets or in the public sphere.

Applying the concept of an "economy of attention" to the organization of politics, as it appears to the citizen in a new light. As a "post-modern reconciliation of bourgeois and citoyen " is empowered civil society to regain power design. Any form social commitment can be brought to market in the economy of attention and is thus for voting. Both the organization of attention to social problems as well as recognition for practical solutions to problems link the policy with the lives of the citizens. Since attention is collected at the same time capital, created a vibrant market in the economy of attention, vying to which, for example, with social business approaches to solving social problems for the favor of the audience. The contrast between private and public life is made as competition for attention between private and public good politically fruitful.

The scarcity and desirability of attention and recognition enable them to serve as currency and even to form the described economy of attention. In science, this is currently probably the most completely implemented, but also the increasing orientation of the consumer to the social side effects of their consumption point in this direction. Even negative attention, such as when uncovering of scandals, is at least a cost factor for companies. At the same time, however, the problem remains that although attention is scarce and sought after, but no homogeneous good is such as Money. It's just a difference where it comes from and what the occasion they created what is, in turn, does not consider the money. This makes the concept while more difficult, but not impossible, like countless approaches in the Internet show. Here the economy of attention is on the rise and is measured in "likes" or " Friends" or in the number of forum posts and comments.