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> "Monetize" is a terrible word that tacitly admits that there is no such thing as an "Attention Economy." You can't use attention as a medium of exchange. You
by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y ago
> "Monetize" is a terrible word that tacitly admits that there is no such thing as an "Attention Economy." You can't use attention as a medium of exchange. You can't use it as a store of value. You can't use it as a unit of account. … You have to "monetize" it – that is, you have to exchange the [attention] for real money.
I very much appreciate this paragraph as an explanation of a certain frustration with the so-called Attention Economy. It is a grift in which the grifter convinces their victim that something the grifter has is valuable and they’re willing to provide that value to the victim for a modest fee.
- truculent 4y agoWouldn’t the idea that it can be exchanged for money suggest that it is in fact part of the real economy after all? You couldn’t use a perishable food item (eg apples) as a store of value, but you would hardly say that the food economy is a grift.
- bryanrasmussen 4y agoThere isn't an attention economy because you can't use it as a medium of exchange, attention however has some small value because you can sell it. There are lots of different direct purchases of attention going on all the time though, every time someone agrees to do some market research tests for a minimal amount of money that is really an attention purchase. You can see from the low price of those things, and that internet giants sell attention to advertisers in bulk, that attention is a commodity and thus the little bit of attention most of us has to give is of little worth and won't ever pay our bills or probably do more than buy a sandwich and a cup of coffee a month.