Emotion Economy : A Parody On Attention Economy
News and ad agencies are taking it further from baiting attention to emotion in the digital space.
The term “attention economy” was coined in 1971 by a psychologist, economist, and Nobel Laureate Herbert A Simon, who postulated that attention is the centerpiece of any human economical activity as it decides how much we pay attention to and what we do with what caught our attention. His observations were keenly on the entire gamut of marketing activities which focuses on using ‘the attention mantra’ to charm, bait or lure users to their print and digital assets.
‘Traffic’ for digital marketers would mean people cruising on digital highways with their mobile phones, tablets and laptops and lately any devices that are part of ‘Internet of Things’. People on digital highways leave digital signatures which are sliced and diced to map and measure the time, place and assets that devour people’s attention. The age old adage, ‘ what you see is what you get’ went digital with companies, with millions of dollars to burn, fighting to occupy the digital space people ‘Xperience’. Consumers were increasingly looking down to their mobile screens than looking up to bill boards and screens to discover new experiences. The catch word was ‘Attention’ till few years back. However, marketing strategists have upped the game to a whole new level. What we have seen over the past few years is the rise of strategies focussed on mapping the emotions to attention.
There is a whole lot focus on measuring the ‘emotional wealth’ to any piece of information or news. Take for example, Facebook’s Crowd Tangle. The product helps news channels and ad agencies find viral content and measure its social success. Imagine the power of understanding the emotions spiked by a news source and use it to manoeuvre it further by adding more spice to news with more articles and news bites. With real time analytics, it so more easy to be in control of how the news bite is ‘performing’. The news which induces maximum emotional responses, no matter how bigoted, unreliable and ignorant it might be, is further expounded to maximise the impact. With attention now being bolstered by emotional coherence, big companies knows where to put the money to catch consumer interest. Social media platforms, news channels, pop culture influencers are the new business models for the ‘Emotion Economy’.
It is a fact that today’s digital influencers sway pop culture through what I call as ‘boolean fears’. There is a tendency to state a position of being ‘for’ or ‘against’ for any issues that might not even bear authenticity from a reliable news source. Authentic facts can come as it pleases, but decisions on which side people vouch for is made instantly. The levels of ‘Attention’ and ‘Emotion’ decides if the news bite should continue to be aired on news channels. A murder in the streets might not gather attention but a puppy licking an ice cream can become emotional hotspots. News is as important as the emotions it can induce. If it gathers enough strength in creating waring groups, then the topic becomes prime time material and attracts further content and ads, as emotion and attention are guaranteed. There are agencies out there to make money out of any misery that drives human emotions. They have commoditised our emotions and turned us into mines to gorge more. Can't help but remember Christopher Nolan’s Sci-Fi movie ‘Inception’, in which favourable ideas are placed inside a person by professionals while the person dreams. Are the corporate think tanks today working on how to place the right emotions in us that can drive us to prefer, see, feel and buy what they want.
As you cruise down the digital highways through phones, tabs and laptops, algorithms run in parallel to show you content and informational graphics that exemplifies the emotions that you already have. Algorithms have already deduced your emotions from the digital signatures you left behind. It's ongoing job is to strengthen it or weaken it based on the economic importance your emotions hold. As you get baited by small inconsequential pieces initially, which feeds as A.I./ML source, what lies ahead is the barrage of strong well-devised content assets that devours you into a chartered path laid for economic transactions.
