In the world of advertising sponsored media (starting with the TV and extending now to games and apps on our devices), the attention we give is what is being sold to the brands sponsoring the content. Our attention is for sales. We don’t use the apps. They are using us. We might be thinking we are mining for gold in Minecraft, but in fact, we are the gold. Our attention being traded for revenue.
Mara Zepeda and Samuel Hulick recently calculated the value of our attention on the Facebook platform using their current ad rates. They estimated that our attention on the platform is being sold to advertisers for something like 12-cents an hour. Apparently, that is what our attention is worth. And frankly, it is worth even less, because we are not the one earning.
We should pay attention to what we pay attention to because they aren’t paying you for attention. Make sure the value you are getting is worth the gold you are trading.