Subscription in Social Media
The Role of Smartphones in Attention Economy
Having thought of attention as something limited during earlier centuries would have sounded foolish, but that is actually the reality of today. Thus, when grasping one’s attention it would make sense to keep that person enrolled in your flow of distributed information. This is so, you should publish newer content, it would be prioritised and sent to that person.
This idea of saving a consumer’s loyalty as if they were a contact in one’s phone is found in the form of online subscriptions today. Video platforms such as YouTube, having subscribing, and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have following or adding friends. This customisation process allows users to add their favourite content creators to their priority list, and keep them notified whenever a new post is published. A relationship is created between the user and the platform in this case, where once our search on these pages is complete, we keep this tool in mind and resort back to it yearning for more (Berkeley Economic Review, 2020). More so, the recommended sections that are kept in view of the content we are watching uses our curiosity to draw us in, and keep us on the platform for as long as possible.
Similarly to customising the list of who we follow, is when we search for a query. Using a search engine such as Google to fulfill a question we need answered, may give Google the analytical data about what interests us most. This makes adverts supposedly more efficient for both parties, because the user will get adverts that may actually interest them, whilst the advertising platform is using an efficient system to distribute its adverts.
By understand these fundamental mechanics that keep users on a platform for the maximum duration, is leading corporations to capitalise on our attention. Platforms like YouTube for example, can either show adverts embedded in its videos that only can be skipped after some time, or one can pay for a premium subscription to remove adverts, effectively paying for their removal.
Eyal (2013) demonstrates how tech corporations are employing the study of psychologist B.F. Skinner, that analyses how rewards at regular intervals can increase one’s anticipation levels (Berkeley Economic Review, 2020). This could be used to harness our attention through rewards, and form an instinctive response by increasing our anticipation. Such as having the need to search a query and resorting to Google, or wanting to ask a friend a question and going onto Messenger.
This concept is similar to the theory of behavioural design, that had been explored through Norman’s research in the 1980’s (Norman, 1988), which studies the user interaction with designed products and our response to them. So not only is this instinctive response exclusively seen on social media, but also through other products and interactions in everyday life. It is something we are ultimately in control of and responsible for the decisions we make, thus being able to improve on certain instinctive habits we may want changed.
References:
Berkeley Economic Review. (2020). Paying attention: The attention economy. https://econreview.berkeley.edu/paying-attention-the-attention-economy/
Eyal, N. (2013). Hooked: How to build habit-forming products. Penguin Canada
Norman, D. A. (1988). The psychology of everyday things. Cambridge: MIT Press.
This blog is a project for Study Unit DGA3008, University of Malta.
