CHRISTIAN VALLEZ, better known in the academe as Professor X and in art circles as Juan Ekis, has interesting insights on the so-called Conversation Economy.
As head of the University of Asia and the Pacific’s information technology department and USAID narrative design/multimedia consultant, Mr. Vallez is a proponent of the idea that Web 2.0 growth is driven by this new Conversation Age. He was a guest speaker during the recent economic briefing to mark the 15th anniversary of KSearch Asia Consulting, Inc. Here is his story:
Once upon a time, at the tail end of the previous millennia, our insatiable thirst for information and knowledge brought us to an era we called the Information Economy. This gave birth to arguably one of the greatest inventions of man, the Internet, which facilitated the seamless and lightning speed sharing of information in a global scale without the limitations of geography. In this era, whoever had control of information, moved the economy and so, companies and businesses rushed towards wielding the technologies that can harness and control the flow of information.
In the annals of IT history, this race was known as the dotcom bubble.
Because information was moving at the speed of light, we feared that economies would grow at the same speed and so we pressured ourselves to keep pace by creating online presence, transplanting our businesses into e-commerce, putting up our own dotcoms. If you were not online, you do not exist.
This rush to find one’s existence in the virtual universe created by the Information Economy we ourselves spawned became its own downfall.
At the turn of the millennium, the bubble burst. Only those organizations who had a solid foundation in business economics and who were adaptable enough to wield the technology survived. A lot of IT companies closed down. The dotcom era came to an end.
However, before the bubble burst, the Information Economy gave birth to some of the Internet giants who still play a major part in today’s business landscape such as Amazon, Facebook, Google and YouTube.
Although the dotcom era ended in a dramatic tragedy, it still shaped the way we produce and consume goods. Aside from embedding the Internet into our daily lives, the way we exchange and share information has been defined by the parameters of the existing technologies.
We started consuming information in chunks of three to five minutes because of YouTube. We started absorbing information within the confines of a 640 by 480 pixel screen. Our attention spans shortened.
The speed information is being shared and exchanged made us more impatient.
Once upon a time we were just thirsty for knowledge. Then we wanted that knowledge right here, right now, at the snap of our fingers. Then we had too much, too fast. We developed attention deficiency disorder (ADD) in the way we exchanged knowledge and information. Rulers of the Information Economy were no more. One couldn’t just have control of truth and knowledge, which have been democratized by the Internet and overwhelmed us with the amount flooding our senses. Information was not the currency anymore.
The scarce resource became our attention. Therefore whoever could call our attention ruled the economy. The Information Economy evolved into what we started calling the Attention Economy, where business entities, especially marketers, focused on transforming information into a form that will steal the attention of the consumer amidst the overwhelming noise in the marketplace. Advertising and marketing communications took the reins from IT. Branding took the front seat.
Creative departments became more in demand. More energy was dedicated into crafting messages and communication efforts that were attention calling, original, creative, shocking, controversial, flamboyant, pretty, unique, and compelling. The creative director was suddenly in the spotlight and ad agencies started churning out ads showcasing their creativity and originality. The marketplace was too noisy, trying to grab the attention of the consumers with rhetoric and art.
Transitioning from the Information Economy to an Attention Economy was a logical evolution. Technology has allowed for the noise in the market to rise beyond our own thresholds that the noise has become the normal room tone. The only solution marketers thought of was to have a voice that was very distinct from the ordinary buzz, a voice that rose above everyone else’s through differentiation and branding to secure the elusive attention of the consumer.
But these developments developed ADD in us. After our attention was called by a brand, our natural tendency was to switch as quickly as possible to the next one. We evolved into hyperactive consumers who consume and switch in between brands and goods with a swipe of a finger and a click of a button. This became problematic for a lot of brands, products, and services. The short attention span of the consumers made it harder for them to establish a real connection and a lasting relationship. This was bad for business.
(to be concluded)
J. ALBERT GAMBOA is the CFO of Asian Center for Legal Excellence and Senior Advisor of KSearch Asia Consulting Inc.
source: Businessworld
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