Attention does not equate to affinity or agreement. Attention is a function of promotion, controversy, and frequency.
Heavy self promotion tends to make me feel nauseous. Personally I want to be judged on the merit of my ideas and the impact of my actions. I’m not going to overexpose myself simply for more attention.
Controversy simply for the sake of attention is for cowards who are lonely. Stating the honest opinion and standing by that in the face of adversity, while still being open and willing to be persuaded is a sign of strength and confidence. Personally, I don’t have what it takes to stir up controversy just to get attention.
The frequency of a message should be tied to the substance of it. Repeating the same thing over and over dilutes the meaning and causes numbness to the idea. I can’t see increasing my frequency at the expense of substance.
Today’s media landscape however favors something different.
If you look at the methods by which Donald Trump stays in the spotlight, you should be feeling a combination of shock and awe. The substance of his comments as a person are obviously deplorable. The substance of his statements as a politician are overwhelmingly false, often outright lies, or completely devoid of meaning. And yet… he has attention.
He has attention even among this who despise him.
There are people in my industry who are loud–not necessarily the volume of their voice–but the volume of tweets they send or snaps they compose. Some of these people are true originals. They are thoughtful. They are hungry. They are generous.
Many are not.
Be careful who you give you attention to.
- Some will trick you by feeding you what they want you to believe and promoting it over and over.
- Others will present you with a false choice and ask you to pick a side.
- Others will simply keep showing up until you have trouble ignoring them.
Still…be careful. Your attention matters. It’s an investment. Every unit of attention that you allocate will dictate the return you get from it later on.