How Sound Bites Have Become Weapons of the Information Age
In attention-based economies, sound bites and clickbait headlines are digital weapons used to alter narratives for control and influence.
The Attention Economy
The Information Age is building an attention-based economy. As the internet transitions to a more mature phase, its use has changed. Now users can easily produce informational content in addition to what they consume. As a result, there is more information available than ever before. So much content exists that it is becoming more challenging to build an interested audience.
Audiences are built by capturing the attention of consumers and providing them with value. But value is subjective. It changes based on the audience.
The attention-based economy is built around the concept that time is valuable. And time spent interacting with content is valuable. Clicks, impressions, and ultimately purchases are the value drivers in the information economy. But going a little deeper reveals other patterns that hold this economy together.
The internet changed how we consume everything. Before the internet was widely adopted, manufacturing relied on economies of scale to produce products with good…
