Attention is a fundamental currency: a source of satisfaction and a measure of social standing. Attention on Social media promises the possibility of receiving this satisfaction. Traditional media are no longer the gatekeepers and allocators of public attention, or so it would seem.
Attention provides gratification, and social media promise instant gratification, combined with the lure of endless distraction. To garner attention, several tactics are available. They differ somewhat from platform to platform, at least regarding content, presentation, and ferocity. However, the metrics are the same: views, connections, likes, followers, impressions, or whatever variant is promoted by the platform.
And yet, inexplicable to most of us, we neither feel nor become better connected through social media. We are attuned to a different kind of connection than the one social media provides. As a result, the effort feels futile to many, if not downright disappointing.
But there are those who get attention on social media, who aseem native to the attention game and use it for other ends: some form of transactional success. And they can indeed be called successful at it. They appear to have figured something out, and it is probably worth stating what that is, in my opinion. They have figured out that to turn garner attention and turn it into success you must follow four simple steps:
1. Listen — i.e., give attention to others
2. Agree — i.e., further increase their level of gratification
3. Add — i.e., enhance their ideas, thoughts, and beliefs in their preferred direction
4. Leverage — i.e., use this as the basis for your own ends and goals by weaving them into it
Sounds calculating? Well … it is. None of this truly connects you to anyone. It serves to achieve transactional success, not a genuine sense of connection, at least not on any level of connection to which we are attuned. But the inexplicable lack of feeling truly connected suddenly becomes explicable. It is not what the attention game is designed for.
Good communications advice understands what the attention game can achieve. And how it is played.