The Attention Economy

PREFACE

WE FIRST DISCUSSED attention in a setting both personally and geographically dramatic. We were having breakfast in the dining room of the Cliff House in Ogunquit, Maine, which looks out over craggy rocks and crashing waves. It was our first meeting in about twenty years. We’d worked together as student (John) and not-much-older professor (Tom), and now we were going to be colleagues in an Accenture (then known as Andersen Consulting) research center. “What do you want to do research on, John?” Tom asked between bites of Raisin Bran. “I’m really interested in attention,” John replied with some trepidation—thinking that the issue was unlikely to be at the top of any business researcher’s list. “That’s amazing—so am I,” Tom quickly interjected. ...