The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads

We often refer to our civilization as the information age. Maybe a slightly more descriptive metaphor would be our advertising sponsored “free” information age. Tim Wu does an outstanding job of mapping out the history leading to this “free” information age. He starts a long time ago when Benjamin Day started a newspaper in New York City in the 1830s based on a revolutionary model at the time of being funded primarily by print advertising. Unlike his competitors, he sold his daily at a big loss. But, he more than made up for it by advertising. He started the business by creating unsolicited ads in his newspaper to trigger the interest of the merchants he had advertised on their behalf without their asking. Tim Wu goes on meticulously on detailing a succession of pioneers that will essentially leverage derivatives of this pioneering advertising sponsored business model onto radio, TV, internet, and ultimately mobile. By the end the advertising merchants have created trading networks that make hedge fund nanotraders seem like boy scouts on bicycles. Indeed, such advertising networks make so many near instant decisions to route whatever the most relevant ad is delivered to the highest commercial bidder on monitor and screens of all sizes.

At almost any time there is a tension or trade-off between getting wonderful information services for much below cost or entirely free and essentially suffering from advertising pollution that impairs our brain’s focus to achieve what we were meant to do on this earth.

Tim Wu feels the above issue has reached a boiling point. He is not alone. Even technology industry leaders have taken that position. In one of the last chapters, he focuses on Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, who championed this position. He indicated that the advertising invasion is really impairing customer experiences including underperformance (in terms of speed, video-streaming quality, etc.) of all related information appliances when surfing the internet. Along those lines Tim Cook delivered ad-blockers that are readily available on all Apple’s devices.

Tim Cook’s position is both laudable and self-serving (and not necessarily in a bad way, but a smart way). When you think of the four major behemoths of the technology field: Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple; they increasingly overlap and compete with each other over various domains be it cell phones, cloud servers, operating systems, and numerous other software platforms. But, when you look at the funding sources the first two (Google and Facebook) are essentially dominant advertising agencies. Meanwhile, Amazon is the major retail clearinghouse middleman who also benefits a great deal from advertising. On the other hand, Apple is from a funding source standpoint in a silo earning a buck the old fashion way by selling mainly hardware (I Phones, I Pads, I Watch) and services (music, apps). It does not make money from advertising. So, for Tim Cook to lead and facilitate the campaign of the ad-blockers is a direct arrow at the advertising based business of his main competitors.

In the last chapter, Tim Wu goes on that we should regain our consciousness and our focus. We should think more deliberately about the choice we make. Do we want to keep on selling ourselves for “free” to be part of massive audiences that are very lucratively marketable by the Big 3 (Facebook, Google, Amazon)? I have recently experienced what it is like. I just recently got a mini I Pad, a really cool little machine. And, I remember attempting to read a serious article that demanded focus in order to be understood. The mini I Pad screen is plenty big for reading. However, it seems that nearly three fourth of the screen was wasted on ads in various forms. And, I literally could not practice the type of slow attentive reading I needed to understand the article. I quickly gave up and read the article a few days later on a printed copy with no problem and a lot more enjoyment and retention. So, I should consider the ad-blocker apps as many of you have already. And, Tim Wu’s nearly spiritual call at the end does promote such attitude. Let’s reclaim the independence of our brain. Let’s focus. Let’s maximize the outcome of our respective destinies.

Tim Wu’s position is really attractive and nearly unquestionable. Could one really take the opposite position? Let’s waste our time being distracted by an unending stream of advertisement and related vapid entertainment and distraction and don’t leave a legacy whatsoever of our passage on earth. Ok, that’s not a very good rebuttal of Tim Wu’s position.

However, if we look at the underlying economics the underlying argument may get more complicated. Let’s say the Big 3 entirely loose out their ad revenues. And, they do not make enough from selling various apps and games to cover their costs. They actually would have to charge for their “free services.” They could use different models such as monthly subscriptions or paying for each unit of services. Given that, how much would you be willing to pay monthly to maintain access to your Facebook profile and its related networking activities? How much would you be willing to pay for one single Google search? Similarly, how much would Facebook and Google have to charge to effectively cover their lost advertising revenues? Those questions become a chicken and the egg issue because the price affects the demand. For “free” those services have nearly infinite demand. But, for any realistic price the demand for all those “free” services would crater. Such economic questions most often render problems or issues much more complicated than otherwise. This economic conundrum was not Tim Wu’s objective when writing “The Attention Merchants.” And, that is perfectly fine. His book probably packs in a more effective punch by focusing on the tension between “The Attention Merchants” and the self-actualization of our own focused consciousness.

This is an extremely readable account of how advertising evolved and how it affects us today. I loved the history of advertising. As presented by Wu the subject is far from dry and gives a deeper understanding of how we came to tolerate the currently intrusive bid for attention that is online advertising today. While the narrative is extremely illuminating the implications are profound. Do we really want to allow merchants to co-opt nearly every second of our attention? And what is the price we pay when we do allow their intrusion?

Wu's arguments are interesting, compelling, and required reading for anyone interested in the future development of our culture.

Ed Savage, a high-caliber organizational development professional, and a colleague of his, developed the “Rule of Seventeen.” Their rule is: it takes seventeen repetitions for a message to sink in. I thought of this as I worked through The Attention Merchants by Tim Wu; especially in the section of the book that gave the British precursor to, and then the practice of, Nazi propaganda. The simple message: the more fully a messenger can smother an audience with a message, the more fully the message sinks in.

Why is this book worth our time? I have three answers:
#1 – This is a book that provides a sweeping yet substantive overview of the history of the ways attention merchants have sought out, and taken, our attention. (propaganda; advertising; posters, print, radio, television, web, mobile – sweeping!)
#2 – This is a book that reveals the unending competition for our attention. The attention merchants are always hard at work, and very creative in the ways they “hide” what they are doing.
#3 – This is a book that is really well written – utterly engaging.

The Attention Merchants has so many highlight worthy passages. Here are a few:
The question is always, what shall I pay attention to?
Over the coming century, the most vital human resource in need of conservation and protection is likely to be our own consciousness and mental.
… the attention industry, in its many forms, has asked and gained more and more of our waking moments, albeit always, in exchange for new conveniences and diversions, creating a grand bargain that has transformed our lives.
The real purpose of this book is less to persuade you one way or the other, but to get you to see the terms plainly, and, seeing them plainly, demand bargains that reflect the life you want to live.
As William James observed, we must reflect that, when we reach the end of our days, our life experience will equal what we have paid attention to, whether by choice or default. We are at risk, without quite fully realizing it, of living lives that are less our own than we imagine.
The goal of what follows is to help us understand more clearly how the deal went down and what it means for all of us.
As. Mr. Wu led us through the arrival of early, and then the next, and then the next, attention merchants, I made this list. The progression:
• Preachers – the Church was the one institution whose mission depended on galvanizing attention
• Snake Oil Salesmen
• poster creators (Paris) — the posters were practically impossible to ignore.
• British War Propaganda (when “Propaganda” was not a bad word)
• The Ministry for Public Enlightenment and of Propaganda – Hitler, Goebbels, Leni Riefenstahl — total immersion of audience; “mandated” attention
• from sponsors… to “ads”
• from People to Instagram
• from Magazines to Blogs to Twitter and Instagram
• (the illusion of intimacy; the “pretend” self)
• from posters to film and radio to television to computers to hand-held screens
• and now, as part of the “revolt,” Netflix and binge watching
One thing I noticed was the no-longer-with-us brands of yesteryear, like: Ipana, Rinso, and Zenith.

And, here were my five lessons and takeaways from the book:
#1 – First, pay attention to where your attention is going. Learn where it is going!
#2 – Be wary of claims – all claims. (Who is the one who makes the claims? Why do they make such claims?)
#3 – If the advertisers fail, then: who will pay for content (to be developed)?
#4 – Schedule some digital Sabbaths; some intentional times to unplug.
#5 – Commit to the “human reclamation project.”

I am a loyal and appreciative fan of the work of David Halberstam, and I was pleased to see Mr. Wu refer to Halberstam’s classic The Powers that Be.
And, this note: if you have ever wondered about “fake news,” you could read the sections of this book about snake oil salesmen. And, especially, the way that the Camel News Caravan successfully avoided all negative news about the health dangers of smoking.
Should you read this book? Yes. If for no other reason than it is an utterly engaging book to read. But, reading this book will also make you a much more attentive and wary participant in where you place your eyeballs and where you allow your attention to settle. Getting that right can make a world of difference.

I spent 30 years in the advertising business. Unfortunately the tools of persuasion have been unleashed on us all--in every dimension, from politics to every facet of life. In the content of the current political scene, this book is a great study in "How We Got Here. "

This is an excellent book, well thought out and organized.

A fair part of the book delves into the past... using carefully selected vignettes in a way that reminded me of one of my other favorite authors, Malcolm Gladwell. It was interesting to see "how we got here".

The book is full of very quotable quotes. My wife was reading it to herself, but would often pause and read a portion aloud. Its interesting and succeeds in not being pedantic.

it really brought into focus whats going on with many social networking apps that my kids are using.

I think its a good read, and perhaps should be required reading for older teens in my family. It might be ok to be complicit with resellers of your attention, but you should at least know what they are doing, how they are doing it, and what they stand to gain.

Review of The Attention Merchants by Tim Wu written by Jerry Woolpy
What our founders derived from the Age of Enlightenment was freedom to depart from the dogmatism of religious faith, to be rational, individual, and not subject to the authority of a king. What we got was society consumed with agents competing for our attention. At first it was snake oil salesmen, then candidates, and eventually entertainment paid for to persuade on behalf of a product or service. Radio, television, internet, smart phones attracted us and eventually made our habits into products to be marketed. As technology made delivery ever more efficient our concentration was compromised. Our time to think, dream, and create was challenged. Our news was driven by drama. We elect people with the loudest voices without consideration of what they are saying. But there is hope. At the theater and in our sanctuaries we turn off our phones. We have ad blockers for the internet and recorders like Tivo to bypass commercial interruption and allow us to view programs at leisure. We have public radio and television relatively free of the incessant commercials that the Attention Merchants are bent upon. The book is an exposé of the sale of our attention. Will our awareness protect us? We will reclaim our minds? Is the election of Donald Trump going to lead to an epiphany of the freedom our forefathers envisioned for us?

Tim Wu, a legal scholar, technologist and public policy expert has compiles a great deal of excellent research on the packaging and sale of human attention, generally acquired through the consumption of media. He recounts (in detail) the birth of newspaper advertising, the resale of public school attention to advertising during instructional videos, the early days of electronic mail and spam, as well as more recent efforts on packaging attentions on the web and video. He also recounts recent efforts to offer filters from distraction to our attention by streaming video services such as Netflix and Apple's add blocking OS's.

I found Mr. Wu's book a fascinating compilation of historical and contemporary research; but, at least in this preliminary form without indexes a little hard to digest in terms of what are the boundaries and foci of hist study of attention merchants. In reviewing much of the book I found much fascinating information, but at least as far as I was able to explore this publishers preprint I could find no mentions of such topics as TIVO and DVR's, as well as a limited description of market research in terms of the PRIZM market segmentation. Shouldn't a contemporary review of the capture and marketing of attention mention its measurement in neuro-marketing and eye-gaze tracking?

In general I find this book interesting and diverse in its content. I was less impressed in its definition of its own scope and limited body of conclusions.

The other reviewers summarized the book well, so I'll just add this: The Attention Merchants is the most intellectually satisfying book I've read in a long while. I keep recommending it - it's a good coffee / cocktail conversation book. Tim Wu masterfully places recent political and cultural events into the context of our social media-hyped, attention deficient lives. I have also become more conscious of where and how I spend my time and attention.

Note: Amazon has a new policy that ensures preferential placement only of reviews of books purchased from Amazon. Therefore, there will be little (if any) opportunity to read reviews by those who receive a copy as a gift, borrow one from a friend or check one out from a library. That is a very unfair, indeed dumb policy.

* * *

As Tim Wu explains in the Introduction, “As an industry, attention merchants are relatively new. Their lineage can be traced to the nineteenth century when in New York City the first newspapers fully dependent on advertising were created; and Paris, where a dazzling new kind of commercial art [e.g. posters created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec] first seized the eyes of the person in the street. But the full potential of the business model by which attention is converted into revenue would not be fully understood until the early twentieth century, when the power of mass attention was discovered by any commercial entity but by British war propagandists.”

In their business classic, The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business (2001), Thomas H. Davenport and John C. Beck examine a subject of special interest to me: ADD in the business world. Almost everyone continues to experience information overload. Some who have studied this phenomenon invoke metaphors such as “blizzards” of “tsunamis” of data. Meanwhile, information providers struggle to get through them to reach those who are most important to them. How to attract their attention? Then, how to capture that attention with what has been described by the Brothers Heath as “stickiness”?

After conducting an extensive research project, Davenport and Beck concluded that attention is "the new currency of business." Perhaps Michael Wolf agrees, having published a brilliant book in 1999 about “the entertainment economy"; perhaps Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore also agree, having published a book (also in 1999) about "the experience economy."

At least since the marketplaces in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, the basic purpose of marketing is to create or increase demand for whatever the given offering may be. Those unable to go to those markets were alerted by “drummers” – literally people, usually children, sent ahead to beat on drums -- to a merchant’s imminent arrival. All commerce begins with a need to be filled, often a problem to be solved. Who can do that?

Wu explains how merchants have responded to that question throughout the centuries, generating interest by attracting attention. As communication and then social media developed, buyers and sellers have found it much easier to connect. Meanwhile, throughout the twentieth century especially, separate but related disciplines such as demographics, market research and most recently analytics have concurrently developed.

During the 17 years since The Attention Economy was published, the global marketplace has become more volatile, more uncertain, more complex, and more ambiguous than at any prior time that I can remember. One result is that attention has become even more valuable and remains “the currency of business.”

These are among the subjects discussed by Wu that are of greatest interest to me:

o How attention merchants conducted business pre-radio
o Then, with radio and television
o Competition for attention online
o The power of social media, for better and worse
o The rules of zoning
o The regulation of commercial activity
o The nature and extent that our so-called “private lives” and become public
o Why goals to reclaim our time and attention continue to be so difficult to achieve
o The extent to which attention merchants have [begin italics] improved [end italics] our quality of life
o The extent to which [begin italics] potential [end italics] threats posed by attention merchants

These are among Tim Wu’s concluding observations: “At bottom, whether we acknowledge it or not, the attention merchants have come to play an important part in setting the course of our lives and consequently the future of the human race, insofar as that future will be nothing more than the running total of our individual mental states...If we desire a future that avoids the enslavement of the propaganda state as well as the narcosis of the consumer and celebrity culture, we must first acknowledge the preciousness of out attention and resolve not to part with it as cheaply or unthinkingly as we have so often have. And then we must act, individually and collectively, to make our attention our own again, and so reclaim ownership of the very experience of living.”

Indeed, I presume to add, reclaim ownership of our humanity.

not easy to read and so many redundant details. not recommended