Attention economy and control over our newsfeeds

The implications of the ‘newsfeed optimizer’ on social network sites is broad.  Facebook has what is called “Realtime engagement optimization”, which is what determines who and what we see in our newsfeed. 

quote from http://daltoncaldwell.com/understanding-likegate

“Facebook newsfeed is an embodiment of our war on noise. We depend on the newsfeed optimizer to protect our limited attention span, and as a consequence, Facebook gets to choose what stories we do and don’t see, just as Google chooses which search results we do and don’t see. Conceptually, this seems very lucrative: Facebook is auctioning off our limited attention span to the highest bidder, as long as the bidder has a candidate newsstory to promote”

Especially as we get so many “friends”, it becomes more like a network of people we’ve met before and facebook becomes the arbitrator of these interactions.”

The term “attention economy” is used to describe the competition for space on our newsfeeds and other similar mediums.  It is interesting that for the time being, online social media users are content to allow Facebook to decide for them who and what to show.  Assuming that there is a correlation between the frequency with which we are shown information on an individual and/or product, and the extent to which we subsequently engage that individual or product, Facebook is influencing who we interact with.  It is conceivable that users could pay have their individual newsfeeds featured more prominently amongst those whose attention they want to attract…  estranged “friends”, romantic interests, potential clients/collaborators, etc.

A major question arises as to how long we will allow facebook and other related sites to be the arbitrator of our newsfeeds and attention?  Granted our activities to be watched are all happening on facebook and related sites, but it seems extreme to assume that Facebook and other social media sites will be allowed to control the entire attention economy to the extent that they do now for long.  Eventually people will want some increased amount of control over who/what they see and how these are determined and there is likely a huge opportunity for a company that could allow users to develop their own.  For the time being, we seem content to allow facebook and others decide for us what is worthy of our attention and what is not. 

-zb