"The attention economy"" is a concept that was born from Nobel laureate Herbert A. Simon, which originally referred to marketing in particular and companies that aimed to maximize the time and attention that users devoted to their products.
This concept gained even greater momentum and was widely incorporated into other spheres, including digital media, when the problem of information overload was added. With the increase in content being made available on the internet, the struggle for human attention became a key factor.
Impact today
The vast amount of data being produced today has made the competition for human attention more difficult. According to this concept, information is treated as a relatively cheap commodity, while the “price of attention” has increased. Human focus is now a “valuable commodity,” driven by lack of focus, information overload, digital monetization, and algorithms.
In the age of social media, this concept has become one of the main characteristics of information consumption. Social media is serving as an arena where people get information, perform other services, and even face marketing from businesses. All of these compete with each other to quickly get attention.
The title as the epicenter
In this environment, users rarely have the time or motivation to read a full article. Instead, decisions about the credibility or importance of a news story are often based solely on the first elements of exposure – the headline, photo, and short description that appears on the social network.
This has meant that the headline does not serve as an information product in itself. If it is inaccurate, exaggerated, or does not fully match the content, there is a risk that a portion of the audience will form erroneous perceptions without even reading the full text. In this way, the attention economy creates conditions that favor not only increasingly attractive headlines, but also superficial consumption of information, increasing the potential for misinformation.
A 2018 study by authors Gordon Pennycook, Tyrone Cannon, and David Rand found that a large portion of the public’s engagement with news on social media is limited to reading headlines. This leads users to form judgments about the accuracy of information even when they haven’t read the full content of the article (see here).
The phenomenon is also explained by the concept of “What You See Is All There Is” (WYSIWYG)” (What you see is all there is) by Daniel Kahneman in 2011. It also explains that people tend to build conclusions based only on the information they have in front of them, without necessarily seeking additional data. And on social media, the headline and image are often the only information on which the public's beliefs are formed.
In the digital age, it has become common practice in online media to use terms such as “exclusive”, “shocking” / “shocking”, “scandalous”, “unbelievable” / “extraordinary”, as a strategy related to the competition for attention. For sensational headlines in the media, as a phenomenon between attention marketing and information degradation, Hibrid.info published an article in March. It explains that pompous headlines are not just a stylistic solution, but a mechanism to manipulate the perception of the importance of information.
Treatments in Kosovo
Hibrid.info has consistently addressed such misinformation only through headlines. They are mostly considered "clickbait" when they do not match the content.
According to the methodology of hibrid.info:
“Clickbait” is considered to be informational content whose title is general and does not disclose the location of the event, context and relevance. Such texts and articles aim to attract the attention of the audience with sensational headlines with misleading consequences, which do not accurately clarify the content of the article. “Clickbait” headlines are mainly made to attract readability in the case of media publications and/or to earn from clicks in the case of commercial publications.
You can find such examples in space. HERE.
Related to “attention grabbing” may also be the phenomenon of “Content farm” (content farms). This works when certain social media pages during certain events, such as elections, increase activity by distributing content from dubious portals. These pages publish articles with sensational and “clickbait” titles, often emotional and vague, that do not match the content, in order to attract clicks and increase interactions (likes, comments and shares). The “content farm” phenomenon refers to networks or pages that produce and distribute content en masse, with a focus on generating traffic and engagement on social networks, rather than accurately informing the public. In many cases, the same article is published by dubious portals and then distributed simultaneously on many different pages on “Facebook”, creating the impression of a wide and organic spread of information. So they fight for the public’s attention at a time when there is known to be intense online activity.
Advice:
- Don't judge the news just by the headline.
- Check if the title matches the content.
- Don't share it right away.
- Check the source.
- Search for other sources
- Beware of emotional reaction
- Use fact-checking platforms