How Much Does a Tweet Cost? The Cost of Attention

Today I’d like to propose a new term: COA – Cost Of Attention.

But before I do this, I’d like to first say “Thank You”, Dear Reader, for both your Attention and your Time.

In the age of the Information Fire Hose, I know that you vote with your mouse, and I both appreciate and value your time. I hope that I provide you with something valuable in return. In other words, I hope that our exchange is mutual and not one-sided.

Even as I write this article now, Fortune 500 companies and marketing agencies are trying to quantify social media and determine what the “Dollar Value” is of a “Like” on Facebook, or a “Follower” on Twitter. Silly, I know, but they are. Really. That’s how they determine where to invest their marketing dollars.

Today I propose that instead of asking what the ROI (Return On Investment) is of a Tweet, a Like, a Follower or a Fan, that Brands and Agencies should also be cognizant that Social Media is not about THEM. It’s about folks like me and you. It’s about US; and we actually do incur a Cost Of Attention to consume their media and to engage with them. And that’s important to understand.

I know the value of what my time is worth to me, down to the second. If you’ve never done it, running the numbers to see how much your time is worth from a monetary standpoint is a truly valuable exercise to go through because it forces you to be aware of how you spend your time and to what you give your attention.

The point of this post is to simply posit that tweets, email messages, Facebook streams, rss feeds, text messages – all of these incur a COA on we, the end users – a Cost Of Attention.

The thing I find most interesting is that we are aware that it is costing us money, and yet we continue to not only sip from the fire hose, but we open the fire hose even wider. Think about that for a moment.

Eventually, our Attention Bank will be empty. What then?

So how much does a tweet cost? Who cares? We know that it costs something, and that’s enough.

The point is that it incurs a COA if we give it our attention. This cost increases if we click on a link in the tweet rather than just reading the 140 characters of text; and it increases even further if we take the time to read the article or content being sent to us by someone else.

Go look at your Twitter stream for today only. How many tweets from the folks that you follow are both relevant and valuable to you and are more than just asking you to click on a link, asking for your Time and Attention? Are there any? Who do you follow who is actually Engaging you and not just demanding your attention? Are there any?

I hope so, because in the 21st Century, Attention is the New Currency. Time is finite. Attention is how we spend it and who or what we spend it on.

I propose that what I choose to spend my time on defines my attention; and that my attention has a tangible cost to it that I can quantify down to the second.

I also propose that, because of this, that there is indeed a true Cost to Consume Media and that that cost is incurred voluntarily by the end users – US.

Because some tweets are informational or conversational (text only) and others offer us a link to read a lengthy article, I also propose that the COA of a tweet is not only variable by user, but that it can actually be measured; and that tweets with links in them incur a much higher COA to all of us than tweets without links.

So what’s the point? The point is that content and advertising are increasing exponentially, while our attention (how we spend our time) is finite.

Unless you’re in the military, we choose how we spend our time. This choice is not made for us.

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Make it a great day!

@AdamBoettiger

News: I’ll be speaking at ad:tech SF on 4/13 in San Francisco on Productivity. I’d love to see you at my session if you can make it. Also, my book, “digital minimalism: thriving in the age of distraction” is due out in April 2011. I am also developing a free online course, “Email Boot Camp”. Be one of the first to go through Email Boot Camp and get on the Beta Invite List here.