The Attention Game

Author: David Perell URL: https://www.perell.com/blog/2017/3/14/the-attention-game One-line: Business is a game with rules, and the old game of maximizing reach (followers, albums sold) is the wrong one — creators win by serving their most passionate fans and thinking in power laws, not bell curves.

Key claims

• Business is a game. Strict governing bodies, rules, and best practices increase your odds; winners combine skill, strategy, and luck within rigid structures. #Entrepreneurship
• Follower counts and albums sold are outdated metrics. The traditional path to monetizing internet attention — measuring influence by reach — is becoming archaic and inefficient.
• Think power laws, not bell curves. Drop Bill Gates into a room of 100 and the mean explodes while the median holds — one person can dominate the pie. Creators who optimize for their average fan instead of their most passionate ones are playing the wrong game. #1,000 True Fans
• From knowledge economy to entrepreneurial economy. We’re at a pivotal moment in the history of work; the internet has changed the rules.
• Share of customer beats share of market. In the digital economy, the leverage is in going deep on your most passionate fans — exclusive meet-and-greets, signed limited editions — not wide on the masses.
• The mainstream is collapsing. Markets of scarcity are giving way to markets of abundance, balkanizing culture into niche, identity-based communities. #Online Communities

Notable quotes

“Business is a game. There are strict governing bodies, rules to play by, and best practices that increase your chance of success.”

“One person can dominate a large percentage of the pie… Creators who are focus on their average fans instead of their most passionate ones are playing the wrong game.”

“We are moving from a knowledge economy to an entrepreneurial one.”

“Consumers are in control and they want to interact as much as possible with their favorite creators. They seek opportunities to engage in niche, identity-based communities.”

How it connects

• 1,000 True Fans — the spine of the argument: depth over reach, share of customer over share of market.
• Digital Creators / Influencers — the entrepreneurial class this new game rewards.
• Online Communities — niche, identity-based fandoms as the unit of culture after the mainstream collapses.
• Entrepreneurship — business-as-game framing.