A Framework for Attention

Note: A version of this essay was originally released on my blog: Life in Color

Let's explore how attention works on the Internet. While this essay highlights NFT projects, the framework can be applied to product launches.

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_Attention

In a world where AI lowers the cost of producing pretty much anything, the path to growth is attention. Similarly, with the open source ethos taking front and center in both AI and Web3, building anything is getting easier over time — A builder can take a bunch of open source building blocks and stitch them together. And with the rise of low code and no code platforms, the average person can also easily tinker with their ideas as well.

As it gets easier to build, the difference between a successful project and an unsuccessful one will be attention.

This is further exacerbated by the fact that our attention spans are razor thin and becoming thinner by the day.

Attention is the new currency.

_NFT Communities

Understanding how to generate and garner attention is important for NFT communities. Most NFT projects have generally optimized for hype as a proxy for attention. This has largely fallen flat, especially in a down market when consumers and holders are looking for something more.

And there is nothing wrong with hype, but garnering attention requires more than hype.

Attention is a function of hype x engagement x transparency.

_Hype

The goal of hype is to create suspense and surprise. This is the “WOW” factor that comes from anticipation.

When done right, hype will generate a high level of attention, but usually for a short amount of time. The culmination of hype creates a spike in attention and then that attention quickly fades as the hype fades.

Hype requires secrecy to build which can be risky if a project overhypes something and doesn’t deliver. And even if hype worked for one specific event, the bar increases — people will expect more to get the same feeling of “WOW,” that they felt the first time.

Hype is hard to sustain.

However, this does not mean that hype has no place in a project’s quest for attention. A project can apply hype to a specific part of their release / project versus not the entire release / project.

For example: You might showcase the art or use a trailer to build anticipation for a particular release without revealing everything about the release. This gives community members something to look forward to and minimizes the risks that comes from building in secret.

_Engagement

Engagement refers to when project teams and founders engage directly with their community. For example, when a project announces something, community members will have questions, feedback and comments.

Community members will take to Discord, Twitter and other social channels to have their voices heard.

When a project founder and team engages with their community, they garner attention because the community feels like their voices are heard. Replying to people captures their attention, they feel like there is no wall between you and them.

As a project founder, you might not want to say too much about everything, but most of the time, the community just wants to know they are not shouting into the void.

_Transparency

Transparency in a project can happen in a variety of ways. One of the best ways to be transparent is to practice some form of building in public. This does not mean you have to update your community every second of the day or after every action you take. It can be as simple as communicating timely and useful project updates.

Transparency generates attention because through transparency the community feels like they are a part of the project and know what is going on. As they learn more about what is happening behind the scenes, they invest more of their attention into following the project.

Being transparent does not mean a project cannot use hype. They are not mutually exclusive — the key here is deciding the mix between the two.

_Distribution is Queen

As with any formula, calibrating when and how much of each of the building blocks to use is an art that is refined over time.

Usually the wrong answer is over-indexing on any one of them, haphazardly without understanding your community and audience.

Deciding how much of each to use to capture attention is the hard work the project team has to figure out for their specific context.

Capturing attention is a craft … but it’s one of the most important crafts.

Because attention gets your distribution.

And on the crowded Internet where our attention is becoming razor thinner each day, distribution makes all the difference.

Product is King but Distribution is Queen.