I’ve been writing a little about the concept of filtering online information, and it’s perhaps useful to consider the different qualities of online attention.

Let’s agree that the medium of the web functions as an economy of attention (Wired 1997). We don’t have to agree, and I’m happy if you disagree, but let’s at least pretend for a minute that we agree. Attention can be quantified in the form of web stats, and there are different qualities or types of attention. I like to think of these three:

1.) Surface impressions
2.) Moderate interest
3.) Passionate and active engagement

One type of low quality online attention can be generated in the form of surface impressions, like you’d get from a flashing, annoying banner ad. People have trained themselves to filter and resist a lot of marketing messages and images, so in some ways these surface impressions only register in your audiences’ subconsious. Some people deeply believe in this style of “top of mind awareness” repetition oriented conditioning. It must work. Otherwise why would so many people do it, right? Yahoo’s advertisers a huge believers in targeting this type of attention. Luckily it’s not the only type of attention for website marketers to work with.

Many websites generate a higher quality of attention because people are coming and seeking information, and engaging with that information. I call this moderate interest. People come to the site, find what they’re looking for, and leave. They may bookmark it and return regularly, or add the site into their feeds. The depth of this interaction is influenced heavily by the site’s visual presentation, layout, organization, and architecture. I give google this type of attention when I use their search engine.

A third type of attention is the most desirable, let’s call it passionate and active engagement. Some of the people browsing flickr are passionate about images, and they spend a lot of time studying the images and commenting on them. They take an active role in creating content on the site. This passionate interest is a hallmark of social media sites.[tags]attention, social media, filtering online information[/tags]