The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads

Synopsis

Ours Is Often Called An Information Economy, But At A Moment When Access To Information Is Virtually Unlimited, Our Attention Has Become Ultimate Commodity. In Nearly Every Moment Of Our Waking Lives, We Face A Barrage Of Efforts To Harvest Our Attention. This Condition Is Not Simply The By-product Of Recent Technological Innovations But The Result Of More Than A Century's Growth And Expansion In The Industries That Feed On Human Attention. Wu's Narrative Begins In The Nineteenth Century, When Benjamin Day Discovered He Could Get Rich Selling Newspapers For A Penny. Subsequently, Every New Medium--from Radio To Television To Internet Companies Such As Google And Facebook--has Attained Commercial Viability And Immense Riches By Turning Itself Into An Advertising Platform. Since The Early Days, The Basic Business Model Of Attention Merchants Has Never Changed: Free Diversion In Exchange For A Moment Of Your Time, Sold In Turn To The Highest-bidding Advertiser. Full Of Lively, Unexpected Storytelling And Piercing Insight, The Attention Merchants Lays Bare The True Nature Of A Ubiquitous Reality We Can No Longer Afford To Accept At Face Value--back Cover. Introduction: Here's The Deal -- Pt. I. Masters Of Blazing Modernities. The First Attention Merchants ; The Alchemist ; For King And Country ; Demand Engineering, Scientific Advertising, And What Women Want ; A Long Lucky Run ; Not With A Bang But With A Whimper -- Pt. Ii. The Conquest Of Time And Space. The Invention Of Prime Time ; The Prince ; Total Attention Control, Or The Madness Of Crowds ; Peak Attention, American Style ; Prelude To An Attentional Revolt ; The Great Refusal ; Coda To An Attentional Revolution -- Pt. Iii. The Third Screen. Email And The Power Of The Check-in ; Invaders ; Aol Pulls 'em In -- Pt. Iv. The Importance Of Being Famous. Establishment Of The Celebrity-industrial Complex ; The Oprah Model ; The Panopticon -- Pt. V. Won't Be Fooled Again. The Kingdom Of Content: This Is How You Do It ; Here Comes Everyone ; The Rise Of Clickbait ; The Place To Be ; The Importance Of Being Microfamous ; The Fourth Screen And The Mirror Of Narcissus ; The Web Hits Bottom ; A Retreat And A Revolt ; Who's Boss Here? ; An Absorbing Spectacle: The Attention Merchant Turned President -- Epilogue: The Human Reclamation Project. Tim Wu. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 357-395) And Index.