What’s the difference between a snake and a ladder?
Well, the Attention Economy is a game of ladders…and snakes.
Take the average failed comedian.
The average failed comedian doesn’t want to be a great comedian…they just want attention. They’d rather have a lot of people pay attention to them instead of get paid a lot of money.
And because they just want attention, they go from comedian to clown very quickly, because there’s a larger TAM in being a clown.
Many of the brands you see today worked out the business longer before they started earning attention. But because attention is what people pay attention to, they rarely ask what the business is all about.
The Attention Economy is a game of ladders…and snakes. The only difference is that in real life, the ladders and the snakes are the same people.
The people you pass on the way up are the same people you pass on the way down. The same ladder you took on the way up will transmute into the snake you slip and slide on the way down.