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Some economists have pointed out that in a knowledge-based economy, the most valuable commodity is not information, but attention. Michael Goldhaber (1997) proposed that we are not so much living in an information economy, as in an attention economy, where value is created from the exchange of attention and "[w]hat matters is seeking, obtaining and paying attention." Digital media and the internet facilitate participation in this economy, by creating new channels for distributing attention. In order to get attention, you have to give attention; otherwise, your audience will lose interest and take their attention elsewhere. This is an important point for advertisers, especially those launching social media campaigns. The emphasis is on developing new kinds of relationships with customers, and in many cases, moving towards engaging customers in the design of products for themselves.
Goldhaber notes that some people (he calls them "stars") are better at attracting attention than others (he calls them "fans"). Stars are able to command more attention partly because they pay illusory attention to fans; that is, they give the illusion of personal attention even though they are addressing a large audience. Goldhaber illustrates this concept with the example of a presenter at a conference, who, while talking to a large crowd, makes eye contact with individuals in that crowd. In digital media, social media tools like Twitter and Facebook provide opportunities to pay illusory attention.
If you accept the idea of an attention economy with attention as the valued commodity, then you have to adjust your ways of thinking about certain concepts. For example, our traditional way of thinking of privacy as freedom from the public gaze is not especially appropriate for people participating in an attention economy. People have to be "out there" in order to attract attention. In addition, intellectual property laws that forbid people from copying and distributing a creator's work also seem out of place. This kind of copying and distributing draws attention to the creator, thus increasing their "wealth" in the attention economy. In other words, wealth comes not from the exchange of "intellectual property," but from the exchange of attention.
Which of the following can be the main idea of the passage?
AAttention has been considered the most valuable commodity in an economy based on knowledge.正確答案
BThe fans will no longer take a strong interest in their stars if they do not get enough attention.
CA knowledge-based economy accumulates wealth on the exchange of information.
DIntellectual property laws have forbidden people from copying and distributing a creator's work.
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