Rochelle Grayson

For most of us in social media, the challenges of an attention economy are well understood; we often hear “attention” is our currency and in very short supply. Trying to capture attention, promote viral conversations, engage an audience and ultimately, increase our networks and awareness are difficult goals to achieve. Many of us have heard that people in the online world suffer from “Attention Deficit Disorder” (ADD), which results in people skimming web pages, snacking on information, only reading bullets, etc.

Given this trend, micro-communications seem like a great answer to this ever-shrinking attention economy. Things like Twitter, Facebook status updates, and micro-blogs like Tumblr should really help us to address this issue. (In fact, I’ve even heard rumblings that “Blogs” are dead, but that discussion is for another post .) While micro-communications are a great way to perhaps grab people’s attention, there still may be something missing.

This was highlighted for me as I was reading “twitpitches” on Friday. A twitpitch summarizes your elevator pitch into 140 characters, usually a link is also included, and you post it to Twitter and tag it with “#twitpitch”. (Naturally, I followed the stream of twitpitches on Twemes .) I must admit that while I liked the concept of twitpitches, there was still something missing. Maybe it’s just that many people have not taken the time to communicate the essence of their pitch, or that 140 characters is too short. But, I definitely felt like I needed to hear more.

Then it hit me, most of the posts were missing the “Art of Storytelling“. In social media, we are constantly saying that to get the most out of these tools, you must participate! This idea is very much along the same lines; you need to participate because you need to create that never-ending story – the story of your life, the story of your thoughts, the story of your moments of genius, etc. – Your Story, however you define it! And, that cannot be summarized into 140 characters such that most people find it compelling and engaging. If you are lucky and/or very skilled, some might, but most of the time, we need to read and hear more.

So, what does this all mean? Yes, we live in an attention-starved economy, and micro-communications are great in capturing attention, as well as allowing us to dole out our stories in snack-sized pieces. However, do not forget that the most engaging and influential personalities are the ones who can build compelling stories (in many cases, bit-by-bit) and those who can take readers/users/listeners on an interesting journey!

Don’t just give me a short description, give me something that intrigues me, piques my interest! I don’t have a lot of time or attention; so, do make it worth my while!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

I just returned home from a brilliant week at the Banff New Media Institute, where I met 20 of the top Canadian women in media. I was asked to be a “peer advisor” for the Canadian Women in Communication/Corus Digital Media Career Accelerator Program. All I can say is “Wow“! This past week has been truly invigorating and enlightening!

My role was to offer insights (aka presentations) on common social media tools, business models (yeah, right ), and the nature of instant feedback! What was really interesting was how intimidated many of these senior women, primarily from the broadcasting world, were about these new “digital” options and distribution channels. However, after a week of learning, there were many great take-aways that highlighted the incredible success and need for such programs. A few of the key take-aways included:

• developing a real appreciation for social media tools and the value they can bring to a company or brand
• realizing that the digital world is very similar to the real world (and the traditional media world), with differences occurring primarily in what we “called” things, i.e. jargon and acronyms.
  (At the end of the week, we had a huge whiteboard covered with glossary terms and important websites and applications!)
• understanding that it’s all about the audience; the platform or medium is merely a conduit to conversing with them
• recognizing that games are often about the relationships created within them
• learning about the “attention economy”, the “device revolution”, and what “locative media” is
• reviewing some amazing case studies, such as ZeD TV, Regenesis, Fallen, CurrenTV, and many more
• recognizing the tremendous work associated with creating a successful blog and blog presence
• evaluating the pros and cons of HD programming and production
• realizing that storytelling needs to be taken to a new level
• establishing our own personal brands, even within large organizations
• appreciating that we all face similar challenges!

I’m sure there are many I’ve missed and over the next couple of days, I will sift through my notes and perhaps write other posts. However, I did want to sincerely thank the Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) (the organizer), CWC & Corus (the sponsors), and the phenomenal participants and my co-peer advisors for a spectacular week of dialog, conversations, insight and laughter! It was magnificent to expand my social network and to have connected with so many accomplished and inspiring women!

One cool take-away for me was the fact that I can now officially call myself an “Artist”… at least that’s what it says on my Banff Centre ID card ! The Banff Centre and this program definitely inspired creativity in me this week!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites