Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Losing attention
Take Dan Gillmor. I didn’t have the capacity to track his blog, but kept hearing of him from others. His citizen journalism initiative and upcoming book were the toast of the ’sphere. And then the linking dried up. One day, a year later, I wondered “Hey, what happened to Dan Gillmor? How come nobody talks about him anymore?”
Turns out he closed his startup because they couldn’t find a business model. Now that he was no longer on the cusp of doing something remarkable, the chatter died. This isn’t to belittle his efforts. His work at the new Center for Citizen Media must be as remarkable as what he tried at the failed venture, but doesn’t seem to be getting the same attention.
In this so called attention economy, must one necessarily be an exhibitionist to be relevant?