Influencers and the attention economy: the meaning and management of attention on Instagram

ABSTRACT

The attention economy is often used to describe the market conditions of influencers on social media platforms. It suggests new economic logics and marketing strategies governed through accumulating attention. Critically examining this concept, this paper asks: how do influencers understand and manage attention on Instagram? Through 41 in-depth interviews with fitness influencers, this paper found that attention is not always desirable, nor the basis of new forms of economic logics. Further, as participants moved from working part-time to full-time in the online fitness industry, attention-mitigating strategies often replaced attention-seeking ones. This paper critically extends the concept of the attention economy and refocuses influencer marketing efforts on the contextual, rather than universal, use of attention.

KEYWORDS:

• Attention economy
• social media
• Instagram
• influencer
• content creator
• digital economy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kyle Kubler

Kyle Kubler is a faculty lecturer at the McGill Writing Centre at McGill University. He is also a research fellow at the Center for Journalism, Media and Democracy at the University of Washington.