The end of the attention economy?

I read this article the other day titled: "From The Attention Economy To The Creator Economy: A Paradigm Shift" on Forbes.

It was a super interesting take considering I have always heard the terms being used interchangeably.

The author talks about how in the early days of social media and the Attention Economy, creators needed the platforms’ audience. Then creators grew, had more leverage, fewer barriers existed, and could reach way more people. Creators now held a lot of power and were going away from social platforms.

A quote from the article

"The Attention Economy monetizes an audience they speak at while the Creator Economy turns that audience into a real asset: a community they engage with. The audience itself is a liability dressed up as an asset in that it costs more to acquire than the value that you capture from it."

Countless creator tools like Patreon, Etsy, Shopify, etc. are all making it super seamless for people to start their own thing with very little friction and dev skills needed.

They own their audience and can tap into it however they choose.

This gives me some affirmation that working in growth/marketing will remain evergreen as things evolve and become more competitive.

I am curious to see how social giants respond as they see their grasp diminish and digital power redistributes down to individual creators.

I don't think this means the end of the attention economy. Just a new vertical that can be addressed.

Here's the article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/claralindhbergendorff/2021/03/12/from-the-attention-economy-to-the-creator-economy-a-paradigm-shift/?sh=7e110bfaa759