Can I have your attention?

Or more appropriately, do I deserve your attention?

Question for you:
How did you get here, to this blog entry?  Do you happen upon this blog as a result of a search?  Or perhaps you regularly read another blog and they linked to me?  The best case (my opinion) is that you are one of the folks who have subscribed to an RSS feed either directly from this blog site or one of the other aggregate sites it is sent to.  But whatever the path you took, it was an action on your part that said, “I’m willing to spend some of my attention in order to gain some benefit.” 

”Huh? I’m spending my attention?”

Yes, you are.  The new, connected world of the Internet, and the ever-expanding world conversation it allows (call it Web 2.0 if you must) is all about how attention is acquired and valued.  Attention is an interesting commodity.  The fact that you are reading this blog entry means I have gained some of yours, and in return you are expecting something of value;  Some insight, knowledge, IT Pro resources to make your work life better in some way, etc. 

“Sounds very ‘cluetrain’ to me, Kevin.”

Exactly.  For those of you who haven’t read it, and if you’re interested at all in the new world of “Attention Marketing”, I highly recommend you read “The ClueTrain Manifesto”.  At least read through and understand their “95 Theses” concerning the new world of marketing, and how companies need to wake up and smell the coffee being brewed by their customers in the form of online discourse and interaction.  Some people are taking attention gathering to the next level; even creating businesses around how attention is measured, collected, bought and sold. 

Do they place a value on your attention?  You bet. 

Any of you who regularly read Steve Gillmor, Doc Searls, and their other regular cohorts; you know that they’re all about what attention means to businesses of all types.

“What got you thinking about this, Kevin?”

Well, it was my friend and colleague Keith “King Cobra” Combs’ blog entry about “Face time” that got me thinking.  His entry was in response to other postings about how important it is for people to have face-to-face contact (and one cartoon scribble firmly opposed to that notion).  Our team, and indeed a large portion of Microsoft, is focused on presenting the technologies of Microsoft in the most efficient and effective way possible.  We have found that, yes, blogging is great for large numbers of interactions… and we’re using any-and-all ‘cast you can think of  (screencasts, broadcasts, blogcasts, podcasts, webcasts) and all the media available to get your attention.  But what is the value returned?  Are we giving you the most value for the attention you’ve spent?  Did you get the most BANG for your attention BUCK?

Our team has found that, for what we do, and in delivering the most value to you for YOUR attention, there is still no replacement for face-to-face interaction.  We’ll use our “spare” bandwidth for all the ‘casts and such, but it is our live events that are and will continue to be at the center of our efforts.

So… whether it’s at a TechNet Event, Campus Connection Event, user group, product roadshow or launch event… See you there!