I was reading Ed Batista’s blog over at Attention Trust. He commented on a post by James Governor from RedMonk on Respect as it relates to attention. James points out:

Respect is what matters. Trust emerges from respect.

Respect can underpin attention but attention shouldn’t underpin respect. Make a contribution. Don’t obsess about inbound links, column inches or TV appearances.

I agree with James, respect and trust are critical components in an attention economy. Identity and reputation (includes respect) are the foundations of an attention economy and underpin trust which sustains attention. Identity, reputation and trust are regulators of my attention. Caller ID exemplifies the role of identity and reputation, once the callers identity is know or not know (aka private call) one can determine based on the callers reputation or lack there of if the caller is worthy of attention.

I agree there are limits to attention just like there were limits to space flight in the 1950’s, we have some technical, economic, social and political issues to resolve. These issues if not resolved will cripple the attention economy and leave consumers as poor sharecroppers on corporate information farms.

Links:
James Governor’s RSS Feed
Respect Is More Important Than Attention.

Ed Batista at Attention Trust RSS Feed
Respect!