goldfish is what you cry when your content sucks

​One of the most common meme circulated in marketing and communications circle is that of  people’s attention span being shorter than that of a goldfish. This line of thinking believes that the entire generation suffers from ADHD – and for communication to work it needs to be short & condensed - to, where we are today, talking of 3 sec advts. 
Yet we are at witnessing binge viewing, long from videos with high Click Through Rates & high view ability, & movies are getting longer. 
There is ample evidence of people engaging for extended amounts of time.And engaging deep. 
 
Origins of the eight-second attention span myth
‘Most people will tell you that we know our attention span is less than goldfish because of research conducted by Microsoft in Canada in 2015. The Microsoft research includes impressive-sounding quantitative surveys and neurological studies – and the report does include an Infographic that shows human attention spans ‘dwindling’ from 12 seconds in 2000 to eight seconds in 2013, below the nine-second average attention span of a goldfish. The only problem is – that infographic wasn’t actually based on findings from Microsoft’s own research. It’s sourced from something called Statistics Brain. When you go to the Statistics Brain website, it offers a range of different sources for these and other stats. None of them seem to mention the attention spans of human beings or goldfish. When you look at it in any level of detail, the stat that has dominated a huge amount of marketing discussion since May 2015 isn’t based on any recognizable research at all. So the ‘fact’ that we have a lower attention span than goldfish isn’t a fact at all’ 
(https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/blog/best-practices--content-marketing/2016/the-great-goldfish-attention-span-myth--and-why-its-killing-cont)

So what’s the truth? 
"How we apply our attention to different tasks depends very much about what the individual brings to that situation," explains Dr Gemma Briggs, a psychology lecturer at the Open University.
So,if marketers are always trying to grab people’s attention, if their strategy is about disruption & incessant interruption, and if there is no utility built in – then yes, people aren’t going to reward them with their attention. 
But if you provide utility, a currency of value, content that entertains, conversations that people want to be a part of, communities that could benefit from the resources you have - people will reward you with their attention. Not only will they reward you with their attention, they will evangelize the brand on your behalf – IF what you are putting out there is of value, and not one more thing that they have to grapple with before they reach the content that they value.  

There is ample proof from the world of marketing.
DOVE. Adept at crafting stories  (way longer than 8 secs !) and encouraging their community to participate in those stories by focusing less on their product and more on their mission – championing Real Beauty and encouraging all women to see, embrace & celebrate the beauty inherent in them, Dove has been successful in creating viral videos that have helped them stay top-of-mind.
GOOGLE EARTH. HOMEWARD BOUND. Emotional account of Saroo Brierley's journey to trace back his original roots after a tragic separation from his family is nothing short of powerful. By inserting their product into a story of loss, love, and restoration, google earth was successful in positioning its capabilities as life-changing. The length? More than 3 minutes – and related videos with lengths anywhere between 11- 20 mins, all with CTR and view ability higher than most 3 seconds, 6 seconds, 8 seconds or 30 second videos .
WAITROSE Waitrose's Spring ad includes footage recorded from a GoPro camera strapped to a cow! All with the honest intention of showing people where their food came from – simply, with no doctoring, no cosmetic modification. Just showing the real stuff – the way it is – nothing more.  The campaign won both the Innovation award and – new for this year – the People’s Favourite award, voted by the public. The Waitrose work also took the Grand Prize, triumphing over all category winners that were eligible and most importantly saw people voting for it with their attention and their wallets. 

In Short.
Time is a scarce resource & something people like to think that they are spending well. Give them value for the time they invest in you. Don’t add to the crap that’s cluttering people’s lives. 

1. Take a look at every piece of content you put out and score it against whether or not you would invest your time in it as a viewer, consumer. Does it provide viewers a currency of value? Does it help them become a part of communities in a manner that is useful to them? Does it help create communities that matter ? Does it drive conversations of consequence? Is it an example of great storytelling? Is it something they really care about? Does it get a laugh out of you? Does it make them feel that the time spent on you was well worth it? Is it a good experience? Or just act a roadblock to their actual destination? 
2. And if they skip you in less than 3 seconds, don’t blame it on their lack of attention. Blame it on your lack of the right intention, insight and imagination. And not having provided them an experience of consequence.