Surviving the Attention Economy: How to Keep Audiences Engaged

Crafting Language to Hold Audience's Attention

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonah Berger discusses the importance of capturing and sustaining attention in the attention economy. He explains that effective communication involves not only capturing attention but also keeping the audience engaged to convey the intended message. The key to achieving this lies in understanding two critical factors: processing ease and emotional language. Processing ease refers to the cognitive effort required to read and understand content, with more familiar and concrete language making it easier for readers to consume and retain information. Emotional language, specifically uncertainty and higher arousal emotions, can also engage the audience and maintain their attention. By utilizing these key elements, communicators can create content that successfully captures and sustains attention in the attention economy.