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  5. Attention and Engagement on Platforms
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Attention and Engagement on Platforms

Paper Session

Friday, Jan. 3, 2025 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM (PST)

Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Yosemite A
Hosted By: American Economic Association
  • Chair: Ali Shourideh, Carnegie Mellon University

Engagement Maximization

Weijie Zhong
,
Stanford University

Abstract

N/A

Learning from Viral Content

Krishna Dasaratha
,
Boston University

Abstract

N/A

Attention Capture

Sivakorn Sanguanmoo
,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract

We develop a unified analysis of how information captures attention. A decision maker (DM) faces a dynamic information structure and decides when to stop paying attention. We characterize the convex-order frontier and extreme points of feasible stopping times, as well as dynamic information structures which implement them. This delivers the form of optimal attention capture as a function of the designer and DM’s relative time preferences. Intertemporal commitment is unnecessary: sequentially optimal information structures always exist by inducing stochastic interim beliefs. We further analyze optimal attention capture under noninstrumental value for information. Our results speak directly to the attention economy.

Discussant(s)
Ian Ball
,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Arjada Bardhi
,
New York University
Benjamin Hébert
,
Stanford University
Yingni Guo
,
Northwestern University
JEL Classifications
  • D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty