This is an unprecedented time in communications and in business. Social media is forcing a collision between content and consumption that puts the value of quality of experience and power of personal choice in sharp relief.

It’s important to remember that one of the hallmarks of the social web is that you, as the audience, choose how – or if – you participate.

Blogs are not delivered to your doorstep with a rubberband; it’s up to you to go find and absorb the information that’s most relevant to you, and your sharing of that information, multiplied exponentially by others, is what makes it powerful.

The world of RSS (among other things) puts the power of consumption and syndication in everyone’s hands. Media of all kinds is accessible to anyone to make or consume. Or ignore. And it’s ubiquity means that the age-old but newly-polished notion of positive experience and valuable information is *the* criteria that matters.

You hold the key to your own kingdom. You choose who to follow or not follow on Twitter, and changing that option is a click away. You choose to let someone into your Facebook community, and you can keep that as rigid or as loose as you like, and change that criteria whenever you feel like it. You walk into the communities in which you wish to participate, and you can just as easily turn around and walk out.

The online community can vote, speak, and demonstrate their support or lack of it in a powerful and rare currency: their attention.

You can give your attention, you can take it away. Either one sends a message. And whether you’re a blogger or a professional something or a big company, your audience and communities hold that power in their hands, too. It’s up to you to decide how to interpret that message, and what to do about it.

How are you using your attention to build on ideas that matter to you? Are you using it to change something for the better? Are you withholding it for the same reasons? Are you shining spotlights on progress and innovation? And are you giving people constructive reasons to spend their attention on you?

I have my approach in hand, trying hard to make a difference with my voice, and how and where I choose to focus my attention. I’m focused on forward, and I want you with me, knowing full well you have a choice.

How about you?

Photo credit: eddiedangerous

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