Attention users as the universal value of the Internet, or support your favorite resources!

The world is gaining strength in the economic crisis. Analysts except that the stakes do not put on what project will survive the crisis, and who will be bent. Advertising budgets are reduced, and Internet resources that receive money from advertising in their place have to compete with advertisers for renewed vigor, proving that it is most profitable for them to place advertisements with them.

But advertisers spend money not just to make their banners adorn numerous websites. They want our attention. The attention of Internet users who visit when excellent, when - medium, and when frankly shitty projects. And it is up to us - the network users - which of the sites will give ends and which one will survive the crisis, finding advertisers in a falling market. Because our attention is the same universal value that the advertiser is chasing after.

Every day I visit dozens of sites. I’m going to some of them myself, I’m visiting some of the links that I meet on FriendFeed, on Habré, or on blogs that I read. And if the creators of some sites I am grateful for the fact that they created and support them, then many sites, in my opinion, would be better if they did not appear in the network, because they only pollute the information environment. I would never go to them with pleasure, but when you click on a link, you don’t always imagine what kind of site it is waiting for you.
')
Can I somehow influence the fact that there are fewer bad sites on the Internet, and at the same time, good sites survive the crisis? Certainly can! Not alone, really, but I can! To do this, it’s enough for all of us to stop giving away the universal currency of the Internet - our attention with you - to advertisers who advertise on bad sites, and vice versa - to pay with their attention to their advertisers those sites that we like. In the conditions of economic crisis, when advertisers carefully monitor the effectiveness of advertising, it will reduce the income of those sites that you do not like, and help your favorite sites survive the crisis.

I do not urge you to opt for the worst products or services that are advertised on those sites that you like. But if you make a choice between two equivalent products, one of which supports your favorite site with your advertising money, then why not, other things being equal, make your choice in favor of this product?

I think that if we become more zealous, using our attention, we can make the Internet cleaner and better. If I don’t like the advertisement inserted by LJ after the first post, then no matter how tempting the advertisement is, I won’t click on it as a principle. If so many do, SUP will be forced to remove the ad unit from there, since advertisers simply will not pay them for it due to too little conversion. If I like - despite all its flaws - Habrahabr, then I at least see what the advertiser advertises to me.

Let's all together support in difficult conditions those sites that we like! After all, this is what we can do without money - we just need to realize that our attention is a value, and that we can thank this currency for people creating our favorite sites.

UPD: I am surprised that some readers perceive the call “pay attention” as a call to click on the banner. I gave my opinion in more detail in this comment .