Daily Thought 1 - (F)utility of Views

In microeconomics there is this concept of “utility” - the usefulness of some thing.  The main point of discussion for utility is often the analysis of its decay over time and quantity.  Take fresh cut flowers, for example.  As days progress, petals wilt and colors fade; the beauty - a flower’s usefulness - depletes with time.

Now, there’s another facet of utility: its decay with quantity.  Most can agree triple chocolate cake is the greatest invention of all times.  Three slices in and you would probably still stand by this.  However, nine, ten, eleven slices in and what goes in begins begging to come out.  Very rapidly, the world’s tastiest treat morphs into abomination.  If you were to plot your happiness per slice, you’d see an exponential drop off as the slices increase; each additional slice has less and less “utility” to you.

With the prevalence of TikTok, Reels, and Shorts, our consumption of content has spiked rampantly.  And though it may seem like these platforms have endless utility for their viewers, creators, and advertisers, my prediction is that an exponential drop off lies down the road.  People who used to watch longer form content and attached themselves to a curated few creators are now detached and scrolling through thousands of random clips.  These clips, though dopamine inducing and exciting add little - probably negative - net value to scrollers.  And this isn’t just a consumer side problem.  The value of a view has dropped dramatically for advertisers.  Millions of views which come as a result of random insertion in a feed of thousands of other similar clips doesn’t provide much differentiation nor engagement.  A viewer of longer form content demonstrates commitment and is probably more willing to interact and consider a product being sold.  

I’m sure there is probably hard data out there which can confirm, or deny, my guesstimates on this topic.  What I really wanted was an excuse to talk about “utility” as it’s something I’ve found incredibly interesting and useful when observing the world around me.