Online engagement is routinely measured by levels of ‘engagement’. But this approach encourages online advertisers to use attention-grabbing methods that don’t always align with human wellbeing. DigiAdGood seeks to create new digital advertising principles and measurement frameworks that go beyond this and better align human and business goals.
Many societal challenges we face relate to the ‘attention economy’ and are by-products of digital advertising business models and associated engagement metrics that perpetuate the misalignment of human and business goals – humans want to achieve personal goals, businesses want us to spend more time on their platforms in order to profit from our attention.
Current advertising effectiveness metrics measure engagement outcomes, thereby incentivising attention-grabbing content that has been linked to a more polarised, distracted, anxious and unhappy society. The widespread unregulated use of AI supercharges this issue, which demands urgent recalibration of incentives that underscore current advertising metrics prioritising engagement (e.g. views, time on page, likes) above all other outcomes.
DigiAdGood focuses on how digital advertising can be measured to ensure achievable and positive outcomes for individual, societal and environmental wellbeing. Via real-time tracking of experiences with social media advertising, the project establishes new principles for digital advertising to promote a responsible advertising culture that enhances, rather than harms, subjective wellbeing and drives sustainable consumption.
In partnership with industry, DigiAdGood is working to transform digital advertising by prioritising wellbeing to better align human and business/technology goals.
