What is Kitten Jenga?
Tags: Storytelling, Notifications, Audience Engagement, Focus, Content Strategy

You win when the kitten knocks the pieces over

How to Play Kitten Jenga

Stack Jenga pieces around the kitten When the kitten knocks over the blocks, it loses

The Web is Dead, Long Live the Internet

You wake up and check your gmail on your iPad — that’s one app. Scan Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp over breakfast — three more apps. You do a HeadSpace mindfulness course, then listen to Spotify on your phone on the way to work. Two more apps. At work you Skype overseas, Dropbox some files and sign your document electronically with HelloSign. Three more apps.

You use Google Maps to navigate to a bar that you found on Zomato to meet your Tinder date — three apps. You flick through a Kindle book because you’re early, and show them a funny YouTube video to break the ice — two more apps.

At home you pour a glass of Vino Mofo Pinot Noir, relax over Netflix and play some games on Xbox Live — three more apps.

All this leads to constant notifications, updates, emails, logins — all vying for our attention. Why did we move towards specific apps? Because with over a trillion websites active (including the ones generated on the fly by users) we got sick of websites with all of their popups, advertising, spam and security.

Everyone wants our attention. All of the time.

The tax department wants me to like them on Facebook. Sure, they’re trying to connect. But who the hell wants to follow the taxman on Facebook?

Every screen, every speaker, every social media profile, every person. All of the time.

I was chatting with a friend by our campfire when I realised that I am the kitten. Surrounded by Jenga pieces made of apps, advertisements, and social media.

No matter which way I move, I have to knock over a block.

”Jenga!”

What was I doing again?

The Cost

This is modern life. An inescapable truth.

They want you to buy from them. To love them. To trust their brand.

The cost? Constantly divided attention.

And when attention is scarce it becomes the true currency.

Attention = Time + The ability to use it — Tim Ferriss

This is most obvious when you check your email on Friday night. You can’t put out that fire until Monday anyway, and can’t fully unwind over the weekend.

What are the Options?

1. Shave your head and join a monastery

You can delete your Facebook, gmail and Netflix.

2. We could take down the Jenga pieces, one by one

Install Adblock

Pay for Spotify (to avoid hearing advertising)

Block annoying notifications on our phones with AppBlock

Remove all mailing lists (Filter anything containing ‘unsubscribe’ into a folder

Automate your IT updates, and turn off Facebook and Email notifications

Use RescueTime to focus

3. We can free up some of our own headspace

We can spend some time practicing mindfulness. If we spend 20 minutes meditating, and manage to bring our monkey-brains back to focus on what we want to for 3 minutes, then that’s a success. It’s successful, because we’re practicing focus on what we want.

When we get better at shifting our focus onto what we want, we get better at not getting distracted by all of the noise, all of the time.

We’re not fighting against the Kitten Jenga! We’re not going to stop playing the game completely. We are just bowing out of caring about the constant interruptions.

But I’ve got a Great Idea!

Unless we bury our head in the sand and go off the grid, we’re part of this machine. And we are one of those voices shouting for attention. Being drowned out in the crowd. But I’ve got a great idea, one that’s worth shouting about!

We have several options:

1. Shout Louder than Everyone Else.

You’re turning the tables: by surrounding your customers with social media, email and advertising, no matter which way they move, they hit Jenga!

Most people try to build Facebook fans. Then a social media expert gently explains to them that yes, it will cost money to reach your own fans. If you don’t pay, you’ll get access to about 10% of them per post.

Jenga! Facebook wins.

“But, but, but I gathered those fans myself!“

Facebook’s pulled a bait and switch. You’ve spent time building Facebook’s fans, not your own.

This option works best if you’ve got lots of money, but not a hell of a lot to say.

2. Get a Private Audience

We can hide the rest of the attention suckers. How?

In Person Events

With an in person event, where you’re engaged because it’s one on one, or one-on-many. This is great, you get to know one another, it builds trust, and works great because you don’t need to scale to a giant audience.

Build a Community

Many websites like Facebook are a walled garden from the internet. They’re not searchable on Google, and that exclusivity was their appeal.

With annoying banner ads and popups wanting your email address to spam you. Rubbish designs that doesn’t work on our mobiles (which we use to surf 60% of the web).

So we use websites less and less, and rely on closed online communities like Facebook more and more. Remember, Facebook started as exclusive to Harvard, and then expanded to universities before opening up to the world.

By building our own community, they get access to high quality content, an exclusive community, and to be part of something special.

Build an App

We can build an app. The ultimate walled community. No flipping between tabs, or searching on Google. They’ve made a commitment to you, because you’re on their phone. You can leave them a notification at just the right time (no abusing it, you hear me?). Just like an SMS.

But in return, you need to give them something really valuable in return. Something they really need. A car to pick them up with the push of a button (Uber), a radio station (Spotify, SoundCloud) or an app to practice Mindfulness (Headspace).

Purpose built simplicity.

Making it Work for Us

What if we reinvent Kitten Jenga, and use it to our advantage? In an ethical way, of course.

We can create worthwhile content. Share worthwhile ideas and stories. Once it’s good enough, people will share it for us.

But Why Kitten Jenga?

Jenga: Pronunciation: /ˈdʒɛnɡə/ exclamation An exclamation used when a player causes the tower of blocks to collapse. verb Swahili: “to build” Build excitement / anticipation Stack the deck in your favour Kitten Jenga! = Cute like a kitten + buildable like Jenga

Let’s entertain them

If people are going to give us their attention — we may as well entertain them.

Tell them a story

Take them on a journey

Play them a song

Solve a problem

Teach them something valuable

Solve a puzzle

All of this is what we mean by creating media, not marketing.

Everybody wins a prize!

If it goes viral, then you’ve spread something worthy of their attentionIf it doesn’t, then you’ve built something worthy of their attention, which builds trust.

Why take the higher road? Because we’re all here for a short time. And people will be on your website for an even shorter time. Let’s make the most of both.

And lets stack the blocks the right way: as part of a game, not as a trap. So they will want to yell Jenga! when it works.

If you’re not sure where to start, feel free to get in touch.

Moss Dog — PR manager for tgrrr.com — Masters of Kitten Jenga

I’m being followed by @amoonshadow

Originally published at tgrrr.com.