INTERNET FUNNEL

A funnel is a story we tell about attention.

It assumes that users move through stages in a predictable order: awareness, consideration, conversion. The language suggests intention, progress, and choice. Each step is framed as a narrowing, as if attention naturally wants to flow toward an outcome.

In practice, the funnel is less a path than a filter.

At the top, attention is broad and loosely attached. It enters through search results, social feeds, recommendations, or accident. Context is thin. Identity is inferred. The goal at this stage is not understanding, but capture.

As attention moves downward, the system adds constraints. Messaging becomes more specific. Options are reduced. Friction is selectively removed or introduced. What is presented as “guidance” is often just subtraction.

By the time attention reaches the bottom, most alternatives have been eliminated. Conversion is framed as a decision, but it is often the absence of remaining exits.

Funnels are monitored continuously. Systems observe where attention hesitates, where it escapes, where it drops off. Those points are adjusted. Copy is rewritten. Interfaces change. The funnel reshapes itself around observed behavior.

This is described as optimization.

From a laundering perspective, the funnel is not about helping users decide. It is about shaping the conditions under which decisions appear to be made.

The narrower the funnel, the less visible the manipulation becomes.