Impression

One instance of a piece being served to one pair of eyes. The smallest unit of attention, and the easiest to mistake for interest.

An impression records delivery, not receipt: the file was served into a viewport, nothing more. The glance may have been elsewhere; the sound was probably off; the scroll may have carried it away half-seen. It is the atom of media accounting, and the loosest possible synonym for attention.

Counted honestly, impressions are logistics data, proof of placement, useful for planning. The corruption starts when they are reported as audience. Our reading: divide every impression figure by its context, and treat one person who sought the work out as worth thousands of servings to the indifferent.