Posts from — December 2005

If this isn’t a case for reinventing public education I don’t know what is. The following article came from an eNewsletter I get and articulates current research about the technology everywhere generation. In my mind there are two major things that stand out to be aware of and concerned with.

Besides validating the fact that is current generation – what to say of the next generation – is technology literate and very comfortable with using technology, this article also points to a huge concern that will only get worse – the marketers will market to younger and younger people and the way they will do it is nothing like what we’re used to. It will be so embedded in the technology and their experience they may or may not be able to tell the difference.

Young Consumers Are The First ‘Technology Everywhere’ Generation
Young consumers are using more technology at a younger age to connect with more people than ever before, according to a survey of more than 5,000 US and Canadian online youth between the ages of 12 and 21 by Forrester Research. For example, 87% of 15-year-olds use instant messaging, while nearly half of 12- to 14-year-olds have a mobile phone.

“Marketing executives have been staring in wonder at their own tech-savvy children and asking, ‘Are all teenagers as wired as my own kids?’” said Chris Charron, vice president and research director at Forrester Research. “The answer is ‘yes.’ We are seeing a generation of young people for whom technology is not just a nice-to-have � it’s a critical part of their lives. There’s been a lot of speculation about the breadth and depth of technology use among young people. This data begins to codify that discussion.”

Forrester surveyed young consumers regarding their use of various devices, gaming, online activities, music downloads and file sharing, communication technologies, and attitudes toward media and advertising. Among the highlights:

• Young people are communication junkies. Eighty-three percent use IM versus just 32 percent of online adults. More than three out of four young consumers have a mobile phone.
• MP3 players top the device wish list. Twenty-five percent of young consumers said they plan to purchase an MP3 player in the next 12 months.
• Entertainment grabs their online time. Young consumers spend almost 11 hours per week online, while nearly one in five of the youngest of this group (ages 12 to 17) spend 20 hours or more per week online.
• Youth got game. Eighty-eight percent of boys ages 12 to 17 own a game console, compared with 63 percent of girls the same age. Fifty-five percent of boys would rather play games than watch TV.
• Young consumers represent the social marketing vanguard. Fifty-two percent say they rely on recommendations from friends or family when making a purchase, compared with just 34 percent of adults.
• Marketers Need To Reach Young Consumers On Their Terms

“These consumers are a portrait of the future,” said Charron. “Companies should look to this younger generation for inspiration in the design of new products and services.”
The Forrester study also dispels a myth about young consumers and advertising. Young consumers are more open to advertising than their parents are, although both generations are skeptical of the ads that they encounter.

“Young consumers have no preconceived notions of what advertising should be,” said Charron. “They have no problem with the lines between advertising and editorial being blurry. Because they have grown up to be more self-reliant in a digital environment, they have confidence in their ability to distinguish between the two. And there’s more good news for marketers: The viral nature of their communication with each other is a behavior that marketers can tap into.”

In my discussions with educators and business people about change and transformation it has become clear that one of the pre-requisites is ‘personal transformation’. Either there will be a ‘transformed’ person with a vision leading the change or the people involved in the change will need to go through a personal transformation.

One of the reasons for this is simple – that people cannot design something they are not familiar with (something that isn’t in their frame of reference). When asked to design something new people will generally design something similar to what they already know – unless they have new input, new information.

One of the places that new input comes from is people – and people that have gone through a personal change – a personal transformation – have a different point of view, and often, a different experience to bring to the design.

There are also several qualities of a person that has been through a personal transformation that I feel are important demonstrations of their change. A few of these qualities are:

• They can admit they are wrong – in public
• They can say they made a mistake – in public
• They can say, ‘I don’t know’ – in public

These are just a few of the qualities that inform us that this person is a learner and they are comfortable with their own learning and letting others see they are learning.