Will the Real Millennials Please Stand Up?
by Kari Dunn Saratovsky on 16 Jul 2009
Earlier this week Matthew Robson, a 15 year old summer intern with Morgan Stanley, made headlines from the Financial Times to Time Magazine for his claim, that among other things, “Twitter is for old people.” While on a two week internship, Robson wrote the report, How Teenagers Consume Media which Morgan Stanley claimed to be one of the “clearest and most thought provoking insights we have ever seen.”
However, if you have a bit of common sense or if you know a teenager or two yourself – you’re likely to find the information rather obvious. Robson sums it up something like this (and I’m paraphrasing): kids don’t read newspapers, the PC is like a radio, mobile phones are for texting not talking, no one clicks through on pop-up ads, and if you’re under the age of 23 you don’t use Twitter.
Whether or not you think this is earth shattering – the larger question, and the one I posed on Twitter earlier this week (since I am over the age of 23), is “if this is buzzworthy then we need to do a better job researching these trends.”
While Robson’s research is not overly scientific, his assessment was honest, and has certainly created a stir. But, there’s clearly a need for more information about how the Millennial Generation is thinking and acting, and if we’ve learned anything from Robson’s report - it should be authentic and come from Millennials themselves.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of terrific resources out there– many of which we’ve profiled here on Social Citizens. But books like Millennial Makeover by Strauss and Howe, or Generation We by Eric Greenberg, while well researched and insightful, are not capturing the voice of the Millennials in the same way that Robson has.
Where are you getting your information about the rising Millennial Generation? Are you trusting the experts – or engaging with Millennials themselves to understand their motivations, habits and desires?
Here are a few of the resources (by and for millennials) that I go to when I want to keep up with the latest perspectives from Gen Y. However, in compiling this list I was surprised how difficult it was to find Millennials who are writing about trends in technology -- perhaps that's what has made Robson's piece that much more interesting.
Most blogs like the one's I've highlighted below, focus on Millennials in the workplace or the impact of their new and collaborative styles of leadership. Suggestions or additions to the list? Please add them in comments.
- Penelope Trunk's - Brazen Careerist
- Dan Schawbel's - Personal Branding Blog
- Dave Knox's - Hard Knox Life
- Anthony Portuesi's - Driven Leaders
- Rosetta Thurman's - Perspectives from the Pipeline
- Daniel Bowen's - Young and Frugal
Comments
Thanks for this insightful and right on post, Kari + team! - Signed, a real Millennial Standing Up.
The research available is not reflective of the entire generation. It does not break up what could be twenty-year age block according to some researchers and look at trends, including use of media, in smaller age groupings.
While the Morgan Stanley report was anything but scientific, and Morgan Stanley should be careful with what it releases, it was the result of a Millennial who talks to his peers. Millennial research needs to include members of the generation, spanning a diversity of racial, ethnic, geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Thanks for the nod! Great site!
Also, I hadn't seen the Morgan Stanley piece, very interesting, however I have to say that I'm almost offended that they released that. They seem to find it shocking that a 15 year old can accurately comment on his own generation, but in actuality they could have spoken to anyone with a social life in that age group and learned the same thing.
The main thing that cracks me up about this is that this is the same information Seth Godin has been preaching for years. Dead are the days of advertising that interrupts. Sure there is still a market for it for our parents and grandparents, but if they really want to sell stuff we have to participate in a conversation about the brands.
In a nut shell, everything they published is something that anyone who regularly reads blogs could tell you.
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