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Welcome to our special guest blog post series - "Millennial Perspectives: Voices of a Giving Generation." We hope you will join us each week until the Millennial Donor Summit on June 22, 2011, as we explore Millennial engagement with a variety of leading experts and practitioners.

To launch the series, we've invited Susan Gordon, Director of Nonprofit Services for Causes.com to share her reflections on the Millennial Donor Survey report released earlier this spring. As a leader in the online fundraising and engagement arena, Susan shares with us her insights on trends related to Millennial donors.

As a Millennial and a professional focused on online fundraising for nonprofits, I couldn’t help myself from nodding my head vigorously throughout most of the Millennial Donor Survey. Congratulations to the writers for a job well done. Here at Causes, we’ve done a lot of donor surveys, focus groups, and data collection that has provided many of the same findings. We also started building tools to help your nonprofit capitalize on these trends so I’d like to share some of those tools and how they can help your nonprofit put this survey into practice. 

If you work for a nonprofit, read the survey and are now thinking, “I understand what Millennials are looking for, but how can I do it?” you’re in luck. The survey pointed out two notable statistics:

• 82% of Millennials said they would be very or somewhat likely to donate to organizations that describe the specific purpose for which the money will be used
• 32% were very likely and 45% were somewhat likely to stop donating if they “didn’t know how the donation was making an impact”

These numbers are staggering in a world of general fundraising drives. Causes has built a Fundraising Projects tool that will help you give Millennial donors a picture of how their money makes an impact. If you go to www.causes.com/donate, you’ll find the Causes Fundraising Project directory. Since late 2010, over $3 million has been donated to Causes Fundraising Projects. Nonprofits of all sizes and budgets are taking advantage of this tool, from Homeward Trails Animal Rescue to the Humane Society of the United States, and succeeding at funding their projects through social media.

The other statistic that struck me was that “59% of Millennials gave in response to a personal ask.” Peer-to-peer fundraising, especially through social media, is a hot topic right now (just look at mycharitywater.org) but many nonprofits don’t have custom tools to take advantage of this trend. This is why Causes built out our Wishes feature. Birthday Wishes help Millennials fundraise from their friends and family by asking them to donate to a nonprofit as a birthday present. Birthday Wishes solicited by Causes (we ask everyone to start one when their birthday is approaching) raise an average of $100/wish, but when a nonprofit asks their supporters to set one up from their website with a Causes Birthday Wish widget, Wishes raise an average of $150/wish. This statistic reinforces the study’s findings that Millennials want a relationship with the nonprofits they are supporting.

Something I’d like to see from this study in the future is a more precise definition of “donating on Facebook.” That term can refer to everything from clicking from a Facebook Page to a nonprofit’s website, to donating through a custom tab on a Page, to donating on the Causes application. This distinction may not be as important for this survey, but for the benefit of nonprofits trying to make decisions about these very different methods, I think it’s important to clarify this term in future studies.

This distinction would also help in analyzing the finding that only 4% of Millennials have donated on Facebook. For now, I see this number as a sign of potential and disagree with the conclusion that “while social media and text remains a favorite of Millennials for communicating, they do not seem ready to jump into donating via those methods.” I believe that Millennials are ready to donate through social media but they are not solicited in the right way, or at all, through Facebook. How many of the respondents received a fundraising ask from a nonprofit through Facebook? I know I’m biased but as Facebook blows past the 500 million user mark and the average person spends over 55 minutes a day on the site, I see it as a huge opportunity for nonprofits. As with any new technology, figuring out fundraising through Facebook will take time and experimentation but the potential of this growing community is worth the growing pains.

If your nonprofit is interested in using Causes as a tool to do that, email our Nonprofit Services team at and we can help you get started.

Since 2010 and the winter gift-giving holidays are both over, it's time to start thinking about the new year and a fresh list of resolutions. As I began thinking about what my list could be for 2011, I thought of some social media resolutions I and others could make for the new year. Whether you're a social media super user or a newbie, there's always something we can do better to contribute to our online community or get more out of our time online. Here are a few social media resolutions I've thought of - adopt a few or add your own.

1. Listen to other people.

Whenever someone wants to suggest that social media makes people more narcissistic, all they have to do is cite the stat that half of Twitter users never read anything anyone else has to say. If this is you, not only does this make you sound like a self-centered jerk, you're also missing out on the best part of social media. I can't imagine the value of Twitter if not to engage with and learn from others.

2. Don't talk about yourself so much.

Personal stories, especially when used to demonstrate a larger truth or when told in humility, can be great ways to share your thoughts. But, as Geoff Livingston discovered, people don't always like reading about you as much as you like writing about it. He took on an experiment in December where he resolved not to use the words me, myself or I for one month in an effort to refocus his blog, and he found that traffic doubled during that time.

3. If you can't say something nice...well, you know the rest.

I'm all for lively discussion and debate via social media. Many of the best blog posts are those that become forums in which people can hash out issues and hopefully move toward a consensus. In a time in which media outlets are so segmented that you can read your daily paper, listen to your preferred radio station and tune in to your favorite news programs without ever hearing an opinion you disagree with, social media can provide a much needed platform for public discourse. Unfortunately, it's all too easy to hide behind the anonymity of a computer and post things that are snarky and hateful. If we all resolved to refrain from posting things we wouldn't say to someone's face, that might go a long way.

4. Try something new on for size.

There are so many new platforms, there's always something new to try. Never tried Gowalla, Google Reader, Causes, Sparked or one of many other tools? Spend a little time trying one out and see what you're missing.

5. Think before you post.

Transparency is great, but every now and then, we take a ride on the oversharing train. As we've seen through a few painful rounds of Facebook privacy outrage, deleting what we have posted online is not always as easy as it should be. So think about what you say, upload and tag, and check your privacy settings so you know who has access to your information online.

6. Don't be the strong, silent type.

Instead of just reading, get involved in the conversation by leaving a comment on a blog post, responding to a tweet or making a recommendation on foursquare. You have valuable things to contribute, so don't be shy about joining in the discussion.

7. Use it for good.

Maybe you spend a lot of time online - you have more Facebook friends than you realized you had in real life and hoards of Twitter followers. There's nothing wrong with using social media to catch up with old friends and make new contacts, but this year, you can also try using your online networks for good. Ask your friends to give to a birthday cause or simply share an issue or organization you care about with your friends and followers.

8. Pass it on.

Have a parent, coworker or friend who is still behind the times? Take a few minutes to show them how to get started and share some of the tips you've learned along the way.

The holidays are in the air again - but they're also online. From Yeshiva University's the Maccabeat and their viral YouTube sensation, Candlelight - which has nearly 2.5 million hits - to the holiday favorite "Elf Yourself," getting into the holiday spirit at your laptop, on your iPad or on your phone has never been easier. And with social media, the smart, fun and charitable ways to enjoy the season are getting better every year.

These are some of our favorite ways to do the holidays like a social citizen:

1. Cash in when you check in.

Retailers are going way beyond Sunday circulars and email ads. This holiday season stores are using geolocation platforms to reward customers and perhaps attract a younger, more techie clientele. Radio Shack has created a Holiday Hero badge on Foursquare, which allows users to earn a 20% discount by unlocking the badge through the end of the year. On Facebook, Sears has adapted a Groupon model and is posting daily deals on its Facebook page, which will go live once it receives enough likes (but you have to like Sears first to see the deals). Other stores like American Eagle and Zales give foursquare users a discount just for checking in.

2. Give a gift that gives back.

Holiday gifts that delight the people on your list but also benefit a cause have been around for a few years, but the variety, quality and convenience of gifts that give back is greater than ever before. Philosophy bath products have a "shop for a cause" line this season, which includes varieties like "shower for a cure" which benefits the Women's Cancer Research Fund and "sweet to the core" which benefits educational programming on PBS. Or give the gift of fashionable rain gear with Kenneth Cole's Electric Rain Boot, which benefits The Awareness Fund and supports HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. For more ideas, check out lists from Change.org, Philanthropy 411, Forbes and Daily Candy.

3. Download a helpful holiday app.

My Jewish friends were able to light the menorah no matter where they were with the iMenorah (or any one of about 50 Hanukkah-themed available apps). Bargain shoppers can also use apps like Shop Savvy to compare prices without all the legwork, and MobiQpons gives you access to local coupons on your phone, which you can search and show to your cashier when you're ready to check out.   The new app Shopkick allows shoppers to earn points which are redeemable for merchandise by checking in at stores, walking around and scanning item barcodes. The holidays have never been so convenient.

4. Go on a holiday social media scavenger hunt.

With their Gifts on the Go, Gowalla is giving away a number of prizes every day through Christmas to users who check in at secret locations - the more you check in, the greater your odds of winning a gift. Their adorable advent calendar lets you peak at the gifts coming down the pipe, but December 25 is still a big secret! As a closet baker and holiday treat aficionado, I can't resist listing a holiday promotion by New York cupcakery Baked by Melissa. The mini-cupcake shop has hidden 31 gift certificates throughout New York City and is posting clues on their facebook page every day to help fans hunt down the golden tickets. They're also encouraging winners to post photos and videos of their delicious discoveries.

5. Shop at the (online) angel tree.

Over the last 40 years, many families, offices and groups of friends have participated in the tradition of shopping for kids from the angel tree, but for many, the tradition may have fallen off as they have gotten busy and done more of their shopping on the web. Last year, the Salvation Army and JCPenney teamed up to offer this holiday tradition online, so you can still give back without fighting the mall traffic - but hurry the deadline is December 10!

6. Simply give up the gifts.

With many nonprofits still struggling to through tighter economic times, the holiday giving tradition makes a big difference for these organizations and the causes and people they serve. Social media standout charity:water is encouraging people to give up the gifts we don't really need and ask people to contribute to drinking water instead. Whether you're passionate about clean water or something else, consider trading your gifts under the tree for support of your cause.

7. Give a little and get a little.

Gap's Want campaign presents a win-win for social media users who want to shop and do good at the same time. Their videos feature celebrities like model Lauren Bush and actor Ryan Kwanten dressed in Gap favorites and talking about giving in the holiday season. For each "like" their videos receives on Facebook, they'll donate $1 to nonprofits like Women for Women and the FEED Foundation. When you "like" their campaign, you also receive a code phrase that will get you 30% off one item.

How else are you doing the holidays like a social citizen?

Can you ever have too many friends? According to Jimmy Kimmel, the host of ABC’s late night comedy show—yes. The primary vehicle and enabler for this over-friending phenomenon according to Kimmel is Facebook, where an individual’s social network is based on their circle of friends. In an unprecedented effort to restore the “sacred nature of friendship,” Kimmel has declared November 17, 2010, “National UnFriend Day” (NUD). The day is described as an, “international day when all Facebook users… [cut] out any ‘friend fat’ on their pages occupied by people who are not truly their friends.”

“Friend fat?” Really Jimmy? Is there any merit to what Kimmel is trying to do, even if it is delivered through a dose of comedy and satire? Have we gone overboard when it comes to the number of friends we keep on Facebook? Kimmel implores viewers, “Remember five years ago when no one had Facebook and you didn’t know what the guy you took high school biology with was having for lunch? Remember how that was fine? Let’s go back.”

Social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, TenCent and MySpace have indeed forever changed the way we look at, create and maintain relationships. The reality is that these social networks have become an integral part of our culture, so much so that on November 17^th I don’t think people will “go back” the way Kimmel hopes, but it is certainly a subject worth of discussion (remember the Burger King defriend promotion).

With Facebook logging more than 500 million active users worldwide, there is reason to believe that people want to continue growing large social networks with hundreds of “friends.” After all, it is human nature to seek interactions with others and to form bonds that define us as a community. It is this community—that lives online—that helps us create our own identity and identify others.

Quality vs. Quantity

Kimmel challenges, "I see people with thousands of what they call [Facebook] 'friends' - which is impossible. You can't have 1,000 friends.” Well actually—yes you can, and it may be easier than you think. Facebook users have on average somewhere around 130 friends, but it’s not too far a leap of the imagination for someone to have many more "friends." 

The disconnect I see here is in how we define the word “friend.” Are acquaintances friends? What about colleagues from work who you do not socialize with except for in the office? Are you only friends on Facebook? Where do you draw the line? With the growing popularity of Facebook we’ve seen the word “friend” become a well known verb in popular culture (e.g., friend me when you get home)—a new meaning that only exists today because of Facebook.

Sorry #151, You’re Out of Luck

Despite the immediate laugh-factor in Kimmel’s NUD, perhaps it is worth a closer look. There is a theory commonly referred to as “Dunbar’s Number” that states people can only maintain a certain number of meaningful or “stable” social relationships with others. We've covered this before on Social Citizens and according to Wikipedia, “These are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person. Proponents assert that numbers larger than this generally require more restricted rules, laws, and enforced norms to maintain a stable, cohesive group. No precise value has been proposed for Dunbar's number, but a commonly cited approximation is 150.”

Professor Robin Dunbar who developed this theory in the 1990’s—well before social networks took hold—explains that “the part of our brain that copes with language, thought and personal interaction will max out when our social circles stretch beyond 150.” The 150 figure has remained the same, regardless of whether the relationships we speak of are in-person, online, in the office or long-distance.

Are Some Relationships “Stronger” than Others?

The debate about strong versus weak online ties is a hot one right now.

Recently, Malcolm Gladwell published a thought-piece in the New York Times about social media’s impact on modern day activism. He expressed that,“The platforms of social media are built around weak ties. Twitter is a way of following (or being followed by) people you may never have met. Facebook is a tool for efficiently managing your acquaintances, for keeping up with the people you would not otherwise be able to stay in touch with. That’s why you can have a thousand ‘friends’ on Facebook, as you never could in real life.”  

When it comes to activism according to Gladwell, social media is reinventing social activism, and diluting its impact. "Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice, but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice.”

Taking an alternative view, Jacob Morgan of Social Media Today expressed how in today’s society, “weak” ties are actually beneficial. He references Morgan Hansen's book, Collaboration, which suggests that we“build weak ties, not strong ones.” 

Hansen argues that, “… weak ties can prove much more helpful in networking, because they form bridges to worlds we do not walk within. Strong ties, on the other hand, tend to be worlds we already know; a good friend often knows many of the same people and things we know. They are not the best when it comes to searching for new jobs, ideas, experts, and knowledge. Weak ties are also good because they take less time. It's less time consuming to talk to someone once a month (weak tie) than twice a week (a strong tie). People can keep up quite a few weak ties without them being a burden.”

Friend or Foe?

What will you do on the 17^th? Do you think we should heed Kimmel’s advice and cut out the friend fat? Are you planning to weed out the people who you don’t regularly speak with or embrace weak ties and continue to build a larger network? 

I’m of the mindset that you can do both, which is what most of us do anyway—we naturally tend to interact with those people closest to us on a more regular and frequent basis. The way I see it, there’s no harm done in having more friends than not in a platform like Facebook, but I draw the line at friending people who I do not know. 

What’s your policy?

Before you go on a friending/unfriending spree, let me leave you with this statement from Facebook representatives that was sent to CBSNews.com in response to NUD, "Jimmy Kimmel's Facebook campaign is clever so we're keeping him on our friend list for now. Come Nov. 17, just remember Jimmy, it's one thing to be the "unfriender," but it's a whole different story if you're the "unfriended." Words to live by in today's online world to be sure. I for one will be checking my Facebook friend list on November 18th!  

Feeling much like an entry in the entertaining “Worst-case Scenario” survival guides, I was faced with my very own online life-or-death challenge the other day—whether or not to friend my mother on Facebook. I remember logging on to the popular social networking site and wondering just who was behind the harmless little red notification flag that serves as an alert for new Friend Requests. I soon discovered, with what can only be described as a mixture of shock and chagrin, that it was my very own mother. Instantly, my entire Facebook life passed before me—every photo, every comment and every video. You get the idea.

Where do you draw the line with connections on social networking sites?

At this point, the “Ignore” button was looking increasingly attractive. Fortunately, I’ve never been one to over share so I soon realized that this situation might not end so badly. After all, Facebook has privacy protections and I can be selective about what I do and do not share. Choosing to look at the bright side and pushing aside any lingering thoughts about potentially embarrassing content, I hit “Confirm” and posted a welcome message on my mom’s wall.

At the end of the day I emerged with one more friend, but my online world would never be the same. Before this experience, Facebook represented a familiar online space where I went daily to see what my friends were up to, to post something entertaining from LOL Cats or to read the latest news from the Case Foundation (yes, that was a shameless plug). Things change though when familiar relationship roles are abandoned and the traditional rules no longer apply.

The reality is that social networking sites are rewriting the rules of etiquette, relationships and even friendships. This evolution of how we interact with one another will be particularly challenging in the coming years as different generations intersect in the online space. A recent study from the Pew Research Center revealed that while young adults still dominate the online space, older Internet users are growing exponentially. According to Pew, “Social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older nearly doubled—from 22% in April 2009 to 42% in May 2010.”

I have to wonder how my own mom, and those who didn’t grow up with computers and social networking as part of their daily lives feel about the ongoing shift in technology and communications. With this growing rate of online use across age groups, the question now becomes whether or not we will merge together or collide when we meet at this important online intersection. To be sure, it's a tough intersection to find... my mom and I will see you there!

Over the last couple of years, Facebook users have gone through the love-hate relationship cycle with the social media platform as its privacy settings have continued to change crumble, but the options have been limited to either sucking it up or closing your account and missing out on all the benefits of Facebook - an option now being explored by so many people that if you type in "how do I" in Google, the first autofill that pops up is "...delete my Facebook account." I should say those were the only options until now. 

Four NYU students and self-proclaimed nerds decided to take matters into their own hands and build a new social network. They're calling it Diaspora. Others are calling it the anti-Facebook. New social networking sites and platforms are cropping up all the time, but this one may be just as significant for what it is as for HOW it’s being built. The team of four 19 to 22-year-olds began fundraising on Kickstarter in late April so they could spend their summer creating Diaspora. They blew past their fundraising goal of $10,000 in less than two weeks, and now, just shy of three weeks, they are rolling past $130,000 from more than 3,500 people – and rising all the time.

It's any nonprofit or cause-champion’s dream to capture that kind of support from their networks, so what can we learn from Diaspora?

1. Pursue a cause people are dying to support.
   If you have to spend a lot of time explaining to potential supporters why your project is necessary, you may need to rethink your project. It wasn’t difficult for these guys to rally people behind their privacy battle cry because they’re meeting a need in their community. When you can address a problem people already recognize, they'll jump in to help you succeed.
    
2. Offer measurable results.
   At the end of the summer, the team promises their software will be released, and it will be free. Plain and simple. Not all nonprofit projects can offer such concrete outcomes, especially when the problems you’re addressing are mammoths like world peace, poverty or cancer, but whatever your cause, it’s important to be able to tell people what you will do and then to demonstrate whether or not you have done it. Creating deliverables in the form of SMART goals can help break large issues down into distinct steps which will help you show return on investment.
    
3. Show your passion by putting some skin in the game.
   With two members of the team just graduating from college and two others looking forward to their dwindling summer days as students, they would normally be getting jobs, taking trips or just finding a pool nearby. But they are sacrificing all of that to spend 12 hours a day writing code without pay. While I’m not advocating slave labor at nonprofits, short-term campaigns where you’re rolling up your sleeves and making sacrifices of sleep, food or pay for the common good, often make people want to get behind you and cheer you on.
    
4. Offer a chance to participate.
   The fundraising levels (from $5-$2,000) that the Diaspora team created would make any marketing department proud. And the fact that the vast majority of backers so far have given less than $50 each shows that lots of small-dollar donors want to give a little and be a part of something meaningful. The largest two levels (which are both sold out) provide the extra perk of giving sponsors the ability to check in on Diaspora's daily progress on the build server. Aside from the thoughtfully tailored levels of financial support, they have committed to release their code as free software at the end of the summer so anyone can use it, build on it and make it better. This transparency and willingness to let others participate and take some control are characteristics people like to see in nonprofit projects as well.

Last month Allison Fine started an interesting discussion on her blog about women, social media and influence. Allison wondered if social media might be the X factor that would help women make real strides in closing the leadership gap. Among commenters, there seemed to be a general consensus that women, as well as other groups, have been able to circumvent, at least in some instances, the glass ceiling and constraints placed on them by the traditional business world. Women have been able to use social media to get their thoughts out to the marketplace without having to get permission or backing from an organization.

The Women of the Year list by She Takes on the World is full of women who have used social media to champion all manner of causes from the global water crisis and microcredit to idea-sharing and motivating young people to succeed. While all of these women would probably be making a difference without laptops and iPhones, they have been able to multiply their efforts with creative social media use.

Organizations like Blogher work to help women online by create opportunities for exposure, education, community and economic empowerment. A 2009 Blogher study reported that 42 million American women are using social media regularly both to share and find information and advice. The survey also found that more than 60 percent of these women use blogs and social networks to find information about social activism.

A recent Vanity Fair article, America's Tweethearts, discusses how previously unknown women representing different sectors and interests have been able to use social media to gain a unique kind of fame on Twitter. In the article (whose author doesn't seem to be entirely sold on with Twitter) one of the "twilebrities" featured, Felicia Day, points out: “Doors were closed to us before. Now the tools for success have been democratized. It’s just me and whoever wants to talk to me, wherever they are in the world.”

It doesn't take a celebrity spokesperson or even a twilebrity spokesperson to leverage social media for wide reach. Like an online flashmob, scores of women (and oddly, some men) began posting one-word status messages yesterday. "Black," "lavender," and "red" were littered among our news feeds, and quickly people began asking, explaining and commenting over the colorful posts, not only on Facebook, but on Twitter and other social media platforms. The Case Foundation's Allie Burns wrote a post discussing both the buzz and the criticism around the campaign. Whether a quietly orchestrated awareness by a breast cancer organization or a prank by a group of young women, it has created a discussion carried on by common women which has permeated the social media world.

It's exciting to see that social citizen gals are using social media to share their ideas and passions and to advocate for the causes that are important to them. And since Millennials may be the most active and engaged online, Millennial women - as individuals and as groups - may have a greater opportunity to be heard and wield influence at a younger age than the women before us. I hope, and trust, that we will continue to take advantage of this opportunity - not to grab self-serving fame for it's own sake, but to change the world with our creative approaches, open and transparent conversations and inspirational acts.

This morning I was in a cab on my way to the airport when I decided to quickly scroll through my email and Twitter feed to see what I might miss while on the five hour flight from DC back to San Francisco. It was very rainy this morning when my plane took off -- nothing like the September 11, that I remember while working on Capitol Hill back in 2001. The sun was beaming off of the Capitol dome and the clear blue skies created a surreal feeling as smoke from the Pentagon billowed in the distance.

The Septmber 11, digital archive is also using electronic media to collect, preserve, and present the history of September 11, and its aftermath.  It contains more than 150,000 digital items, including more than 40,000 first-hand stories, and more than 15,000 digital images.  For my sister-in-law, a first grade teacher in the Bronx,  a digital archive like this allows her to share stories with her students, many of whom are learning of the tragedy for the first time.

As Millennials everywhere head back to school over the next few weeks, we are going to be thinking and talking about some intersections of social media and the college experience.

Today is the first day of school for many students across the country. After a few months of beach vacations, summer jobs, and lounging around the house, it's time to get back into the swing of going to class, writing papers and taking tests. With its increasing popularity, social media is bridging both worlds - in the classroom and out - and people have begun to study what all this social media is really doing to our brains.

My mom used to tell my brother that video games were going to turn his brain to mush. Many studies now dispute this, showing that gaming can actually improve perception, sharpen thinking and increase patience. Point for my brother. (Unfortunately, I lost interest in video games after they moved beyond the original Nintendo.) Similarly, some have speculated and worried lately that all of this social media use by today's young people is ruining their ability to write. At the very least, they say, Facebook and Twitter leads to time wasted talking about yourself to no one in particular.

And with all our ROTFLs BRBs TTYLs RTs, HTs, and other abbrevs, I can see how our teachers might be concerned that proper spelling, capitalization, sentence structure, and good old fashioned grammar have gone by the wayside. But could it be that our constant texting, tweeting, blogging and facebook posting are actually just as helpful as summer reading and flash cards?

Yes and no. Tracy Alloway, a psychologist in Scotland, recently studied the impact of social media on working memory. She claims that Facebook helps enhance our intelligence because keeping up with so many friends is like a workout routine for our memories, but she warns that other types of social media might not be so helpful. Twitter's character limits, along with the brevity of text messaging and YouTube videos, shrink our attention spans and fail to engage our brains because we don't have to process the endless stream of information come at us. 

So social media's effects on memory seem to be split. What about other skills? The social web has turned us all into content producers, rather than just consumers. In addition to giving us an opportunity to share what we think and voice our love, hate or indifference on all manner of subjects, it also gives us the valuable opportunity to practice writing.

Andrea Lunsford of Stanford University says that her study shows that technology and social media are improving students' ability to write. Like we've always been told, practice makes perfect, and thanks to our habits of constant online communication, this generation of students is getting more writing practice than any group of students ever before. This is because Millennial students are not just writing in the classroom; they are writing throughout the day. Clive Thompson points out that this is a huge paradigm shift - in generations before us, essays were written in class, and that was it. And it is more persuasive writing because they feel they are always writing for an audience.

Not only do they write more, but today's students are also adept at using appropriate tone and style for their audience. Because of the interactive nature of social media, users are more aware of their various audiences. Rather than just writing for one professor, they are writing for friends and peers with whom they have varying types relationships and shared interests. They know not to use the same writing style in a research paper as they do posting birthday well wishes on a friend's wall. Likewise, it's often occurred to me that Twitter helps me to practice a more concise style of writing - a habit which can be difficult to form.

Are you convinced? Is social media the best thing that's happened to the classroom since the overhead projector, or are you still waiting for our brains to turn to mush?

Yesterday I came across this charming video in which Graham Smith and his buddy Josh Baron set out on a Facebook road trip for a thesis project. The two traveled more than 1,800 miles in less than a week to explore how the friends made over a lifetime were more than a series of updates on Facebook. What Graham uncovers through this little exercise, is that communication through digital means can at times be limiting.