Ypulse

Each week, we’ll cull the interwebs for the most relevant articles, videos and commentary about Millennials and social change, and then present them right here in a weekly round-up. It’s not to say we won’t also provide our own fresh content and perspectives throughout the week, because we will—as will our provocative and savvy Social Citizen Ambassadors. But you can view this space as a central repository for all of the great stuff that’s filling our newsfeeds, twitter feeds, and Facebook streams.

We’ll do the curating for you, just come by and pay us a visit – and drop a comment every now and then to let us know how we’re doing and what we’re missing. And now for this week’s round-up…

Every Vote Counts

Remember that adage from civics class—every vote counts? There are many times throughout history that we’ve seen this saying play out in election races… the latest of featuring the Iowa Caucuses. In the end, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney beat out former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum by a mere eight votes. Despite Romney’s technical victory, many see Santorum as the real victor here because he was slated as the underdog in this race, but came out tied for first place.

Jacob Soboroff who is a correspondent for MTV’s Power of 12 initiative, made a very interesting observation related to the real impact of Millennial voters that we think is worth exploring.

“In 2008 the percentage of young people who showed up at the Republican Iowa Caucus was 11% of all voters. This time around it was 15%—and just about half of those voters caucused for Ron Paul and gave him the boost he needs to stay in the race. Put it this way: according to CIRCLE, The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement, more young voters caucused for Ron Paul than ALL the votes Michele Bachmann received. One also can't help but wonder, if young folks didn't come out to vote for Ron, where would he rank in the Iowa caucuses?”

Where indeed… Looking several months ahead, what impact will young voters have on not only deciding who the Republican party candidate will be, but also who the next President will be?

Silence is Golden

As members of the generation known for being tech savvy, plugged in 24/7 and always first in line for the next “big” tech gadget it was almost shocking to read a piece by Pico Iyer in The New York Times forecasting that the new trend of “finding stillness” is quickly gaining momentum among the next generation. “In barely one generation we’ve moved from exulting in the time-saving devices that have so expanded our lives to trying to get away from them — often in order to make more time. The more ways we have to connect, the more many of us seem desperate to unplug.”

Iyer cites numerous examples of this growing trend such as the rise of “black hole” resorts where guests have no choice but to disconnect from the electronic world, or the growing popularity of Freedom software that allows users the ability to self-install specific applications to prevent themselves from opening certain “time-eating” websites such as Facebook or Gmail for a predetermined amount of time.

While finding more “time” for oneself is a common goal for many, it is particularly interesting to see what will happen as the next generation struggles to find the balance between freedom resulting from increased connectivity and freedom from that very same tie with technology.

Top Trends for 2012

Countdown lists and trend predictions were everywhere leading up to the New Year… YPulse created one of the more interesting lists as it relates to the next generation that you should be sure to check out!

Here’s a quick breakdown of the top five trends they see shaping up in 2012:

• Trend #1: Music Ownership Is Over
• Trend #2: Cord Cutting And Cutting Back Becomes The Reality
• Trend #3: We’ll See What Works With Mobile Shopping Tools
• Trend #4: Students Will Be Toting Tablets
• Trend #5: Twitter Takes Over

What trends do you see happening in your network for the new year?

Today, we’re live blogging from the YPulse National Mashup here in San Francisco. It’s a convening of some of the leading social marketers in the world who are reaching young people. This year’s major themes focus on the future of mobile. I am a bit out of my comfort zone sitting here blogging from my Dell computer and feeling slightly inadequate without the new iPhone at my side, but I am taking it in and have already seen some interesting discussions.

First speaker was Antii Ohrling, co-founder of Blyk, an innovative new mobile advertising service that is sweeping throughout the UK. The basic idea of Blyk is that 16-24 y/o sign up to receive free text and mobile minutes in exchange for advertising. In a sense it’s a quid pro quo – trading minutes for marketing. And, what’s more, it’s working – with astonishing success. Ohrling explained that the campaigns average a 29% response rate, which far exceeds any traditional web banner or mobile campaign ads.