The “Grown Up Digital” Are Here To Stay
December 22, 2008 by Nathan
As our company ventures into more work involving social media and online brands, we have been making an effort to read everything on the subject that we can get our hands on. And, yes, that includes books. Admittedly, it seemed ironic for me to be toting around a hardback to learn about the future of what is going on online.
“Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World” by Don Tapscott challenges many of the stereotypes about millennials (those currently between 11 and 31 years of age). What I was most interested in was confirming what our staff has come to believe is an inevitable shift in our industry: that the interest in social media as the latest tool in communications was not a passing trend, but rather the way it is and will be in the future.
The most compelling case for this position came from Tapscott’s analysis of population and the Baby Boom Generation. There are now 77 million Baby Boomers, born 1946 to 1964, making up 23 percent of the U.S. population. Net Geners, or millenials, consist of approximately 81 million people born from 1977 to 1997, and currently make up 27 percent of the US population. This echoing effect, as it has come to be described, represents the largest swell in population in our nation’s history, and it stands to reason that what interests them is going to impact the way we do everything.
Tapscott points out that where Boomers passively watched television in their free time, Net Geners have grown up with the Internet – interacting and changing content and incorporating online tools into their lives. His look into Net Geners’ interests and tendencies, further reinforces a very different set of expectations – not only of themselves, but also of the brands they chose to align with. Some companies have taken notice and incorporated this change into their online brands and tools that speak to their customers. Many have not and are hoping it’s just a fad. If they’re wrong – it is going to take them a long time to catch up.
Tags: Book Review, Generations, Marketing, Social Media