Who is Generation Z?
To them, CDs are vintage. Friendships are quantifiable by Facebook, and Foursquare isn't a school game. Welcome, Generation Z. Different sources define Generation Z according to varying dates, but for the purposes of this article we will define them as born approximately between 1994-2004. The oldest among them are taking to the roads, and the youngest are just now entering year 3. Their children's books are read from Kindles and iPads, their nursery rhymes downloadable at 79p a pop on iTunes. They're a bevy of group-oriented individuals. A tough crowd of skeptical idealists. They're smarter than us, and they're demanding we take them seriously as future consumers.
To them, CDs are vintage. Friendships are quantifiable by Facebook, and Foursquare isn't a school game. Welcome, Generation Z. Different sources define Generation Z according to varying dates, but for the purposes of this article we will define them as born approximately between 1994-2004. The oldest among them are taking to the roads, and the youngest are just now entering year 3. Their children's books are read from Kindles and iPads, their nursery rhymes downloadable at 79p a pop on iTunes. They're a bevy of group-oriented individuals. A tough crowd of skeptical idealists. They're smarter than us, and they're demanding we take them seriously as future consumers.
To say Generation Z is well-integrated with technology is to say marketing flirts with consumer needs. Generation Z is
technology. They have been growing up on websites designed specifically
for their consumption since before they could even speak. Generation
Z-ers are also bred early to be social-media savvy by parents who
witnessed social networking shift from embryonic and faulty, to stalwart
and unavoidable. These parents are often co-curators in their
children's online personas, monitoring their entry into the world of
social networking sites. In short, from the very beginning, Generation
Z-ers have grown up in a world that is all about connecting through
technology.
What does this mean?
This
isn't necessarily bad news, and it certainly looks like we have some
things on our side when it comes to communicating with them. Generation Z
is not as skeptical of advertising as previous generations, but they
are smarter and savvier. They are multi-taskers, and they are evolving
to cope with the ever-increasing volume of media byproducts by becoming
astutely skeptical and relentlessly discriminating. We do not need to
defend ourselves or mask our intentions; we simply need to smartly
compete for their fleeting attention.
Social media as a platform to mobilize efforts
Generation Z saw the first US president within their lifetime become elected through the mass efforts of the social networking technorati. They understand that 140 characters is not just a word count, it's a call to arms. And perhaps this is one of the most defining features of Generation Z: the pragmatism of their socialization. While there are certainly legitimate concerns around kids spending too much time interacting online vs. in the real world, one can also ask if this is necessarily a bad thing.
Generation Z saw the first US president within their lifetime become elected through the mass efforts of the social networking technorati. They understand that 140 characters is not just a word count, it's a call to arms. And perhaps this is one of the most defining features of Generation Z: the pragmatism of their socialization. While there are certainly legitimate concerns around kids spending too much time interacting online vs. in the real world, one can also ask if this is necessarily a bad thing.
Thanks
to Facebook, Skype, Facetime, etc., they are communicating in a "real"
way with family members and friends across the country, or even around
the world, without being in the same physical space. In fact, you could
argue that the many ways that they are communicating -- with IM,
constant updates, thousands of texts a month, etc. -- all add up to a
continuous stream of real-time dialogue that also often includes actual
visual interaction throughout. Compare this to when I was a child and
occasionally chatted on the phone or saw my grandparents These
relationships were much different than the long-distance relationships
that exist for kids today, thanks to technology. Generation Z has begun
to redefine "face-to-face" interaction, and they know how to maximize
it, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave comments on this Nine Lives project. It would be great if you tell us where in the the world you are.
Thank You