I have a huge advantage when it comes to New Media research and it’s not because I have a big budget for analysis from the likes of Forrester and Gartner. My advantage is derived from the fact that I am the father of two Net-Gens.
A Net-Gen is one of the two billion people born between 1977 and 1997. What makes them special is that they only know a world filled with networked machines which they use on a day-to-day basis. My two “little” Net-Gens were born in 1990 and 1993 respectively, and having them in the house is like having my own New Media research lab. Whenever I want to know what’s going on “out there,” all I need to do is observe my Net-Gens. And they never steer me wrong.
A couple of weeks ago, while raiding the refrigerator (an occupational hazard of the home office) I noticed my son Bryan sitting on the couch watching television — or so I thought. Closer inspection revealed that he was doing something incredibly different…
…like simultaneously playing a video game WHILE watching a sitcom!
To be more specific, he had set the television into split-screen mode. In one screen, he piped a DVR-time-shifted sitcom. In the other, he played a video game on his Wii.
Rather than bothering him, I did what any self-respecting New Media Evangelist would do; I grabbed my video camera and started shooting. As I stood there, with the video camera whirling away, I had a thought.
Soon, Bryan and his peers will be purchasing cars, houses, and patronizing various businesses. And that got me to thinking about the information that businesses create. I thought about the obsequious business marketing drivel that emanates from Marcomm, or the Sominex-laced-cookie-cutter press releases baked by PR. I wondered how such specious content could compete with snack-sized-time-shifted-simultaneous infotainment.
The Net-Gen won’t demand content that apeals to them, they’ll just ignore the stuff that doesn’t. I wonder how today’s businesses will make the adjustment?
I created this fifty-four (54) second video as a result of my thoughts. Enjoy and feel free to pass it around!
Amazing.
Ken Wetherell
August 20, 2008
Amazing.
Ken Wetherell
August 20, 2008
Hi Ron,
On this note, have you seen the Digital Natives project by Harvard? http://www.digitalnative.org/
Chelsea
August 25, 2008
Hi Ron,
On this note, have you seen the Digital Natives project by Harvard? http://www.digitalnative.org/
Chelsea
August 25, 2008
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