Jul 31, 2013
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Millennials:
Also known as Generation Y, is the demographic term used to identify the generation following Generation X. Although there are no precise dates for start or end, commentators use birthdates from the early 1980s to the early 2000s to describe Millennials.
A Generation Born Online
Did you know over 68% of Millennials get their news from social media? Second only to those who got their news from websites.
Nearly two-thirds of 14-30 year-olds reported getting their news from the information curve of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Millennials are a generation born online, and now more than just online, mobile. The realm of social media is far more than a trend, it’s this generation’s way of life.
Effects of an Online and Mobile Generation
Courtney Boyd Meyers, a 28 year old founder of a transatlantic company designed to help New York and London based technology startups grow internationally said that although Millennials are creating tons of new technology such as apps, most of the products are geared toward 20-something year olds. She thinks we’re missing out on products that the rest of the world can use, not just their own generation of Americans. These products that the rest of the world can use are the type of products that Millennials are both the best and worst at creating.
I’m not trying to be a downer but this is both good and bad. Millennials are the perfect age to figure things out. Spectators claim this generation to be the most brilliant and determined. They can get social networking off on any mobile device. Snapping and sharing photos while enabling a constant stream of data chattering is a life full of knowledge and constant discovery. This experience of growing up mobile is essential to developing the future of social media applications.
Meyers claim seems to ring true as I look at the various app purchasing sites. I see thousands of apps for music, games, or mindless entertainment. There are many for news and staying up with technology. But as you look through the apps on your device, how many would you consider valuable to the rest of the world, generations, and populations everywhere? Is this Millennial generation really using the technology to its full capacity?
Join the Millennials That Make a Difference
This connected generation is one that has a difference-making structure already in place. The world is literally accessible at the tips of your fingertips, and all it takes to send your message to populations of the world is pushing a few buttons.
Ronny Edry, an Israeli graphic designer demonstrated the power of this mobile infrastructure when he used his graphic design skills to lessen the divide between Israel and Iran. In his international campaign titled Israel-Loves-Iran Edry sent messages of love across partisan and geographical divides through social media outlets. He demonstrated with his posters and his campaign how the compassion of humanity has the potential to weaken barriers of hatred, through the infrastructure of the mobile, social-media world.
Edry is just one of many examples of people who are out there using this socially connected world to its highest potential. Now it’s about time we join in and make a difference.
How have you made a positive influence with your social media outlets?