Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

Weekly Wrap: Gen Y Love Mom & Dad, Google Generation, Best Buy Mobile Survey, MySpace as 'Digital Ghetto', Millennial Stereotypes & Calling BS on Social Media

The Real Life of Teens: The media portrays teens as being 'sexting', binge-drinking louts - but it's just a variation on a centuries-old stereotype. Why are we so afraid of young people? (This is such a great column, well worth reading and a refreshing portrayal of Gen Y.) [Irish Times]

Gen Y Still Love Mum & Dad: They might be young adults making their own way in life, but a new research published by the Australian Institute of Family Studies shows that the wired wonders of Gen Y still value the advice of their parents. [Courier News]

Google Generation is a Myth: Research conducted University College London claims that, although young people demonstrate an ease and familiarity with computers, they rely on the most basic search tools and do not possess the critical and analytical skills to asses the information that they find on the web. [JISC]

Tweet of the Week: "For the record, I keep my billions of virtual dollars tucked safely under my virtual mattress with a virtual rottweiler protecting (via @elusivefish)." Speaking of virtual currency... [Twitter] [Virtual World News]

Hot for Teacher?: A teacher accidentally put pornography into a DVD that was meant to be filled with school memories from the past year, and nobody caught the error until after it was sent home, shocking parents and students alike. Hey DJ--cue the music!. [CBS News] [MTV]

Calling Bullshit on Social Media: "For starters: social media is a stupid term. Is there any anti-social media out there? Of course not." I love this blog post. So. Spot. On. And long overdue [scottberkun.com]

Storytelling 2.0: Penguin Books have launched a great new site that allows kids to play in an unlimited online space where they can create their own virtual stories, books and games for just $10. Once created they can send them to friends to watch, read or play and save them to their own virtual bookshelf. [Digital Buzz via @liamom]

Best Buy® Mobile Survey: Of all Americans with mobile phones, 62% say they use text messaging, mostly because it's a convenient and quick way to communicate. More than one-third (37%) say they use texting to avoid long or tough conversations, and over one-quarter (27%) say they use it because they dislike talking on the phone. One-quarter feel it's a great way to flirt, particularly among the 18-24-year-old set (39%). [Business Wire]

One Last Thing: Corporate types pledge to be more open about tracking consumers online, according to some experts MySpace is now a 'digital ghetto', a new study by FUSE Marketing shows that teens love events, Steve Wheeler on e-learning 3.0 (think mobile!), the abstinence movement gets rebranded, two college kids get a book deal for 'Twitterature', and Nickelodeon launches video games with a pro social message (also related). [AP] [TransComic] [BrandFlakes] [Steve Wheeler] [Alpha Mommy] [Galley Cat] [MediaPost] [Press Any Key]

Weekly Wrap: Twitter & Social Media in Education, Television 2.0, Social Gaming, Boomers & Social Media, Virtual Worlds Growth Spurt, BackTweets & TwitterCal

Higher Education is Stuck in the Middle Ages: In this article Don Tapscott, youth guru and author of Growing Up Digital, outlines the clash between the model of learning offered by big universities and the natural way that young people who have grown up digital learn. The entire U.S. education system is woefully behind when it comes to using social media (and mobile devices) in the classroom. [AlterNet]

The Hidden Problem with Twitter: Speaking of the Middle Ages, this article stirs the pot by asking if the texting and Twitter habits are "hurting" the English language. Perhaps we need to take a cue from our Aussie friends and look for a way to use social and mobile media to help educate the Net Generation.  [HigherEdMorning.com] [University of Melbourne]

More on Television 2.0: Is the TV business dying or does it have a second act? Television networks are actively looking for ways to hold onto Gen Y by interjecting more social media and even 3D television features into their programming.

In an attempt to hold on to younger viewers, MTV is launching It's On with Alexa Chung, while the BBC is placing its bets on a new interactive TV studio. Or will 'traditional' TV networks be replaced by young upstarts like Halogen TV which is featuring both webisodes and traditional distribution outlets for its content?

Virtual Worlds Booming: Market research firm Strategy Analytics released its forecast for growth within the virtual worlds sector and said it sees the global population of virtual world users growing from 186 million today to almost 640 million by 2015 -- that's almost one hundred million new players a year, a nearly 25 percent compounded annual growth rate. [Virtual Worlds News]

Boomers Crashing the Social Media Party: According to iStrategy Labs, Facebook's seen its 35-54 demo membership blow up by 276.4 percent between June 2008 and January 2009. The 55-and over contingent grew 194.3 percent in the same amount of time. In comparison, that ever-so-sought 18-24 group bounced just 20.6 percent.

The total number of Facebook users aged 35-plus in October 2007 totaled just fewer than 845,000, while as of this past January, their combined might totals just less than 8 million - 18.9 percent of the total Facebook pie. [MediaPost]

Young Obama Official Helped Keep Twitter on in Iran: According to The New York Times, there's a steady flow of information on Twitter largely thanks to the efforts of a 27-year-old State Department official named Jared Cohen, whose job is to advise the department on how to use social media to promote U.S. interests in the Middle East. [MTV News]

One More Thing: According to experts social gaming is the next big thing, use Backtweets to see which tweets link to your site, mobileYouth has a list of youth marketing & trend Twits on Twitter (thanks Graham!), get a sneak peak of Josh Shipp's new tv show--"Jump Shipp", tweet to add appointments to your Google Calendar, more on Millennials and Twitter and an Iranian Gen Y writes about Revolution 2.0!

Also, thanks to all of you who took part in Operation 55 Zebra! Go David Go!

Weekly Wrap: Sociology of Twitter, Bing, Miracle Whip Woos Gen Y, Doogie Howser 2.0, Campus Marketing, Gen X Loves Twitter & Taylor Swift Goes Gangsta

Kraft Woos Gen Y with Miracle Whip: Kraft Foods is trying to reintroduce Miracle Whip to younger households, particularly those who grew up eating it but might not be using it today. The strategy includes print, a Facebook page and Twitter profile, other social media, consumer relationship marketing tactics, sampling, in-store support, and truck fleet billboards. [MediaPost]

Doogie Howser Lives!: For eight years, Jessica Terry suffered from stomach pain so horrible, it brought her to her knees. Her doctors, no matter how hard they tried, couldn't figure out the cause of Jessica's abdominal distress.Then one day in January, Terry, 18, figured it out on her own. [CNN]

Steps to Refresh your Campus Media Plan: Jason Bakker, author of the EngageGenY blog, lays out some good information that you can use when marketing to college age Gen Y's. You can also check out my Campus Marketing Recap from the 2009 Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup. [MediaPost] [Barking Robot]

Gen X, Gen Y & Twitter: At the 09 Ypulse Mashup there was lots of talk about how Gen Y/Millenials don't really dig "the Twitter." So who's driving the Twitter bus? Turns out it's Gen X who is love with Twitter. [Jessie X]

What Every 24-35 Year Old's Facebook Profile Really Says: Zombies. Facebook Apps. All that damn poking. What's the deal with Facebook? Holy Taco explains it all. [Holy Taco]

The Sociology of Twitter: Sociologist and ethnographer, Liz Pullen, spent a month tracking the top 500 Twitter users (as ranked by number of followers) as well as the much-contested suggested users list. In tracking these accounts, she also closely analyzed the behaviors of new adopters and their expectations of the service. [Read, Write, Web]

Search vs. Decision or Library vs. Librarian: A few days ago Microsoft launched Bing, it's new "decision engine", to mostly positive reviews. It even, according to some reports, kicked some Google and Yahoo! booty in the process. In this blog post, Robert Stinnett explains how Bing is his "librarian in a world full of books". [RobertStinnett.com]

Mobile Internet Booming: Mobile internet access increased by 36% in the US last year, but the number of Americans (18 million, ages 13+) who connect to the mobile web is still relatively low compared with the 100 million users who connect via mobile in China, according to a recent report from Netpop.

One Last Thing: Taylor Swift goes Gangsta, Vlingo research finds 94% of teens use their mobile phone to text, MTVU launches an incubator for aspiring college filmmakers, the best wedding invite in the history of the world, plus 10 ways to use mobiles and social media to connect with Gen Y.

2009 Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup | Campus Case Study Slam Recap

SurveyU: Five Facts About College Age Youth

• 20,450,833 U.S. College Students
• College students outnumber residents in every state except California, New York and Texas;
• 76% of students attend a public college, 24% attend private college
• 58% are female, 42% are male
• Annual amount spent on College Tuition/Room and Board: $333 Trillion
• Bonus: There are 20 million college age students, greater than any state's population except CA.

SurveyU: College Students & Technology

• 96% Own Mobile Phone
• 87% Own iPod or MP3 Player
• 86% Own Laptop
• 74% own Video Game Console

SurveyU: Media Consumption Habits of College Age Students

• 37 hours a week online
• 11 hours a week watching TV
•  4 hours a week reading print publications
•  4 hours a week listening to radio 

Things to Remember When Marketing to College Students

• This generation values authenticity and can smell marketing BS a mile away.
• Millennial's are citizens of the global village (multi-racial/cultural/lingual).
• This generation is jacked up on technology, especially mobile.
  
• Just go out there and try new things.
  
• Know that this media is not measurable in same way as traditional media.
• Gen Y are 'Neo-Frugalists': Frugal is the new hip (1 of 3 teens affected by economy)
• 90% of college students read their campus newspaper. Even though they are digital, campus paper is still widely read.
  
• Don't even bother marketing to Asian youth, just know Asian youth culture is trendsetting.
• 80% of teens have gone to "official company" website to get more information.
  
• LET GO a little bit. You (and your client) can't control everything.
• Only 30% of youth have "friended" a brand.
• 90% of teens disapprove of advertisers texting them.
  
• Have the audience talk to the audience by deputizing your core demo (college kids) to carry your marketing message to itself for your brand.

Related Resources

• 2009 Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup
• 10 Ways to Use Mobiles to Connect with Gen Y
• International Study on Children's Use of Mobile Phones
• 2009 Ypulse Youth Mashup: Josh Shipp, Disney URock, Teens & Twitter

A Phantom Introduction: Millennials Getting Creative in a Down Economy

“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.” - Jean-Paul Sartre

It's June. A time for college graduation and big dreams of landing that first "real job." Enter the econolypse. Gen Y, faced with their first recession and dwindling job prospects, are looking for a way to stand out from their peers and get the attention of recruiters and HR folks.

Check out this innovative approach to ye olde cover letter, created by twenty-somethings Branden Kramer & Christy L Pregont, who are trying to get a foot in the door of the uber hip and acclaimed Crispin Porter + Bogusky agency.

Looks like all that "goofing around" on the internet and playing with social media sites has some real practical applications in the "real world."

Related Links

• Motivating Gen Y in a Downward
• Gen Y: How to Get a Job Now
• Welcome to the Gen Y Workplace
• Gen Y Guide to Social Media in the Workplace

Weekly Wrap: Education Embracing Twitter, Student Wikipedia Hoax, Advice for Tweens, Social Media Squatters, Social Music & Youth Marketing Tips

Economic Slump Slows Down Summer School: "The economic downturn has prompted many school districts to reduce funds for summer school. That's bad news for students who need remedial work and for those who are taking summer classes to advance a grade." [NPR]

Embracing the Twitter Classroom: Huffington Post blogger Jessica Gross takes a look at the battle over the use of social media going on in our schools between kids, parents and teachers. Jessica has a brilliant observation: "This argument is akin to that for abstinence-only education. Kids with access to the Internet are going to use it whether or not their parents decide they're "ready."" Amen. Also, check out my previous posts on using Twitter in education. [Huffington Post]

Student Uses Wikipedia to Punk World Media: Looks like the mainstream media (MSM) need to take a course on digital literacy and basic research techniques. I think this also points out that youth have a better understanding of web credibility that adults give them credit.  [Irish Times]

Stars Dish out Advice for Tweens: A new tween survival guide, 113 Things to Do By 13 written by 14-year-old blogger Brittany MacLeod features advice and tips from young Hollywood stars. Wonder if Brittany will be at the 2009 National Tween Summit in DC?  [Yahoo! OMG]

Noika to Launch 3G Phone for Emerging Markets: Nokia has announced the Nokia 2730 classic, a phone that includes 3G data connectivity and tools for emerging phone markets. This should be a boon to educators to deliver content and instruction via mobile learning platforms. [MobileBurn]

How to Handle Social Networking Name Squatting: Julia Angwin lays out some steps that may, or may not work when someone is social squatting on your name. [WSJ]

5 Messaging Tips When Talking to Youth: Great youth marketing tips from the folks over at Campus Media Group. [Campus Media Group]

The Rise of Social Music: Mashable has a great post tracing the history of audio on the web and the rise of social music services like Last.fm, Blip.fm and MySpace. It also takes a peek into the future and looks at the rise of mobile music. [Mashable]

The Latino Initiative: Between 2005 and 2006 the teen birth rate increased 3% - the first increase in 15 years. This increase occurred among most ethnic groups - among Hispanic teens, the increase was 2%. The National Campaign’s Latino Initiative focus on helping the Latino community in its efforts to reduce continued high rates of adolescent pregnancy and childbearing. Plus, Bristol Palin talks to People Magazine about teen sex and life as a teen mother. [People Magazine]

Weekly Wrap: End of Free, MTV & Martha Stewart Turn to Twitter & Facebook, Social Media ROI, TV 2.0 & 8 Key Trends

8 Key Trends for the Next 5 Years: Gerd Leonhard once again attempts to predict the future. While many people scoff at those who try and look ahead and light the paths for the rest of us, Gerd is actually quite good at it. Here is a glimpse into his mind and some trends he suggests for the rest of the decade. [Future of Music]

The End of the Age of Free: For a decade now, consumers have become accustomed to free access to music, films and information, via the internet. But with many of the media's big players - including Rupert Murdoch - thinking of charging for content, is the tide about to turn? Plus, Martha Stewart announces plans to test paid online video downloads & touts Twitter as powerful brand marketing tool. [Guardian UK] [SmartMoney] [MediaWeek]

MTV Turns To Twitter And Facebook To Power New Flagship Show: MTV plans to integrate even more social media into its television programs. You may remember that MTV has already integrated  multiplatform media consumption and social gaming into its popular show "The Hills." Be sure to check out Senior VP and GM of MTV Digital Dan Hart's 2008 Ypulse Mashup East presentation on some of MTV's latest digital strategies for bridging the gap between TV, online and mobile.[TechCrunch]

Generations at Work: McCrindle Research, based in Australia, has put together a slew of great research on Gen Y, Gen X and Boomers in the workplace. Very impressive stuff! [McCrindle]

Making Social Media Music: What do a middle school band concert and social media have in common? Ari Balder of Digital Pivot explains this and more in this excellent blog post.

Twitter and ABC Launch a Tweetable News Show: The lines continue to blur between "traditional" TV and the social web. ABC News is following in the steps of CNN and creating a show that allows for interaction between viewers and anchors. NBC is also looking to dive into social television with the launch of Outside.In--a "hyperlocal" news show. Looks like 2009 is the year that TV 2.0 might (finally!) take off! [Mashable] [BNET]

Bravo Virtual Season Finale Party a Big Hit with Viewers: If you need more evidence that viewers want to use social sites to connect with their favorite shows, take a look at these impressive metrics from the Bravo TV Season Finale of The Real Housewives of New York. Also take a look at eGuides TV Web Extensions project. Oh, you can follow @BravoTV on Twitter. [Mashable] [eGuides TV]

The iPhone as Teachers Pet: Although Apple has long been a fixture in the education sector, the University of Missouri's School of Journalism has taken things one step further -- it now requires journalism majors to have either an iPod touch or an iPhone. [TechNewsWorld]

People Are Talking About Your Brand: Talk may be cheap, but according to new research conducted at the Kellogg's School of Management,  listening to what people are saying about your brand can be a valuable method of improving corporate performance as well as help you fine tune your marketing message. [Kellogg Insight]

Social Media ROI. Measuring the Unmeasurable?: Fresh Networks has put together a great blog post and shared a SlideShare presentation created by Egg Co on how brands can measure the success of their social media strategy. Also, Social Media today explains how social media profiles help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). [Fresh Networks]

Real Life Twitter: Can You Hear Me Now?

Watch Real Life Twitter on CollegeHumor

Related Resources

• Twitter College Directory
• Twitter Handbook for Teachers
• UK Students May Be Required to Master Twitter
• Directory of Learning Professionals on Twitter

Teacher Encourages Students to Twitter in Class

"Cole W. Camplese, director of education-technology services at Pennsylvania State University at University Park, prefers to teach in classrooms with two screens — one to project his slides, and another to project a Twitter stream of notes from students.

He knows he is inviting distraction — after all, he’s essentially asking students to pass notes during class. But he argues that the additional layer of communication will make for richer class discussions.”

— Wired Campus: Professor Encourages Students to Pass Notes During Class — via Twitter | Chronicle.com


Related Resources

• Twitter College Directory
• Twitter Handbook for Teachers
• UK Students May Be Required to Master Twitter
• Directory of Learning Professionals on Twitter
• Yahoo! Partners with Universities to Advance Cloud Computing Research

Weekly Wrap: Latinos Who Twitter, Teen Entrepreneurs, Adolescent Brain Research, Social Networking Limbo

Like most of you, in the course of a week I run across a lot of really interesting stuff. But blogging about it all has become increasingly difficult.

I thought I'd do a quick link post each Friday to share the best stuff I've found during the week. So here we go, the very first edition of the Weekly Wrap:

Teen Brains Clear Out Childhood Thoughts: Anyone who works with teens should read this article about the inner workings of the teen brain, along with new cognitive research and synaptic pruning.

Recession Breeds Teenage Entrepreneurs: As the recession bites, Charlotte Phillips discovers that it might just be the making of today's teenagers.

Twitteros: A new online community for Latinos who Twitter. Also check out my post on U.S. Hispanic & Latin American Youth Trends

Nine Great Reasons Why Teachers Should Twitter: What’s the point of Twitter? Why should educators get involved? What difference does using Twitter make?

Online Video Network Helps Teens Prepare for College: Recognizing that today's teens spend more and more of their time online, however, a new video-based network aims to offer extra learning and college preparation in a format that's more natural for digitally savvy high-school students.

Teen Uses Web for Tuition Help: No money? No problem. Teen creates website to raise enough money to attend the University of Notre Dame.

Death of Gamers Leave Their Online Friends in Limbo: This is pretty interesting and shows how integrated social media and networking has become in our lives.

Disney Buys Kaboose: Disney Interactive Media adds to it's growing suite of family and kid friendly sites. Also included in the deal is Fun School....does this mean that Disney is (finally) going to be more active in the educational digital media space? Fun School along with Disney-owned Kerpoof would provide a great suite of educational technology for teachers, parents and families.

NASA is Developing MMO in Effort to Boost STEM Education

When it comes to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), American kids are falling behind other kids in countries. There are lots of organizations--from ExxonMobil to the National Science Digital Library (NSDL)--are working hard to reverse this trend and get more kids into a science education track.

For example, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has a STEM education initiative for teachers and they provide an array of professional development resources (many for free) for teachers over on their online Learning Center.

STEM education--for both students and teachers--is at the core of President Obama's educational reform package. These are all great programs and let's face it, when it comes to STEM education programs, the more the merrier.

View more presentations from ashwinl.

NASA, who has a vested interest in having a steady flow of qualified people to develop our national space programs, is ready to embark on a new and bold plan to get America's youth--from elementary school to higher education--interested in space exploration.

Their secret weapon? A virtual world build around a mission to Mars.

In an effort to encourage more kids to pursue science careers, NASA has created a Learning Technologies Project Office (LPTO) and partnered with three video game producers to create, Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond.

According to NASA:

The game will enable participants to learn and be tested on real skills through single-player and team-based missions based on real NASA technologies, such as the Hubble Space Telescope.

In addition, players will interact with NASA digital assets, such as hyper-realistic digital renderings of Mars rovers and telescope images taken of and from space.

The level at which users participate in these missions will depend on age and education, among other factors. So, while the game promises to have a big impact on higher education, it will also be geared toward students as young as 13 who can participate at a level suited to their experience."

Today's kids are savvy and have lots of choices when it comes to virtual worlds. If the Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond doesn't feel authentic, they won't use it. So it's really great to see that NASA had the foresight to consult and collaborate with experts from the MMO/virtual world community to develop this project.

Given how much Gen Y love video games and virtual worlds, this type of hands-on, project based learning activity might just be the thing to get more kids interested in science.

Related Resources

• Introducing NASA's Virtual Universe "Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond"
• Enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education Act of 2008
• Dale Basler, Science Guru
• Project Tomorrow: STEM Education & Technology Use in K 12 Schools
• Twitter & NASA: Meet the Martians

Education Scholarships, Grants & Financial Aid Resources

Hispanic students:

• www.hsf.net
• www.telacu.com
• www.gmsp.org

African American students:

• http://www.blackexcel.org/100minority.htm
• www.gmsp.org

Educational Administrators:

• http://www.aasa.org/awards/index.cfm

Education doctoral students:

• www.aauw.org/fga
• www.spencer.org
• http://www.aera.net/grantsprogram/res_training/diss_grants/DGFly.html

Prospective teachers:

• http://national-academies.org/fellowships

MFT students:

• http://www.camft.org/scriptcontent/index.cfm?displaypage=../StaticContent/1/education2.html

Psychology students:

• http://www.apa.org/apf/scholarships.html
• http://www.apa.org/apags/members/schawrdsintro.html

Scholarship search websites:

• Financial Aid Information Page
• http://www.fastweb.com
• www.schoolsoup.com
• www.wiredscholar.com
• www.srn.com
• www.scholarships.com

The College Board

• http://apps.collegeboard.com/cbsearch_ss/welcome.jsp

Related Resources

• Unigo > Financial Aid
• Apply for Free: How to Get College Application Fees Waived
• Today Show > Eight Tips to Get Financial Aid

Nickelodeon Virtual Worlds Group Summer Internships 2009

I ran across this pretty cool internship with the Nickelodeon Kids & Family Virtual Worlds Group. Looks like it's a pretty exciting time to be at Nickelodeon.

This looks like a great opportunity for a college student interested in getting a foot into the worlds social media, virtual worlds or youth media & marketing.

Here's the scoop:

Are you into gaming & surfing the web? Do you have an online avatar? Do you have a favorite MMORG? Even if you had to look up that last one, we might be looking for you!

Nickelodeon and MTVN are currently seeking motivated interns looking for hands-on experience in the entertainment and gaming industry!

Click here to learn more about this opportunity.

Related Resources

• Dizzyworlds Quest for Change
• Nick.com
• Pew Internet Research on Video Games & Gen Y
• Virtual Worlds: Teaching Kids to be Web Wise

Mozilla, Peer 2 Peer University & Creative Commons Launch OER Program for Educators

The Mozilla Foundation, in collaboration with ccLearn/Creative Commons and the Peer 2 Peer University, launches a practical online seminar on open education.

This six week course is targeted at educators who will gain basic skills in open licensing, open technology, and open pedagogy; work on prototypes of innovative open education projects; and get input from some of the world leading innovators along the way.

The course will kick-off with a web-seminar on Thursday 2 April 2009 and run for 6 weeks.

Weekly web seminars introduce new topics ranging from content licensing to the latest open technologies and peer assessment practices.

The course is targeted at educators who want to help shape the open education future. Participants should have some knowledge of web technologies, or open content licensing, or open pedagogy (or all three), but don't need to be experts.

You can learn more about the course by clicking here.

Additional Resources

• Open Yale Courses
• Didactics World > Bridging the Digital Content Divide
• Creative Commons > Education
• Video: Wanna Work Together?
• Education Guardian Weekly > Reading Poetry at Yale...
• Didactics World > Open Content Provision Through ccLearn

Gen Y Entrepreneur: Jordan Goldman, Unigo.com

Unigo is a platform for college students to share reviews, photos,videos, documents, and more with students on their campus and across the country.

It’s also the best place for high school students to find out what life is really like at North America’s colleges, and to make friends who can help them find the school that’s right for them.

Related Resources

• Twitter > @Unigo
• Youth Marketing Mashup East
• Youth Entrepreneur: Derek Johnson, Tatango.com
• UK college begins testing facial recognition attendance system
• Teens in Tech