Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

Trend Watch: Speaking the Language and Ministering to the Next Generation

 

Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet and the American Life Project, recently spoke at the annual conference of the National Religious Broadcasters.

 This talk will focus on the media habits of Millennials and GenX and how their patterns of gathering and creating information are different in the digital age and the impact this has on the ways that youth pastors reach out, connect and communiate with youth.

Speaking the language of the next generation

View more presentations from Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

Related: Faith, Religion, Community & Gen Y

Trend Watch: Welcome to Social Entertainment

 

Three trends are having a key impact in how consumers are using the internet: the rise of the 'packaged internet', with access through apps rather than browsers; an explosion of professional content and real-time social all contributing to what GlobalWebIndex founder Tom Smith sees as the rise of the social entertainment age.

 According to Smith, 'The open browser-based internet has failed to create the economics to deliver professional media business online, as advertising could not demand the premiums needed and consumers are unwilling to pay for content delivered through a browser.'

GlobalWebIndex's free report analyses the current situation and considers the implications for professional media, content producers and brands.

Welcome to Social Entertainment - Annual Report 2011

View more presentations from Tom Smith

Real-time social

The report identifies that a shift is currently taking place from blogs and forums to real-time sharing such as status updates and tweets, with 10% of internet users around the world updating their status daily. 'This radically changes the impact of social media, primarily creating an ongoing shared agenda and conversation towards reacting or interacting with live events and discourse.'

The rise of the packaged-internet

Mobile apps, tablets, e-readers, internet-connected TVs and gaming / video platforms are all contributing to the deterioration of the internet as a single entity. Mobile, in particular, has contributed to social entertainment, with over 17% of people surveyed having watched TV in the last month via their mobile, and 26% had watched an on-demand video via mobile phone.

Professional content explosion

The fastest growing motivations for using the internet identified by the survey were 'finding TV / films', 'finding music' and 'entertainment'. The survey also found that the prime motivation for 16-24 year olds to engage with brands is to entertain them (66%). GlobalWebIndex interprets this as a 'clear indication of the need for brands to adopt the position of content creator'. (via)

Related Links

• Gen Y, Social TV and Multiplatform Media Consumption
• Study Reveals Shift as Social Networks Become "Social Entertainment
• MTV Turns To Twitter And Facebook To Power New Flagship Show
• eGuides TV Web Extensions
• Bravo Virtual Season Finale Party a Big Hit with Viewers
• Report: Gen Y Wants TV to Get More Social
• I Want My Twitter TV?

Trend Watch: Why Parents Help Children Lie to Facebook About Age

Facebook, like many communication services and social media sites, uses its Terms of Service (ToS) to forbid children under the age of 13 from creating an account.

Such prohibitions are not uncommon in response to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which seeks to empower parents by requiring commercial Web site operators to obtain parental consent before collecting data from children under 13.

Given economic costs, social concerns,and technical issues, most general–purpose sites opt to restrict underage access through their ToS. Yet in spite of such restrictions, research suggests that millions of underage users circumvent this rule and sign up for accounts on Facebook.

Given strong evidence of parental concern about children’s online activity, this raises questions of whether or not parents understand ToS restrictions for children, how they view children’s practices of circumventing age restrictions, and how they feel about children’s access being regulated.

This paper provides survey data that show that many parents know that their underage children are on Facebook in violation of the site’s restrictions and that they are often complicit in helping their children join the site.

The data suggest that, by creating a context in which companies choose to restrict access to children, COPPA inadvertently undermines parents’ ability to make choices and protect their children’s data. Our data have significant implications for policy–makers, particularly in light of ongoing discussions surrounding COPPA and other age–based privacy.

A few  takeaways:

• “As a result of COPPA, lying about one’s age has become normal, and parents often help children lie, [which] creates safety and privacy issues.”

• “Online safety and privacy are of great concern to parents, but most parents do not want solutions that result in age-based restrictions for their children.”

• “Parents are open to recommended age ratings and other approaches that offer guidance without limiting their children’s access.”

• 84% were aware their children signed up and, of that 84%, nearly two-thirds (64%) even “helped create the account.

• 53% of the parents know Facebook has a minimum age; 35% think it’s “a recommendation, not a requirement”

• 78% reported various reasons that make it acceptable for their children to ignore or violate minimum age restrictions online.”

• “Because children lie about their age, these sites still collect data about children under 13 that COPPA would otherwise prohibit without explicit parental consent.”

• “Such a high incidence of parent-supported Terms of Service circumvention results in a normalization of the practice of violating online rules. This results in a worst-case scenario where none of COPPA’s public policy goals for mediating children’s interactions with these websites are met.”

• “Instead of providing more tools to help parents and their children make informed choices, industry responses to COPPA have neglected parental preferences and have altogether restricted what is available for children to access.”

Why Parents Help Children Lie to Facebook about age: Unintended consequences of COPPA

How Reality TV Impacts Tween and Teen Girls

A national survey of 1,100 girls conducted by the Girl Scout Research Institute, Real to Me: Girls and Reality TV, found that tween and teen girls who regularly view reality TV accept and expect a higher level of drama, aggression, and bullying in their own lives, and measure their worth primarily by their physical appearance.

The authors of the report found that only 53% of 11- to 13-year-old and 8% of 14- to 17-year-old girls say that their parents regularly monitor what they watch.

Despite parental limitations and concerns, most girls watch reality TV, and almost half watch it regularly. Fully 41% of girls say their parents don’t approve of them watching reality TV but 71% do it anyway.

As the report points out, there are many positive lessons for girls to learn from these shows, but it requires parents to sit down with their tweens and teens look for teachable moments.

Among the findings:

• 68 percent of girls agree that reality shows "make me think I can achieve anything in life"
• 48 percent that they "help me realize there are people out there like me."
• Seventy-five percent of girls say that reality TV depicts people with different backgrounds and beliefs.

Girls and Reality TV Factsheet

The Girl Scout Institute has put together a great reality TV handout for parents to help them get the conversation started. And it wouldn't hurt to have your son's involved in the conversation as well.

The big take away here is that parents need to be more involved and aware of the media--TV, web and social--that their kids (both girls and boys) are consuming on a daily basis. Our culture is saturated with media and it's up to parents, now more than ever, to be monitor message embeded in the content their kids are consuming.

Infographic: How Mobile Phones Shape the Lives of College Students

Created by: HackCollege

Trend Watch: When Television Meets Tablet Computers [VIDEO]

What will happen when television meets tablet computers?

SuomiTV and Nordkapp have explored the future of television and created a concept to illustrate the direction where we expect TV watching to evolve in the near future.

Pretty cool stuff.

 

(Sorta) Related: Facebook Now Outranks Television in the UK [Infographic]

Trend Watch: Essential Facts About the Video Game Industry

Quick. Tell me the age of the average game player. 12? 15? 17? Nope.

According to a new report from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the average game player age is 37.

Even more surprising is the finding that in 2011, 29% of gamers were over the age of 50. In all, 72% of American households play computer of video games.

Here are some other interesting stats from the 2011 Essential Facts About the Computer & Video Game Industry report released by ESA  on the demographics of video game players.

You can read the full executive summary after the jump.

Parents & Games

"Kids play video games for fun with the goal of progressing to the next level and eventually conquering the oppoent, whether that's another player or the computer.

What's more, the social aspect--sharing tactics, experience and explanations--help cemet what they've learned." ~ James Paul Glee, author of What Video Games Have to Teach us About Learning and Literacy

• 91% of the time parents are present at the time games are purchased or rented

• 86% of the time kids receive their parents' permission before purchasing or renting a game

• 9 out of 10 parents pay attention to the content of the games their kids play

• 68% believe game play provides mental stimulation or education

Top Four Reasons Parents Play with Their Kids

• 85% Because they're asked to

• 84% It's fun for the entire family

• 81% It's a good opportunity to socialize with the kids

• 57% It's a good opportunity to monitor game content

Video Games and Parental Controls

• 98% of parents are confident in the ESRB ratings

• 86% of parents are aware of the ESRB rating system

• 75% of parents believe that the parental controls are useful

• 80% of parents place time limits on video game playing

• 74% of parents place limits on Internet usage

Gender & Gamer Demographics

"There are games now for pretty much every age, every demographic." ~ Jesse Schell, professor of entertainment technology at Carnegie Mellon University

• 58% Male 42% Female

• Women age 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (37%) than boys age 17 or younger (13%)

• 33% of gamers say that playing computer or video games is their favorite entertainment activity

How Gamers Play

"Gaming is productive. It produces positive emotion, stronger social relationships, a sense of accomplishment, and for players who are a part of a game community, a chance to build a sense of purpose."  ~ Jane McGonigal, PhD. author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

• 55% of gamers play games on their phones or handheld device

• 65% of gamers play games with other gamers in person

• 47% play puzzle, board game, triva or card games

2011 Essential Facts: Video Game Industry

Infographic: Boomers, Gen X, Millennials & iGen Media Consumption

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

via MBAOnline.com | View Large

Infographic: How to Focus in the Age of Distraction

View Large | via www.mindmapart.com

News out today that, according to one study, SpongeBob and other fast paced kids TV may cause young children to have problems focusing and may dampen their budding brain function.

While there are some flaws with the study, there's no doubt in the age of Tweets, Pokes, Tumblr, Google +ing and YouTube, it's harder than ever to focus on just one thing. That's where this handy flow chart comes in.

According to the creator, this infographic will help you managing your (head) space, clear distractions and help you do one thing at a time. Now turn off Sponge Bob and take time to reflect and review.

Ohm. Ohm. Ohm. And oh---stop picking on SpongeBob!

From 'We' to 'Me': The Rise of Fame in Kids TV Programming and Pop Culture

Researchers at UCLA Children’s Digital Media Center have conducted a study that looked at the most popular TV programming for kids 9 to twelve between 1967 and 2007 to look for changes in the values that the shows promote.

The results, for anyone who's watched TV lately, shouldn't be too shocking.

The authors conclusion? The study found that in the 1960's the the value of community and kindness were the primary message of programming for 9-11 year olds. In one decade, from 1997 to 2007, fame leapt from #15 to #1 in importance, out of a list of 16 values.

“Preteens are at the age when they want to be popular and liked just like the famous teenagers they see on TV and the Internet. With Internet celebrities and reality TV stars everywhere, the pathway for nearly anyone to become famous, without a connection to hard work and skill, may seem easier than ever.”

Before we start placing the blame at the feet of Hannah Montana, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez or other tween stars, it should be noted that not a single tween was surveyed for this study. Instead, they interviewed adults who grew up during the particular decades included in the study.

Moreover, they also discuss--and this is important--how kids today are more attuned to values such as fame than kids in the 1970s and 1980s. The bottom line?

Parents need to do some co-watching of shows that are aimed at the pre-teen (and teen!) demographic to see what values are being conveyed. Talk to your kids. Ask them what they are thinking so you can help steer them toward more grounded and realistic outlook on life.

That's my two cents, what's yours?

You can read the entire study, The Rise of Fame: An Historical Content Analysis, in the Journal of CyberPsychology.

 

Block social media at the office? Gen Y won’t work for you [VIDEO]

via www.ragan.com

None of the top 100 companies to work for block social media access at the office, reports Erin Lieberman Moran, senior VP at the Great Place to Work Institute.

Learn more about why employees should be trusted.

Trend Watch: Children’s Virtual Worlds 2011 Report

Scott Traylor, founder of 360 Kid--the award winning kid focused content and technology company--has put together an exhaustive study of the state of kids virtual worlds. It's an impressive report.

According to Scott, "the most popular destinations for both kids and adults are “casual gaming” destinations. For kids and tweens, that means Wizard 101, Poptropica, Club Penguin and Moshi Monsters (which was just valued at $200 million).

While social and chat-based destinations like IMVU and Hi5 fall in second place for the young adult and older crowd, destinations that have a toy tie-in or real world connection, like Webkinz and Build-A-Bearville hold second place for kids and tweens.

However, this VW/MMO type has been on a slow two-year decline, largely as a result of Webkinz loosing significant marketshare over that period, to newcomers like Wizard 101 and Poptropica.

While Club Penguin has dropped in placement on the best top 10 list for kids, it has done a surprisingly good job of maintaining marketshare, loosing only a small percentage compared to Webkinz."

You can read the entire report over on Scott's 360 blog. And while you're there, don't forget to subscribe to his RSS feed and follow him on Twitter!

Global Youth: EU Kids Online Study Suggests Removing Age Restrictions on Facebook

Significant numbers of children are breaking the rules by setting up their own profiles on social networking sites such as Facebook, finds a new EU Kids Online study.

The report, Social Networking, Age and Privacy, found that 38 per cent of 9-12-year-olds use social networking sites, with one in five of the age group having a profile on Facebook, even though the network sets a minimum age of 13 to join.

"Since children often lie about their age to join 'forbidden' sites it would be more practical to identify younger users and to target them with easy-to-use protective measures."

Researchers who carried out the EU Kids Online survey of 25,000 young people across Europe say it shows that age restrictions are only partially effective and that a growing number of children are taking online risks.

A quarter of children on social networking sites have their profile set to ‘public’. One fifth of children whose profile is public display their address and/or phone number, twice as many as for those with private profiles.

Professor Sonia Livingstone from the London School of Economics and Political Science, who directs the project, said: ‘It seems clear that children are moving to Facebook – this is now the most popular site in 17 of the 25 countries we surveyed. Many providers try to restrict their users to 13-year-olds and above but we can see that this is not effective.’

Especially younger children are less likely to use privacy options and to understand the safety features that are available. According to the report, across the 25 European countries surveyed, 57 per cent of children (aged 9 to 16) use Facebook as their sole or main social networking site. This ranges from 98 per cent in Cyprus, to only two per cent in Poland.

Need for better protective measures

The findings raise the possibility that removing age restrictions from social network sites might be the most effective way of improving online safety as the rules have the consequence of driving kids’ social networking underground.

Among other findings, the survey shows that almost one in six 9-12-year-olds, and one in three 13-16s, have 100 or more online contacts. Around a quarter of SMS users communicate online with people who have no connection to their offline lives, including one fifth of 9-12 year olds across all SMS (and one quarter of younger Facebook users).

Key findings of the report:

• Social networking sites (SNS) are popular among European children: 38% of 9-12 year olds and 77% of 13-16 year olds have a profile. Facebook is used by one third of 9-16 year old internet users.
• One in five 9-12 year olds have a Facebook profile, rising to over 4 in 10 in some countries.
• Age restrictions are only partially effective, although there are many differences by country and SNS.
• Younger children are more likely than older to have their profile ‘public’. A quarter of 9-12 year old SNS users have their profile ‘set to public’.
• Parental rules for SMS use, when applied, are partly effective, especially for younger children.
• One fifth of children whose profile is public display their address and/or phone number, twice as many as for those with private profiles.
• The features designed to protect children from other users if needed are not easily understood, by many younger and some older children.

EU Kids Online: Social Networking, Age and Privacy

Report: Minority Kids Spend Most of Their Waking Hours Plugged In

Minority children spend an average of 13 hours a day using mobile devices, computers, TVs and other media — about 4½ hours more than white kids, says a new report released earlier this month.

The findings, from Northwestern University, are being presented to childhood and telecommunications experts in Washington, D.C.

The results are from an analysis of two Kaiser Family Foundation surveys that tracked media use by kids 6 to 18.

Researchers analyzed that data to find out how black, Hispanic, Asian American and white youth use media for homework and for fun, and how long they're plugged in on any given day.

Among 8- to 18-year-olds, Asian Americans logged the most media use (13 hours, 13 minutes a day), followed by Hispanics (13 hours), blacks (12 hours, 59 minutes), and whites (8 hours, 36 minutes.)

via yourlife.usatoday.com

 

The report shows that compared with white children, minority youth:

• Watch TV and videos one to two hours more a day;
• Listen to music about an hour more a day;
• Use computers about 1½ hours more a day;
• Play video games 30 to 40 minutes longer a day. Black (84%) and Hispanic kids (77%) also are more likely to have TVs in their bedrooms and to eat meals in front of the TV.

Read more about the Kaiser Family Foundation report on minority kids and media use >>>

Infographic: What Different Generations Do Online

via pewinternet.org

The primary adult data in this report come from a Pew Internet Project survey conducted from April 29 to May 30, 2010.

For more information on these and other surveys cited in this report, including survey dates of all activities cited, please see the Methodology section at the end of the "Generations 2010" report.