Monday, January 05, 2009

Generation N+1 - deconstructing the future

The downloads didn't match the spread of video

The company knew their video had gone viral but the web's analytics did not reflect this.

Then someone asked the question, which left strategists scratching their heads in wonder.

The game was being heavily trafficed, except that around the playgrounds teenagers had dispensed with the nonsense of rushing to a url and waiting a couple of minutes. Instead, it was being blue toothed from a primary source and further blue toothed around.

There's no way strategists could have gauged the level of activity, well......!.

This story emerged from a web 2.0 conference, where, in one session, instead of the obligatory suited execs, they let the screenagers tell us what they did; a further revelation, as if you didn't know, they [a gross generalisation] won't pay for things online.

Two lessons. Firstly you might figure you know what's going on with your target audience, because you've a cool video or product, but then some.

Secondly, some of the best media companies get it wrong.

We, any generation, gen N+1 ( the screenagers) including, behave independently and dependently of each other given the circumstances.

We show video on our sites, but won't allow them to be downloaded once we've branded and tagged them. I'm just as guilty, but then I'm not in the process of building a media behemoth- quite.

The epitome of youth research and being in touch on the ground takes more than what goes on in board room meetings.

Tim Windor on Zero Percent Idle
gives a perspectives on digital natives in a recent post.

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