 | Ypulse Daily Update 07.06.09
Directory and more at Ypulse.com | |  | Quick Links Ypulse Essentials: My Secret Circle, 'Google Generation', 'Best Kids' Books Ever' Posted by meredith  A 'safer' social network for tweens (the debut of My Secret Circle, a closed social network for girls [and parents]who want a space of their own. Also in the wake of charges against Lori Drew being dismissed, some seek to enact a federal cyberbullying law) (MediaPost, reg. required)
- Ad Age reviews Levi's 'Go Forth' campaign (and deems the ads too clever for their own good. Also Subway reintroduces Michael Phelps into the mix. Plus Brandweek interviews Coca-Cola's Annis Lyles on the launch of Nestea's webisodes, an extension of the brand's "Liquid Awesomeness" campaign) (Ad Age, reg. required)
- Campus visits replace summer vacations (for families of incoming and prospective students. Meanwhile a lack of job and internship opportunities send currently enrolled college students back to their parents' doorsteps for a bittersweet homecoming) (New York Times, reg. required)
- The myth of the 'Google Generation' (contrary to Millennials' tech-savvy reputation, a new study in the U.K. shows a lack of critical and analytical skills as well as a general impatience with the process) (JISC via Derek Baird:: Barking Robot)
- Conan draws a younger crowd (to "The Tonight Show." In the new host's first month on the job the average age of the audience has fallen by a decade) (New York Times, reg. required)
- 'Britney Spears Saved My Life' (The title of a new documentary on the positive impact of pop music. And an interview with the founders of Shameless a Canadian mag for the "girls who get it") (The Guardian) (blogTO)
- New York Times' 'Best Kids' Books Ever' (according to Nicholas D. Kristof. I'd say there are a few oversights. Also Forbes' lists the best-paid celebs under 30 with singer turned actress turned DS spokeswoman Beyoncé taking the top spot) (New York Times, reg. required)
P.S. Ypulse sponsor Campus Media Group is now accepting applications for their annual College Newspaper PSA program. For more info on the program and how to apply, check out the Campus Media site.
Posted in: Ypulse Essentials Ypulse Research Roundup: Pew Social Trends, MobileYouth & More Posted by meredith Today we bring you another installment of the latest youth research available for sale or download. Remember if your company has comprehensive research for sale that focuses on youth between the ages of 8 and 24, email me to be included in the next Roundup.
How Old is 'Old'?
Depends on the age of the person you're asking. According to a new Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends survey on aging, perception of when "old age" begins [more than half of the under 30 set says 60, or younger] is just one of the disparities between generations. And the divide is not lost on the respondents -- 79% say there is a generation gap, a significant spike from the Gen X era response of 60%. Of course, the phrase has considerably different implications in the digital age. Cost: Free
For more information: download the full PDF of "Growing Old In America: Expectations vs. Reality"
How Can Teachers Nurture The Digital Growth Spurt?
One particularly relevant paper among the many new media-focused research available on the Media in Transition site, focuses on teaching digital literacy, considering the most effective methods for imparting students with "the ability to communicate via screen, image, and page, as well as the ability to search, find, critically evaluate, and use information ethically." Cost: Free
For more information: read the full report on the MiT site.
Gen Y Likes Mom & Dad. They Really Like Them
Echoing what we've been hearing stateside for a while, research published by the Australian Institute of Family Studies takes a look at the increasingly close relationship between parents and their adult children. More so than the 'rents themselves may realize. According to the study, 88% of young adults said they still counted on their parents for advice and emotional support, yet only 70% of parents thought of themselves as still helping in that role. [via Derek Baird:: Barking Robot]
For more information: check out the Courier News article and the Australian Temperament Project website, a pretty cool ongoing study that's tracked 2000 Australian Millennials since 1982.
The TV Is On, But Does Media Reach Teens At Home?
We asked this question the other week after the Nielsen report on How Teens Use Media came out, but recent research from OTX pretty much confirms our suspicions-- "[young people] frequently conduct over 5 activities whilst watching TV." Conversely, when it comes to communication texting/instant messaging/social networking teens see devices as a means to enhance quality time with friends. Sometimes to the point of doubling up -- according to the OTX report, "a quarter of young people interviewed text or IM friends they are physically with at the time." [via Millennial Marketing] Cost: N/A
For more information: Go to the OTX site
Then How Do Brands Get Youth To Pay Attention?
The 2009 MobileYouth Report explores "the implications of industry assumptions about whether or not youth are actually paying attention to their message." This entails 16 reports analyzing key aspects of youth marketing through the perspective of the consumer, with an emphasis on the evolving role of mobile. Cost: $3995
For more information: Go to the MobileYouth site
And How Do Brands Make Teens Feel?
eModeration follows up a previous white paper on "How to moderate teens and tweens" with a further examination of the differences between offline and online behavior among teens and tweens. The paper touches on both the positive and negative impact on development and "what that means for brands engaging with this group online."
For more information: Download the full report on eModeration.
For more coverage of youth marketing, go to the Ypulse Youth Marketing Channel sponsored by Youth Marketing Connection Posted in: Ypulse Essentials | Youth Marketing | Ypulse Research PULSE Takes Data Mining To A Whole New Level Posted by anastasia The other day in Ypulse Essentials, Meredith mentioned a new program called "PULSE," a self-described "real-time digital content platform that reveals the truth driving the $190 Billion teen market." Here's how it works according to the company's own press release:
PULSE is a proprietary software engine that reads digital content from multiple sources across the web, including: instant messages ("IM"), blogs, social environment communities, forums, and chat rooms. PULSE analyzes the sentiment, and delivers the unsolicited raw conversations in real time. It gives marketers immediate, unique information about what teens are saying in their own words -- real, usable information that is not being revealed in traditional market research. PULSE reveals the positives and negatives -- about a product, a brand, a trend, an entertainer, a movie, a TV show, an athlete, a retailer, and more.
When Meredith mentioned PULSE in essentials, she called it "big brother-y," and the reality is that something wasn't sitting too well about this passive data collection with me either. Then I stumbled across this coverage of the new service in the Canadian press this morning that revealed an earlier project of the parent company:
The company, based on Long Island in New York State, started FamilySafe, an Internet security program that monitored and analyzed everything a child did online and sent his or her parents a text message alert about anything alarming...
In what feels like a clear case of "how can we repackage and monetize this software," they spawned PULSE. A 17-year-old interviewed for the article clearly articulated the challenges with this software better than I could:
"No one wants to be spied on, and no one is going to trust a company that they think is spying on them," she said.
What's more, marketing executives would be making a big mistake to take online chatter too seriously. The Internet is a place of "throwaway opinions" and fringe points of view, and anyone who read too much into the catchphrases, inside jokes and niche interests that live there would end up with bizarre results.
"I can imagine a marketer, who at 50-something has no idea how a teenager thinks, saying, 'This is really interesting! We should take this into consideration,' and the rest of the world going, 'What is this?!'"
The reality of course is that we're all "spied on" online in a practice known as data mining with the intention of serving up more targeted advertising. Most teenagers aren't aware that this is a common practice. And I would look for attempts to regulate this practice when it comes to mining data of internet users under the age of 18. I wonder if parents realize that PULSE is monitoring the instant message conversations of about 150,000 teens using the FamilySafe software THEY installed for the purpose of selling this data. Even if identities are masked, this feels like it takes passive data mining to a whole new level.
That's where the second point made by the teen interviewed comes in: How reliable is data mined from these types of conversations? Sure, you may be able to track how many times a brand or product or TV show is mentioned, but being able to decipher the code teens are speaking in to their friends in a way that accounts for sarcasm, inside jokes or other misrepresentations, makes this "research" that should be taken with a pretty large grain of salt. If I were a brand with money to spend on research, I might stick with the "old fashioned" route of surveys developed by experienced researchers, samples with a good cross section of demographics and ideally some offline component like phone surveys to generate a more accurate depiction of what teens are thinking.
For more coverage of youth marketing, go to the Ypulse Youth Marketing Channel sponsored by Youth Marketing Connection.Posted in: Ypulse Essentials | Youth Marketing | Ypulse Research | Youth Marketing
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