 | Ypulse Daily Update 07.08.09
Directory and more at Ypulse.com | |  | Quick Links Ypulse Essentials: 'We' Generation At Work, Virtual Campus Tours, The Uniform Project Posted by meredith  'Don't be that guy' (Bank responsibly -- the message Fifth Third Bank seeks to send students with a new campaign. Plus Britney stays on as a Candies girl with a new campaign launching this fall. Also Evian hopes to refresh their brand with viral-ready rollerskating baby ads) (MediaPost, reg. required) (BrandWeek)
- The 'We' Generation at Work (wants to see social corporate responsibility in action. Plus the discussion around entitled Millennials continues on XX with a look at the recession-induced migration towards grad school) (Forbes)
- Virtual campus tours (made even easier on YOUniversityTV, with videos from over 400 schools. Also The New York Times' "The Choice" blog profiles Student Union 34 a site for prospective students focused on the 34 colleges in the Philadelphia area. And New York Daily News asks if the NYC Prep stars' reality show fame will hurt their chances of getting into college) (AP)
- DOE sees increased role for e-learning (in K-12 classrooms. Starting this fall the Education Department will finance a three-year study on "blended education." Also Microsoft's Kodu Game Lab makes programming accessible to kids) (SLJ) (MSNBC)
- Publishing turns tween (with an influx of titles on heartthrobs and pop stars. Plus libraries enlist kid volunteers to promote the summer reading program) (New York Post) (Baltimore Sun)
- Movie marketers target hipsters (with a crop of indie flicks and meet some challenges along the way. Plus critics applaud the new Harry Potter) (Yahoo! News) (Reuters)
- CNET challenges Facebook dropout rates (pointing out the numbers were based on university and high-school affiliations, not actual members. Also Nieman Journalism Lab reviews And Then There's This, and offers an interesting take on some of the book's arguments about viral culture)
- The Uniform Project (check out this very rad idea -- styling one dress countless ways over the course of a year -- from a twentysomething on a mission to raise funds for uniforms and other educational expenses for children in the slums in India. Also a teen feminist launches the blog fbomb) (via I Heart Daily)
- Interracial roommates (social scientists take a look at the effects of these random pairings on campus) (New York Times, reg. required)
- The trouble with self-service checkout and minors (leads some community groups to rally for supermarkets to route all alcohol purchases through cashiers. Plus a government initiative to curb teen pregnancy in Britain may have had the opposite effect) (Los Angeles Times) (The Guardian)
Posted in: Ypulse Essentials Will Teens Pay For Anything? [Yes!] Posted by anastasia This Friday I will be speaking on a panel moderated by our friend Guy Kawasaki riffing off the debate around "free" and whether anyone will pay for anything [I'm pretty sure the implication is online]. I will focus on the Ypulse demo -- tweens, teens and early twentysomethings -- but can also speak from my experience in monetizing Ypulse. I would love to [warning: buzzword ahead] "crowdsource" some additional thoughts/ideas from Ypulse readers about this topic that I can bring with me as well.
To get teens and tweens to spend online...you have to get to their parents. With tweens you have to get to parents directly. With teens, it can be more indirect. But in both cases parents still control the purse strings or the credit card. Yes, there are companies in this space attempting to make the teen buying experience more direct like Bill My Parents and rixty, but the reality is that most teens will still have to go ask mom or dad for a credit card to purchase something online. Any company that doesn't acknowledge the need for some kind of parental consent can get into trouble like a few mobile companies did back in 2005 when teens could just add ringtones and other paid services to their accounts without permission.
So...what won't they pay for?
The challenge with teens or anyone online is that once you've become used to getting certain content online for free, asking users to pay for that same content is a fairly Herculean task. Take music for example. The "Napster" generation has grown up being able to access and share most music online for free. Parents who don't download themselves and attempt to teach kids that music is worth paying for combined with the threat of being sued by the RIAA may have moved some young people to pay for digital music, but the numbers still aren't good (NPD Group: CD purchasing declined 26 percent and paid digital downloads fell 13 percent compared with the prior year). This definitely applies to video and most written content as well (newspapers, magazines and books) with the exception of college textbooks. Buying clothing online is a challenge for teens because it tends to usurp the social experience of going to the mall with a group of friends (never mind the sizing issues).
What will they pay for?
We just posted a study from WeeWord yesterday confirming that teens (and/or their parents) will pay for some virtual goods for their avatars or virtual spaces. We know parents of tweens will pay for ad-free environments like Club Penguin. Other nuggets from this study suggest that: "'anything fun' online is worth paying for (34 percent), followed by expressing themselves and their passions (22 percent), getting more access (13 percent), making them look good (13 percent), things that not everyone else can have (11 percent) or to send to friends (8 percent)." We know that dedicated gamers will pay to play certain games online or to buy stuff for their characters. I remember working with a teen Beatles fan who told me she would definitely pay for cool memorabilia online [things no one else can have]. And even though eBay is for users 18 and up, I know there are lots of teen [under 18] eBay entrepreneurs out there buying and selling on that site.
These are just my initial thoughts. I would love to hear yours -- feel free to disagree and add any links to studies I can cite in the comments. Posted in: Ypulse Essentials | Web Who Michael Jackson Was To Today's Teens Posted by meredith Today's Youth Advisory Board post is from Nina L. who shares her response to the wall-to-wall coverage of Michael Jackson's death. As always, you can communicate directly with any member of the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board by emailing them at youthadvisoryboard at ypulse.com…or just leave a comment below.
Who Michael Jackson Was To Today's Teens
 If you were to ask my little sisters (age 11) what they knew about Michael Jackson other than the fact that he's dead, their response would probably surprise you. Like most of my generation, to us Michael Jackson was something of a freak. He changed his skin color, rarely went out in public and when he did, MJ wore a mask or some sort of face covering.
We know Thriller from "13 going on 30," and may have heard Beat it, Billy Jean, or Bad on the radio or on an old CD, but to us Michael Jackson was a mystery. What caused this mega pop star to lead such a sheltered, yet disturbing life? To us he was in the same category as Marilyn Manson. Not in terms of music style, but just plain scary. All I ever heard on the news about him was stories like him holding baby "Blanket" over the rail of a four story balcony or his sexual abuse trial. I think people who were there when he was at his height were able to excuse or even ignore what he had become because of their fond memories of him, but his new image is all my generation was alive to see.
I was never exposed to the better part of Michael Jackson until after he died, when I watched numerous specials on TV including music videos, interviews, and photos. Even though in his death the darker side may live on with allegations of prescription drug abuse, I have been able to find a new respect for Michael Jackson, and what he once was, and I hope that the good side of his legacy is what will be remembered.
About Nina
 Nina is a freshman in high school in Washington state. She plays the flute in the school band. Even though she's not as writing inclined as the other board members, Nina is the youngest of the group and may share an opinion with a younger audience. Nina is very interested in fashion, new technology and teen culture. Having three and a half sisters (an exchange sister for the year) she knows a lot about how teenage girls interact with each other and their parents. Nina 's biggest love is music, either classical or contemporary, it doesn't matter. She cares about all of it. Posted in: Ypulse Essentials | Web | Music | Youth Advisory Board
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