Generation M and the big ‘Social Media Revolution’

Hi everyone!

It took a little time before I had decided what to write about in my new blog post, finally here it is! This and the next post will be about ‘Generation M’. This new generation between 8 and 18 years old is highly influenced in a lot of ways by the growth of social- and new media. This target group interests me because of a project I do with a group of students about designing a suitable interface for children. This post contains a little background information.

The video above is about the ‘Social Media Revolution’ illustrates what changes our media landscape has experienced in the past years and how fast development follow eachother. A very informative and impressive video!

The use of social media and internet among young people grows with the year. An American research centre published the following figures about teenagers using new media. 58% of 12‐year olds owns a cell phone, up from just 18% in 2004. 73% of the American teenagers that use the internet use social network sites. An increase of 18% compared to November 2006. 63% of the teenage internet users go online every day, 36% of them several times a day. Read more figures in the  research report: Social Media & Mobile Internet Use Among Teens and Young Adults. 

Also marketeers find new ways to reach children through social media. A good example is the Facebook campaign from cookie brand Oreo. Their goal is to set a world record of Facebook likes. I wonder if they are going to reach their goal…

In the next post I will tell more about the consequences of all these developments.

bye!