Mele’s Musings

Gen Y Is Setting the Tech Agenda

Digital natives just think in digital.

Picture: blog.sitemost.com.au

Article excerpt:   With tech “embedded into everything Gen Yers do,” the twenty-somethings are leading the way. But companies are having a hard time keeping up . Companies are having trouble keeping up with Generation Y consumers who are now setting the technology agenda.  Generation Y consists of 18- to 28-year-olds who are leading the way in technology adoption with nine out of 10 owning a PC and 82 per cent a mobile phone.  Generation Y is also the most internet-savvy group, spending more time online than they do watching television, with 42 per cent watching online video at least once per month.  Meanwhile 72 per cent of Generation Y mobile phone users send or receive SMS messages.  Charles Golvin, principal analyst at Forrester Research said Generation Y is the audience companies are most struggling to understand—a key issue due to their importance for future revenue growth.  The older Generation X (aged 29 to 42) also use technology extensively but more when it “intersects with a personal need or fulfils a desire”.  Golvin said the key distinction between Generation X and Y is that Generation X uses technology when it supports a “lifestyle need” whereas tech is “embedded into everything Gen Yers do” making them the first “native online population”.  During the past three months, 69 per cent of Generation Xers have shopped online and 65 per cent used online banking—more than any other group.
The rest: businessweek.com

Musing:  The biggest insight about Gen Y consumers is that they simply expect technology and connectivity to be a part of their life and their experiences.  My colleague Jeremy Lockhorn uses the term “the invisible web” and I think this is a good description for the difference between Gen Y and my generation Gen X.  The invisible web simply means that the web is everywhere, and is assumed or rather taken for granted.  When you are someplace and you don’t have access or connectivity, or if your technology breaks down, you have a sense for what this means even more.  Older generations still look at technology as fulfilling a specific need, while younger generations just assume its existence.  This has huge implications for how we market to the younger generations, and what kinds of products and services we create.