Aggregation and Segregation

The ‘Morgan Stanley report‘, compiled by their 15 year old intern- on how teens (UK ) consume media- released a few days ago, got less than an enthusiastic response on the web, in spite of (or because?) their introduction stating that they don’t ‘claim representation or statistical accuracy’.

While newspapers and radio find least favour with the teen crowd, with TV interest waning (except for spikes – sports/ specific shows), even the star on the horizon – Twitter is not spared their inattention, but Facebook, YouTube, and even Google are mentioned as regularly used services. Mobiles are used for talking and texting, and sharing files via bluetooth. (via RWW and TechCrunch) The report is based on anecdotal evidence (not statistical), so its no surprise that its been ripped on many sites. As TC mentions, probably the idea was only to spark off a debate, and not to showcase it as conclusive insights. It still shows how there is clearly not much data available on this age group, so anything goes.

But I do remember a research published by Nielsen sometime back on how teens use media (US). According to that report, TV usage has gone up in this age group, teens spend less than half the time adults do on the internet, a quarter of them read a newspaper and texting is huge. In both reports, the relative unimportance of the internet is a revelation, especially when it is seen by many as THE medium that’s popular in this age group. As per a 16 year old’s post on TC, (this is anecdotal too ๐Ÿ™‚ ) the other point to note is that the walled garden nature of Facebook is actually seen in positive light by this group. Twitter’s relative openness means that they have lesser control on who sees their status updates. The other factor is that they don’t want to waste money texting messages to Twitter, when they’d rather text their specific friends.

So there are similarities within the age group and there are differences too. This is not the first ‘generation’ study out there. I remember reading at least a couple of comparative studies on how different generations use the net, or technology per se, and there again were trends. There were also quite a few articles on Gen Y (those born between 1980 – 95) – their top social networks (take a look, you’ll find very interesting sites, which you might not have heard about before) , how marketers goof up when targeting them, and a favourite post (and video – The Lost Generation. yes i know it is inspired ๐Ÿ˜ ) of mine that talks about the motivations of different generations.

Trendwatching had the concept of Generation G ( G for generosity), with the trend drivers of recession and consumer disgust, longing for institutions that care, and giving being the new taking, and sharing being the new giving. It also gives ways in which corporates can join this generation, and talks about joining being a fundamental requirement if they wanted to stay relevant to this generation.

The Morgan Stanley report and the backlash that followed made me wonder as to how, even as we admit that there is indeed media fragmentation and user fragmentation, realise that a ‘one size fits all’ approach will not work, and that digital media gives users so much of content that there is choices galore and something for every niche, we still try to figure out broad patterns to carry out segmentation, and create some structure around all the crowds that inhabit all the spaces – real and virtual. We even call it social media so that we can put it under one umbrella and make a single plan for all the sites that come under it. Is it because marketers are afraid that dealing with an unstructured audience means fresher, better ideas all the while, without easy ways of targeting, without ready made templates and without real knowledge of how it will all end up?

I also wonder whether this is a transition phase when new media are evolving, along with new communication protocols, or is this the way it is going to be from now on – a thoroughly fragmented audience which cannot be fitted into any stereotype – not even as Gen Y Facebook users? As the costs of distribution become lower thanks to multiple platforms/channels with fewer audiences and reversals of content demand-supply chains, will the spend actually be on the creation of multiple kinds of communication that will be designed with a tiny audience in mind, and the content creators could be anyone – a brand manager/ creative agency/ consumer or a combination, and the activities of a brand are as unstructured as the real time arena it operates in? Do you think it would ever come to that, or is this just the chaos in between while we figure out new ways of sorting consumers for new forms of media?

until next time, agents of chaos ๐Ÿ™‚

PS. While on generations, read yet another great post from Umair Haque – the Generation M manifesto

3 Comments

  1. Let’s pause for a moment and take a deep breath. What did I use internet for when I first got my hands on it? (other than chatting and email) for downloading stuff, of course! For downloading music which wasn’t available in any music store and impossible to buy online (no credit card then). That’s what kids are doing now too. Only, now they have an option of listening to the same thing on streaming sites without having to download them, thanks to increasing bandwidth.
    Now about them not using twitter. Why would they use twitter? People use twitter to network or to sell (themselves aka brand/product) what are kids supposed to sell? If they have a personal blog with absolutely no ads they have no reason for using such a service. As far as newspapers go, I would have never read them either if not my school. It was compulsory for us to jot down top news item from all sections in a notebook and show it our class teacher (till 10th!). But by then it had become a habit.

  2. Some observations on the many issues you’ve touched upon:
    1. Leave Twitter aside;Facebook has actually seen a 20% DROP in US school and college-going teens! http://bit.ly/Nzztg.
    2. I’ve not seen a single comment on Indian twitter on Indian teen habits–in metro’s he is listening to radio, and reading the papers even if its Bombay Times & Mid-day. We need to ponder over why so much of our focus is on the US digital market-or in this case a London teen’s anecdotal writing?! (Talking of gen y networks-have you checked out a ning network called Kootam-80,000 Malayalee diaspora-fascinating)
    3. Social Media plans internationally are not one size fits all-although hypertargeted campaigns on the scale of Obama’s are rare.
    4. Media habits and content will morph with growth of mobile web and multiple devices. So more things to talk about:-)

  3. balu: the reason i wouldnt compare is because new services and new usage patterns are popping up all the while. and thats quite some generalisation about twitter, i’d say, there are so many uses that go beyond that.. again, the low interest on twitter seems more to be a cost problem and safety concern… i think we are still too much in a transition state to get a real insight…

    vijay: On FB, is it too early to figure a trend as far as usage goes? thats debatable, i guess ๐Ÿ™‚
    Can only answer for myself, since I haven’t seen any Indian report either.. by following a more mature market, i’m trying to note the trends, while acknowledging that they may or may not be be repeated here.. will check out the ning network (like i’ve mentioned before, my brushes with ning haven’t been very flattering, it is of course a function of what network i’m part of, but yet..)
    the broad point i was trying to make is on our segmentation patterns now and how (rather, if) they’d cope with such levels of fragmentation.

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