Great article in the Washington Post today:

The Boomers Had Their Day. Make Way for the Millennials

Would you like to know how our business and corporate landscape will be shifting in the next 5-10 years as young talent (Gen X and Gen Y) moves into the workforce and into key leadership positions? If so, you don’t want to miss this call with Margaret Regan, Founder of the FutureWork Institute , shares her insights from a gobal study her company is conducting on workforce trends, diversity, talent shortages and generational values. Led by Y-Talk host, Bea Fields  and Guest Co-Hosts Beth Bloomfield and Carol Graser of Next Gen Leaders.

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We have been talking about Gen Y’s affinity for Action Sports.

So, Adrenalina is a company providing  a destination catering to extreme sports enthusiasts of all kinds…latest opening in the Miami International Mall.

Get the full article here.

Gen Y LOVES an experience, and they are big on action sports, so check out what Adrenalina is up to.  From what I am hearing, these shops are not only great for Gen Y but all generations.  Fun!

 Almost 25% of Americans are getting their info on this exciting Presidential election online — On the Internet. Two key points here: 1) It is an exciting election because god knows who is going to be the Republican and Democratic parties nominee and 2) the percentage of people going online for info is probably higher for Gen Y than the rest of the population (well, we all know it is higher, right). So this is really forcing the candidates to think about “CHANGE” — and change how they have campaigned and communicated with voters. They can not longer do it the old way. I doubt many Gen Yers are waking up early Sunday am to watch Meet The Press. And why should they. Why should I for that matter. I can just watch it later on when I do my evening stroll across the Internet. Each candidate has to think about the following to reach Gen Y:

1. What Internet websites should I use to share my views
2. How do I engage in real discussions with real YOUNG people online
3. Should I use video, audio or text
4. Should I do it real time or not
5. How do I change the way I speak for an online audience
6. How do I condense my message(s) into digestible sound bites
7. How do I monitor what my candidates are doing
8. How do I know who is linking to their websites and who is linking to mine
9. What are the real questions people are asking.. it is not enough to say they are concerned about the economy
10. How do I use social networking platforms like Facebook and Myspace..
11. ..etc.

 And I have just gotten started here. I am sure you can provide some more questions for the candidates. More questions and advice on how to leverage the Web.
 

Stanford students are skipping class and developing Facebook apps…. and as a result are generating some $$ to pay for the tuition. See the story This is an interesting story because a Stanford teacher asked his students to break into small groups and create Facebook apps. And one of the winning groups dropped out of school and decided to start their own company, demonstrating true entrepreneurial spirit

Stanford students are skipping class and developing Facebook apps…. and as a result are generating some $$ to pay for the tuition.

See the story

This is an interesting story because a Stanford teacher asked his students to break into small groups and create Facebook apps. And one of the winning groups dropped out of school and decided to start their own company, demonstrating true entrepreneurial spirit

As we have been predicting, Generation Y voters (under the age of 30) turned out in droves in Iowa on Thursday Jan. 3 at the Iowa Caucus.  According to the nonpartisan Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, the voters under age 30 who cast their ballot in Iowa tripled, and many political analysts are saying that this young vote is why Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee won on Thursday.

Obama and Huckabee have both made a very solid effort to reach out to Gen Y.  Huckabee took 37 percent of the younger votes and Obama…a staggering 57%.  As you may know, Obama announced his candidacy on You Tube before making his announcement on live television.  He knows that younger voters use You Tube more often than television, so of course, to capture their attention early and on the first major move using their form of technology was a check mate in my opinion.

I want to talk for just a few minutes about Barack Obama.  I want to state upfront that I am a Moderate, and I am extremely impressed with Obama’s campaign.  From my perspective, his campaign will be one that we  will definitely read about  in history books, and I want to shed light on why I think Obama is appealing to Generation Y and why I think he won in Iowa (of course, only  two candidates in American history who won in Iowa actually won the election…George Herbert Walker Bush  and Jimmy Carter). 

1.  He is embracing technology as a way to reach this growing demographic of voters.

2.  Obama is a younger “outsider” who is promising to bring about radical change.

3.  Obama represents the diversity “melting pot” of our society.  Gen Y is very attracted to diversity, and people who embrace tolerance, and Obama is a walking example of it.

4.  Last summer, Obama chose to skip an AARP event (for which he took some heat) in order to attend a hip-hop event starring Usher (he knows where to go and how to connect with Gen Y).

5.  Obama has a strong presence on college campuses (he has built campaign centers on college campuses to build a grassroots connection).

6.  Obama has a strong presence on Facebook (there are more than 500 groups on Facebook supporting Obama) and over 200,000 friends on MySpace.  He is also present on Flickr, Black Planet, You Tube and Linked In.

7.  Obama actually knocked on the doors of voters under 30, introduced himself, and asked for them to get out and vote (this is quite rare in these days).  His grassroots approach is really amazing.

8.  His website is great…getting younger voters involved: http://www.barackobama.com/index.php.  I signed up for the mailing list just to watch this in action, and the e-mails are really exciting and informative.  You can also visit his online social networking sites on the right sidebar.

So, if you have not learned yet how to reach adults ages 18-30, just watch Obama’s campaign for the next 10 months.  While he is just not going for Gen Y voters, he is doing everything he can to reach them AND get the 72 million of them out to vote.  I heard on CNN last night that Hillary Clinton is changing her approach, going for the younger female voter. I then read this morning in the Associated Press quoting a political professor at Iowa State University, Diane Bystrom, that “the lesson (in Iowa) may be generational. ‘Young women don’t have the same take on Clinton that I do.  They look at Clinton as their grandmother”.

Time will tell what will happen indeed.  My hunch is that if Obama wins the Democratic election, he will do everything he can to get college students voting by absentee and of course to make sure they get out and vote on election day.  He will also be using his online social networks to keep his name in front of people daily (I know he is in front of my eyes daily…and as I said, I am a Moderate…and this man is giving me lots of reasons to consider him as our next President).

Mitosis means the replication of and the division of a cell’s nucleus. These day — the usage of cell phones is multiplying rapidly.

Today  38 % of US consumers are watching shows online, 36% use their cell phones as an entertainment device, and 45% are creating web content. At least that’s what a new suvey from Deloitte Touche is telling us. The big news is that the % using cell phones increased 50% since last year.

About 63% of millenials are using their cell phones as entertainment devices. A number that is also up 50% since last year. 20% said they are watching video on their phone. (Man, their eye(s) sight must be good.)

Implications: Gen Yers will expect to use these tools at work, and in some situations/companies, they will expect their co-workers and managers to interact with them real - time using a cell phone.

To learn more, click here. for a podcast about Gen Y and rapid increase of cell phone and internet technology usage

I met with a friend of mine today who is a HR guy at a major Fortune 100 company and he told me that his company is considering a plan to block its employees from using Facebook or Myspace at work. At first, I thought I misheard him. And then he continued by telling me that a recent survey of over 200 companies showed that 50% of businesses currently restrict employee web surfing with automated web filtering systems and that that most businesses expect this number to grow in 2008. Why are they doing this? Publicly, they say that they are worried about viruses, etc. But privately, they will admit that they are worried about their employees’ productivity. They also worry about their liability if an employees does something illegal from work. Man — what are these guys thinking? Talk about frustrating their employees and cutting 0ff their lifeline to new technologies — cutting off Gen Yers and others from the outside world. And what about the trust issue. I remember once sitting in a conference room with Intuit’s CEO, Steve Bennett, when someone asked him why would we ever want our employees posting on the web. His response was ‘hey, why would we hire someone we didn’t trust. Of course, we are going to trust them.’ Limiting someones web access at work is old school. Next thing you know, they will be having metal detectors at the front door and confiscating Blackberry’s, iPhones, and Palm Pilots. With any of those devices, I could go into an office (where no one can look over my shoulder or monitor my PC movements), log on to FaceBook and poke someone.

Great report on why Google is so attractive to young recruits:

Grab the report here by the Great Place to Work Institute