Why Isn't Mainstream Gen Y Buying Into The New Web?

Hey Ryan – This is funny, ya know. For all of us that swear by this stuff, there are even more that have no idea it exists. I was talking to my buddy last night about his job hunt, he does medical sales, and yet he has never even heard of LinkedIn and doesn't have a FB profile. I think this leads to the fact that we still are too busy to get bogged down in playing on websites all day. This friend has his day job, night job, girlfriend, season tix to the Magic, etc and lives a very full life. He doesn't need social media b/c he is too busy being social.

And then I think you also made a great point when you said that these networks really aren't cool. For all the technology that I use, I had never used Skype till my call with Jun yesterday. I still can't create a WordPress database and haven't worked my setting on Facebook to change privacy settings.

And then you have the fact that if Oprah adopts something, its time has probably already passed to be cool to Gen-Y!

Ryan,
You read my mind. I am a recruiter and try to use every avenue to network and meet new people. However, I literally just joined Twitter yesterday. Yesterday! And I am a borderline GenY/GenXer – born in 1979. I got myself set up – started to connect to people, and found that there are hardly any millennials out there! I was just about to tweet – "where are you people?" and then I saw your post. Now I'm worried that I might be wasting my time tweeting for talent. I'll give this new technology a shot, but just like Friendster and Myspace, if it's not useful or at least fun, I'm done with it.

As for LinkedIn – though millennials are not using it now, they will. It is a wonderful platform for you to be found. I highly encourage everyone to take a look. Even if you have a stunted, under-developed resume, us 30 and 40-something hiring authorities are still looking for you out there and want to hire you! Outside of your college career fairs, I am crossing my fingers that you are using other resources other than the job boards to find new careers – and if you are, please let me know so I can meet you there.
Jennifer Burlingame – Accounting/Finance/Banking recruiter in CT.

Thanks for clearing up at least my preconception of who is on these services. I guess I assumed that the 20-30's were on Twitter because that's who I tend to network with and share information with.

I think it has much to do with the "digital natives" interpretation of age and computers. Basically, if you grow up with computers as the norm, they aren't interesting, they're just a tool that you can use in your life. That's why we have seen a decrease in CS degree enrollment. Computers aren't exciting and different, because they're everywhere. And who wants to be the same as everyone else?

As far as not jumping on the mainstream bandwagon, I can see that as a major factor resulting from youthful rebellion. Even now, I see that twitter has jumped the proverbial oprah shark, and while still valuable, the slew of automated tools make genuine connections rather difficult to shift out from the noise that permeates the service. This is kind of intimidating to newcomers, and old tweet hats are reluctant to leave their followers hanging.

I still feel that pang of geekery when I bring up Twitter to a new person, and they say "what?".

You have to remember that 18-24 year olds are not generally well financially endowed, and when you have food, rent, tuition and weed to pay for, you don't have the money for an iphone (the tweeter's weapon of choice). You are also packed with a full time school and social schedule, something most of us working slaves would kill for. Facebook sponsored these mouse pads in my school comp lab in the late 90's, I signed on then, poked around (before poking), left and never looked back, because I had other things to do.

Greg's friend above summizes it nicely, no time for social networks because he's too busy being social.

Which brings me to my final point. The rise of social networks is DIRECTLY tied to goofing off at work. You can look at the times for popular posts on Digg, and it rises sharply at 9am and drops precipituously at 5pm. The rise of social networking is not the cause of our crappy economy, rather, it is a symptom that our collective brilliance is being underutilized.

For example, this comment is probably the most productive thing I will accomplish all day, 9 hours of my life, gone away, in exchange for about $50. A couple tweets, and a blog comment.

People on social networks are older because they are at work, doing social networking.

@greg It really is amazing how little people know about this stuff. I would say that 75% of the people that I talk about Twitter with say, "Whats Twitter?" To me, Twitter is almost old news! So I end up explaining the value to people, but for the most part they just go on with their REAL lives offline. Also good point about Oprah, sure you may get all the stay at home moms using Twitter, but you're certainly not gonna get the "cool kids"

@Jennifer It's true there isn't a huge amount of peers on Twitter. That is good and bad. Its good to network with older folks, but there is something to be said about peer-to-peer conversation. As to Linkedin, I do think its a useful tool as an online resume and place to connect for experience people. But when youre young, they only real thing that can get you ahead (other than connections) are your ideas and how you communicate them to people. Linkedin doesn't let you showcase this side of yourself. Blogs do…

@Sean I love the point about us being digital natives and that meaning that computers just aren't that cool/fun/interesting. They are a compliment to life outside, not an alternative. That's what Facebook had going before, it was a place to bring offline online, but Twitter is really about living online…which seems a little strange. I also think its telling that even though the average Twitter age is much older, when I go to Tweet ups, they are predominately filled with Twentysomethings.

I think the real way to get Gen Y interested is to build something that promotes bringing online connections, offline.

Interesting post – as a decidedly "uncool" (whatever "cool" is) 40-something and avid Twitter user, I have to take issue with your notion that Twitter is somehow only for those people with no lives.

For me Twitter solved a problem I struggled with a long time. I own my own business and I blog – my blog is key to my business. My clients and readers rely on me to keep them up-to-date with the latest news and tools for job search, but with a busy life and a busy business, I found it almost impossible to keep up without just spending all my free time trying to keep up with my RSS feeds.

Twitter allows me to tune in to hundreds of experts in my field. If there's a new job search tool, I'll hear about it quickly. New website? I'm there. Interesting articles that my readers should see? I find tons of them every week on Twitter and all it takes is a quick ten minutes here and there to spot these things.

There is simply no real-life alternative that can do the same thing for me because the experts I'm following are all over the US – and even all over the world.

Prior to Twitter, I was falling behind in my knowledge. Now I learn 10 new things every day. Twitter hasn't replaced real life – it's given me back a huge chunk of my real life AND made me a better, more informed person.

But that's because, contrary to popular belief, Twitter isn't for narcissists – it's for people with a genuine interest in, and curiosity about, the world outside of themselves. Maybe that's why it doesn't appeal to mainstream Gen Y – when I was on my 20s, I was much more interested in myself than in other people. I doubt much has changed in the intervening 20 years

Yeah, I would have to agree that though Gen Y may be perceived as the early adopters, they're really not early adopters. A few of my friends were talking about Twitter the other day, not realizing a real live Twitterholic was in their midst, and they described it to each other as "that thing that all the celebrities are using, you know it's like a Facebook status update." Response: "oh, that sounds retarded." This is what the vast majority of young people still think about Twitter. I don't think we can say Gen Y is innovative, hip, or early-adopting. That has nothing to do with generations but more just in where people's interests lie. Most college kids don't care about professional networks or personal brands or communicating ideas, so there isn't a need for all these tools.

I also think a larger part of it is that because Gen Y has grown up with the internet, our parents have always, from day 1, been stressing the importance of being safe on the internet, avoiding online predators, etc- I've heard a million of those stories. My theory is that because that's all we heard growing up, Gen Y is used to using the internet/social media only to connect with their existing offline networks – not to connect with new people online, because that's what we've been told NOT to do our entire lives. So thus, what attracts people to twitter and blogs (new connections) makes no sense to Gen Y. Most of them still think the idea of connecting with people online is weird and creepy.

I think a lot of it has to do with what people are using these tools for. As you mentioned with LinkedIn, most Gen-Y's don't have a list of accomplishments that need to be outlined anywhere. Also, many Boomers see LinkedIn as their first real attempt at on-line networking. For many Gen-Y, it isn't providing any more value then they are already receiving in other places.

With Facebook, the older demographic is adopting at a fast pace, but the other side of that is they're the only group LEFT to come on. Anyone in Gen-Y who isn't already on Facebook isn't there for a reason, not for lack of awareness. I have friends who specifically don't want to have an on-line footprint (for numerous reasons).

With Twitter, I think you're seeing an older crowd get on for terms of business and marketing. I can't count how many random marketing and real estate people that have followed me for no reason, most of which I block. A younger crowd doesn't need a real-time connection with people, since they're usually already with them in class or on campus.

Why should mY generation sign up for all these different social networking sites when facebook is constantly evolving to capture the best components of social sites? The new facebook design is an obvious ploy to become more like twitter,and we're too busy facebooking to go through the trouble of building a new network. A social site is only as good as the other people on it, and Facebook has pretty much become the default network for friends.

I think you misrepresent the Facebook numbers a bit. While the under 35 crowd isn't the largest in terms of growth, it does constitute roughly 66% of all of Facebook's users. The growth percentages are horribly misleading. The older demographics grew in large part because there was so much room for growth.

In terms of raw numbers, the over 35 groups grew about 7 million users, while the under 35 groups grew by about 10 million. In the 18-24 demographic, Facebook has approximated 44% of the available U.S. population at that age range (estimated at 38 million). 44%! Name one one other online service that has such a commanding presence.

When placed against the overall population of the U.S. within demographic bounds, it makes the 35+ growth look almost anemic.

LinkedIn isn't marketed towards Gen Y, for just the reasons you noted. So, you're really just looking at Twitter and Facebook. Facebook is dominated by Gen Y and Twitter sits somewhere between 5 and 8 million users (exact numbers are hard to come by), most of which aren't as active as the Twitterati that we all follow. It's still a little early to be saying that Gen Y isn't adopting a service that is still in its infancy.

I don't mean to be rude, but it seems to me that the numbers kind of contradict your conclusion.

"55+ demographic grew more than 194% over the same time period"

As an early Boomer, the reason I got on Facebook was because my Gen Y daughter told me to.

I saw the possibilities and invited my 4 older siblings (in their 70s and 80s) to join. They did. We don't need to email as much, just post updates and photos, which are so much more accessible than emailing attachments. It's a way for my extended family on 3 continents to stay in touch easily.

My point is, without my Gen Y daughter telling me to, I would have never considered it. But, once introduced, the older generations jumped on. The reason why we Oldies like to use Facebook is because we want to stay in touch and it's so easy, and let's not forget "free" (the best word for Oldies without growing incomes).

And guess what? My daughter told me to join Twitter yesterday. That's how I saw your post, Ryan! FB and Twitter may not be cool as judged by Gen Y, but they sure are useful

What a great post and I couldn't agree more.

I have been on twitter for about 4 months now after originally being introduced to it at work. And, I just don't get it. I mean, I understand it's functionality and how to use it and I completely support the idea of using it for real time searches …but I just can't get into serious community building and conversation starting. It is too much to handle and you have to consistently monitor it.

Social Media takes a lot of effort and a lot of work. In an age where you are expected to graduate with a 3.5 or better with a few internships under your belt, I believe that Gen Y simply didn't have the time to jump on the bandwagon. Also, perhaps, we are committed to real world endeavors. Rather than tweeting, I would enjoying picking up the phone to call an old friend.

Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Etc. etc. all have great tools and can be used to expand socially in certain areas, but I entirely agree with Norcross who said "For many Gen-Y, it isn't providing any more value then they are already receiving in other places."

Also, you bring up a great point about the integration of online and offline worlds. Facebook used to be a way to bring the offline to the online and make managing your real life easier. One central place to share pictures so you weren't burning a bunch of cds, one place to send out invites to a party or form a study group. But, when you add that with staying active on upwards of 15 other large social media sites it just gets too much.

We grew up with computers. We use them nonstop at work. When I come home, I would rather do something than tweet about doing something.

I think the term early adopter doesn't apply to these sites anymore. Early adopter in social media is the first, what six months to a year?

I wish there was more research not just into who is on certain sites, but who is using them.

I guess that during the early adopter phase, the MAJORITY of people on all of these sites were Gen Y. But then things chagned, or people got bored and left, and now the tools and their utility continue to grow, but the early adopters are off to see what the next big thing will be. FriendFeed.

I think of Virb.com as a good example. When that debuted – what – over a year ago? It was all Gen Y, it was billed as the "cool people" MySpace, but it didn't build too much media attention, and it never really propelled out of the early adopter phase to hit the mainstream.

So yeah, Gen Y just doesn't want to stay anywhere for long…. and we don't want to waste time buying into the mainstream once it's actually gone mainstream. All of those influences are reflectected in these facts.

I agree with Norcross that the older generation have penetrated to the social media scene and also I agree as well, when the "adults" come by, party's over. The bigger issue is Gen Y should just embrace the changes and actually make a difference. We're in a small business boom period and their voice is open full-time, why not use that voice through social media and don't try to be lucky on the next best thing.

I'm in Gen Y and using all the social networking tools I can to find older people with experience and connections to share. I started trying to use a personal twitter account recently, and get my friends involved, but the just aren't interested.

I think Nikki said it right by pointing out that Facebook keeps us as connected as we need to be to our friends. Twitter helps me find NEW people, people who know about my interests, so really my personal account has morphed into a second account where I learn all of my non-accounting-related news, haha.

I wonder if part of it is also that the older generation saw the dot coms come and go, and saw how you could miss out by not getting involved early on. Maybe the younger generation cares more about following a fashion, and is waiting for Twitter to become less "geeky" sounding before they decide it has value for them. I have been using blogging in some form or another for years through livejournal, etc, but Facebook appealed to people who found blogging to be weird because "everyone" seems to be on it. It doesn't take much effort to start up a facebook account, and if you want to see invitations and photos you need one. Twitter and blogging takes work and a goal, in a way, to get really involved.

I too agree that LinkedIn is a more main-line application for 'suits', of which, I am one–on occasion. I also use Facebook, as someone said, mostly to keep in touch with friends and family. I blog, and have two sites–one professional and one is personal. And I Twitter–following people who have ideas and resources that interest me and are useful. My young, GenY friends I find on Facebook–and, quite frankly, I don't even look for them anywhere else. They are more physically active, busier with families building their businesses. Plus, they grew up with this stuff: they take it for granted and yawn when Oprah finally catches on.

Great post! I definitely think that only a select portion of Gen Y is actually into social media, and I'm one of them. But most of my friends don't think the idea of having a blog is that great, and they've definitely never used Twitter. Most people I know haven't used LinkedIn and don't really think online networking is that useful! Most of my friends use facebook, but they definitely try to put as little information on there rather than attempt to use it as another networking tool.

I think it's definitely not considered "cool" to be a social media geek. I do think it's something that the "online/tech geeks" think it's cool, but definitely not something that mainstream Gen Yers think is cool. It's a lot cooler to not reveal everything about yourself online, and it's "creepy" if people you don't know try to email you or add you on Facebook. The rules have changed, but most people really haven't bought into social media as a legitimate way to brand yourself, network, and learn. Most Gen Yers think it's still a waste of time.

Older people, perhaps, have more life experience. They know what works and what doesn't in terms of their careers. Perhaps they are using social media genuinely to network. Older people perhaps see the value of social media in terms of improving your chances of getting a job, just because they see that traditional methods haven't worked as well. Gen Y kids still don't understand why and how necessary social media is for career, because they haven't really had that much career/life experience yet to understand.

I'm lovin all these numbers! I'll add one more thing to the equation, from personal experience. When I signed up for twitter, I wasn't WOW'd because I'm a developer and already had a FB account. I knew what to expect. I got my father-in-law on FB 3 months ago and found 3 friends for him. Within a week he had about 80 friends and this is coming from a man that barely can use a computer. The point is that he was WOW'd. At the age of 65, this was never possible in his wildest dreams, so he had much more desire to explore. (He asked, "You mean I can chat with FB too?")

I think, for Gen-Y, technology has lost its wow factor more than lost its coolness. SEO, blogs, vlogs, FB, twitter, myspace. Once you've seen a couple, you've pretty much seen it all. The bar has been raised and it will take a lot more going forward to impress Gen-Y.

Hi Ryan,

I've got strong opinions on the world of social media. I hate Twitter, deleted my mySpace, am phasing out Facebook, and I was born in 1985. For one, I see Twitter as the fitting yet ultimate realization of my generation's inability to communicate. We are not the great communicators we wish to think we were. We are relayers of information written most likely by someone else. Yes we have very creative content generators and we are the cool-seekers. But when those go viral, it isn't about the creator anymore, it is about who found it first and who sent it around the fastest.

Moreover, like you said, I peaked in college with Facebook — it came out my freshman year I think. It was cool then – leading edge even, simple, no frills, less complex than mySpace. It was a fun thing to do back then and it was a method of apathetic communication, which my generation seems to have mastered. Nowadays GenXer's are trying to add meaning to something that was never intended to have meaning. Facebook staff can say what they like about how it builds an online community, I'm not buying that. With all the new applications, things you can become a fan of, your aunts and uncles being able to view your drunken escapades, it just feels like GenXer's have, again, a way to keep looking over our shoulders. Frankly, that irritates me — the whole point of going to college away from my parents was to keep them from looking over my shoulders. LinkedIn is useful, if you're in a sales oriented vocation or are in the market for a new job. But I view it as an online resume, not as a community. It's a monster.com with some bells and whistles made to look more simple.

It's also a self-propagating culture. People find that they can easily attain a voice online and build a following, but unless you are blogging your creative writing, you are most likely only relaying something someone else has already done. Perez Hilton — couldn't exist without celebrity gossip (a whole other can of worms). Miss Info — her name literally is shorthand for misinformation — but she's popular, she's built a following. Both of them have. Do they deserve it? I have my opinions on that but think they're irrelevant to the discussion.

In short, we are bored with it all. We are bored with the recycling of ideas. We are bored with the strategizing, the positioning, and the fact that older generations have told us not to do exactly what social media was set up to do – host pictures, say dumb things to friends, and more importantly hide what we didn't want seen by the people who were always looking over our shoulders. And now they can be our "friends" — not so much for me.

Cheers though,
Dylan

@Dylan, thats an interesting viewpoint coming from a 24 yr old.

I've also seen first hand where many of my 21-25 yr old friends started friending/accepting friend requests of their parents/parents friends/boss on FB only to be "shocked" that they would find their drunken/slutty pics. lol. Come on. Doesn't everyone know that we all go straight for the pics first? lol. Then they have to do the whole unfriending thing. (There is only so many times you can pretend your account was hacked.) Cracks me up.

Maybe more and more GenYers will start thinking like you because the realization now is that we can and are ALL connected. Not like before where we said that, but really meant "all GenYers are connected". There's no escaping it. Well there is if you go and delete all your accounts.

-Chaalz

So this post talks about, but doesn't answer the question announced in the title. That's a let down.

What would be daring here would be to offer insight: What would be the "right tool" for Gen Y.

Several thoughts… though the general idea of technology is nothing new, the use and the functionality of it always will be. If it's useful, people will use it.

Also, Gen Y IS an early adopter…. at least when it comes to Facebook. In fact, regarding your Facebook stats, if you use that piece of info to interpret them it could be assumed that the growth is larger in the older age groups because if Gen Y was ever going to get on Facebook, they would have already done so by now. I mean, we've had access for, what, 5 years now?

With Twitter – I don't know but I think it's Facebook's influence again. I only have a few friends using Twitter and I think it's because they can do the same thing on Facebook, WITHOUT creating a new account or picking up a new habit. First to market advantage.

On LinkedIN – again, the usability part. When we need LinkedIN, we'll join. If we don't, we won't. We have other ways to connect. We don't need a newspaper article to tell us which technology is "so in" right now.

Face-to-face interaction will never disappear completely. Ultimately, it's going to come down to personality and preference on whether online trumps offline and which of the available resources are used, regardless of your age. Before long, "digital natives" will be a moot point and we'll be the old ones telling stories of what life was like before cell phones and the kids will all look at us funny.

PS I LOVE Louise's comment/story.

People age. 10 years ago it was the 20 somethings all over blogging, twitter, facebook, etc when no one was talking about it. Just as what was cool when my mom was 20 won't necessarily be cool when I'm 20, doesn't mean that life won't continue to cycle and mom's 20 coolness won't just cycle back to me when I'm 30 or 40 instead with some hip new twist.

I was at a networking dinner the other night with a bunch of young/midlife professionals (say late 20 through early 40) and a bunch of about to be grads (very early twenties). The mention of LinkedIn by the older group drew stone silence from the younger group but then again, so did the concept of networking. They were all over the old school web – I've put my resume on monster – kind of web. And who knows, I'm sure they've got their own new age underground "it thing" that I've no clue about. Aside from the "what's linked in" comment, the other bit I picked up was that on all but one of their "calling cards" (since they're not yet yoked to have business cards really), they had their name and their email address. No phone number to actually call.

I roll like that too (email or text me, you'll get a response much quicker than calling and leaving me a message), but I've never been brave enough to not include a phone number on contact info.

I will say that I did have one student with her iphone decline a business card and ask to be dubbed insted. THAT was great to see in the newest wave of earth consciousness and less little pieces of paper to lose.

Ryan,

I'll admit, I haven't read all 22 comments (though I'm thrilled to see that many), but my guess is I'm in agreement with them.

As I've been making my foray into entrepreneurship, I've been consulting with a lot of veteran independent contractors well within this older demographic – they all seem to be raving about how necessary it is to have a twitter/linkedin/etc presence. Thanks to you guys, I've had these accounts for years – before it was really cool – but haven't really used them, basically because I failed to see the return on time investment.

But these people swear by it, citing regular project referals, etc. So how are they doing it? Or is it simply, as you said, our lack of major accomplishments that makes the social networking playing field less than level?

@Charles Parsons

You're exactly right about the misleading growth figures. The growth rate for younger Facebookers is high because everyone's already on it. To look at growth rates and proclaim that Gen Y isn't flocking to Facebook is absolutely misleading. Technically, it's correct that they aren't currently flocking, but only because they've already flocked!

All that being said, I'm still surprised of the current Twitter demographic.

Hey Ryan,

Great article but I'm really not all that surprised. As many have mentioned Gen-Y is so used to social media that it isn't all that interesting anymore. It took me a while to get on FB and I did b/c I have a cousin in college in Buffalo that I wanted to keep up with and many of my Gen-Y coworkers are on it and they have way more interesting lives than mines. I was thrilled to see many of my HS friends and family there but I limit who I'm connected to and I don't really social mingle outside of who I know already. I would rather meet a new person in person and get to know their vibe offline.

As for twitter, I hate it! I have an account that I never use b/c I really don't see the relevance of it. I like posting my status on FB rather than twitter. LjnkedIn is okay if you're looking for someone to work for you but as a social networking tool its really great for follow-up and the occasional check in after a couple months of forgetting that you even know that person.

All in all I think the hype of social media is just that. Its great to share thoughts and voice your opinion and findings but life not in front of a computer screen will always be better.

Like Charles said, the numbers you've quoted actually contradict your point. For the record, I'm 24.

Sure, the fastest-growing segment on Facebook are people older than 30. That's because every single one of my friends is already on Facebook. When Facebook was only for colleges, we all created accounts. Now the floodgates have opened, but our particular demographic is already much closer to saturation. It's not like Gen Y is *leaving* Facebook. Now that would be a story.

LinkedIn is *supposed* to be older people. That's who it markets itself to. 18 year olds don't create an account there because they don't have any professional experience to put on their profiles yet! That doesn't mean Gen-Yers won't be creating accounts like crazy once they realize the importance of a business network (give them five or ten years).

And Twitter? Twitter is a distributed model. You can get it from a million different places. You don't have to visit "twitter.com" to use your account. Most people my age use their cell phones, or an iPhone app, or a desktop client … few use the actual twitter web interface. Saying Gen Y isn't on twitter because Comscore says so is like saying Gen Y doesn't watch TV anymore (because we all use hulu.com or something similar to time-shift our viewing).

I just don't buy it. I think the real story is not that Gen Y isn't "clicking" with social media. I think the story is that Gen Y is actually having a strong influence on Xers and even older, driving social media into the truly mainstream market.

Time magazine ran a cutsie piece several weeks ago about why Facebook is for the older generation, and one of the items in their list — though fairly trite-sounding — I think has some real applicability. They commented that the older generation has lost track of more people over their lifetime, and therefore finds more value in tracking down old friends on Facebook.

Those of us who are married, have kids, have more than a decade's worth of career experience at different companies, and who have moved around (sometimes all over the world, if not at least the country) find a value to things like Facebook that a 20-something may not yet have much use for: a way to keep in touch with the people in our lives that we no longer have the opportunity to see.

The passage of time, by its very nature, means that the older you get, the more people you have that fall into that category. And when you listen to how older generations of people use Facebook, one of the things you hear most often is, "You'll never believe who I found on Facebook!" Followed closely by a litany of other people, and how long it'd been since they'd seen each other in person.

I don't think that LinkedIn is a strange example, either, because until you're actively (even aggressively) managing your career, how much real value does LinkedIn have? Especially if you are already employed, and not expressly thinking about your next job.

Twitter is another thing that can be hard for some people to find a lot of value in at all; but if you aren't sitting at a computer all day, it's even harder. Millenials who aren't staring at a computer screen all day and who use their phones/handhelds are unlikely to use Twitter as much because in order for Twitter to scale very well, you need third party apps (like TweetDeck) to help keep it manageable — and the mobile versions of the apps aren't as robust.

More than anything else, though, I think is the novelty issue. For Gen Y there is no novelty to a lot of this, because they grew up with it. For those of us who are older, we remember a time when moving across the country from your friends and family meant feeling totally cut off from them, their lives and the common experiences you shared. Email and cell phones couldn't really bridge that gap. Social networking helps with things like that more than we ever could have imagined 10 years ago. I think Gen Y just has different experiences and expectations, because there is no real novelty to any of this for them.

As someone who sat on a plane, flying across country, leaving my friends, family and home to take a new job in a new city 3000 miles away, I would never have dreamed of a way to stay idly in touch with the people I care about at home while building my new life on the other side of the continent. So for me, there will always be a before-and-after view of Web 2.0 that Gen Y will never really have. That may make me value it more.

As for twitter, I have a hard time selling my friends on it. There are some people who are receptive, but most aren't because it's just too much trouble for them to keep up with it. I admit I too have a hard time keeping up sometimes so I can't really argue.

My main argument against it from the beginning and to this day is that from Twitter's inception it has been dominated by marketers. People selling this or that but most of all themselves. It is tiring to continuously see people racing to link to the latest article, to RT the same people over and over or to build their "SEO Business" (with no relevant content other than how to become an SEO Marketer…yuck). I can't claim I have been immune to promoting myself, but for the amount I post on Twitter I just assume that I'm lost in all the noise of others posting 15 times/hour. I think Gen Y dislikes being sold to and I think we have a genuine ability to sniff out disingenuous salespeople (those trying to sell us stuff that isn't useful) and avoid it. Like @Dylan said, corporate positioning and those out to make money are easy to spot and when companies (FB, twitter) go down that route, it's easier to walk away from the services they offer. I'll be interested to see what happens when Twitter starts charging for their services; makes me wonder if the Gen Y people that are there will walk away.

~Chris Gammell

What I kept thinking throughout this whole article is that there are no statistics here about how many Gen Yers are already on these sites. It gives statistics about the number of NEW users, but not percentages of users who are already there, except in the Twitter section. Maybe the percentages of new Gen Y users to Facebook is smaller because there are already so many of them on there. Of course the older age groups are growing faster, because this is just now when they're starting to use sites like Twitter and Facebook. Gen Y has been using them for years – we're either already on them, used to them and not as excited by them anymore, or have tried and left them because they got boring. I speak as a Gen Y person (I'm 25) who has an account on Twitter, Facebook AND LinkedIn. I actually just started using Twitter, so I'm part of the apparently smaller group of Gen Y users on there. The parts about LinkedIn are true–it's not very useful for someone like me, at this stage in my career.

Another reason I can think of why Twitter is not growing among people in my age group as fast is because Facebook already pretty much does the same thing, and it's been doing it longer, and we're already using it for that. We have been loyal Facebook users for years by now. Why do we need two websites that do the same thing?

I think the first commenter on here makes a good point – some people are just plain busy. Among my friends, at this stage in our lives (most of us out of college, or thinking about grad school, some of us getting married, navigating more demanding jobs), spending a lot of time online or playing with new technology is not something we have time for anymore. These things have been around for a few years now (Facebook, MySpace, etc) – the "new toy" sheen has worn off and we're realizing we need to spend more time offline, participating in real life.

Maybe, just maybe Gen Y are too busy in the real world !

I don't know if it's just me, but I burnt myself out on social media back in 2001. Seriously. I was 19, and burnt out on chatting, IM'ing, friending, and all that crap. I went out and got a job (two, actually, then married, and had two kids). The only reason I'm getting back into it is because… well… it's mainstream. And as a Web Designer/Developer it's a core competency for the job as I introduce these things to clients.

I agree with other commenters who say you don't answer the question posed by the title. Will there be a follow-up post?

Also, if the Gen Y contingent isn't on these sites (which, as the numbers show, they may actually be), what tools are they using?

Hi Ryan,

I liked this post and found it refreshing. I was worrying a bit that Gen Y was too concerned with all this personal branding hoopla and not as concerned with building a solid reputation. Well done.

Hi Ryan

Re the current research "…The 35 to 54 Year old demographic grew at a rate of 276% over the last six months and the 55+ demographic grew more than 194% over the same time period, while 18-24 year olds only grew 20%…"

What the research indicates is "the majority" on the bell curve. There's no way we're looking at the early adopters here. Early adpoters were joining facebook early 2007

I'm Gen Y. joined facebook April 2007 was obessed for a month or two, think the facelift was implemented to draw the majority rather than cater to existing users (I still don't like it) I'm not at all surprised that the GenY growth figure is so low, The majority of every fellow GenY I know, is already FB and has been on there for what now seems like ever. N

Nowday I rarely used FB anymore, the novelty has worn off.

College kids use facebook because they've had it since highschool and now need it. Older Gen Y's use it because all of our friends are on it and its easy to use. As for Twitter college kids don't have time for it, and linked in they don't need, yet. Still, some of us have bebo, others buzznet. But the truth is..

- The majority are already on facebook!
- Actually 10% of the (total) fb active users are 18-25 yo and live in the USA
- http://tinyurl.com/d6qtor

The recent 176% increase among 45-65+, is a sign of the medium beginning to reach it's critical mass. The 6.8% growth in the 18-25 group are really those who are either late to the party or new to the party..

Gen Y has already bought into the web, hell- we helped create it. The "New Web" is simply old folks and laggards beginning to wrap their hard heads around something they thought would only last as long as the betamax or 8-track.

The upshot here, is that by the time Gen Y gets older you'll have plenty of new tools, tricks and trades to learn.. But really the goal is that we all (hopefully) will be playing together with some pretty cool shit.. Look at it this way, once everyone (all age groups) are on board (with the web, social media, mobile, etc..) – you will use what works the best for you, to do what you need to do.

Gen Y seems to not be interested because they are already deeply engaged, and in a much different way in high school, than in college, than in the place after college (purgatory), than in the beginning of a career, than at the age of 30 or anytime after.

I'm 23- maybe a little old within the Gen Y window. I'm on FB and LinkedIn (only as of recently), but I also have the resume and industry connections to back up that new profile.

I think what's happening is this: my fellow Gen Y'ers and I are looking around the world and seeing digital media everywhere. We watch TV on our computers. Gmail targets very specific ads at us. We can find out incredibly personal information about our friends and lovers without their knowing.

It's creepy and we know it.

Many of us are making the connection that high depression rates, complete confusion about our roles in the world, and a feeling of disconnection from our peers (despite all of this rampant networking) is somehow amplified by the omni-presence of social networking sites. Each of these sites is a completely self-conscious reflection of oneself; a wise FB'er tries to be upbeat and kind of cool.

There's something incredibly disconnected about using FB every day (which I do, almost neurotically, the same way I check Gmail every ten minutes). In fact, I recently found out that a family member had a panic attack via FB update. It showed up in the "feed." I also get updates from an old friend who joined a (debatable) cult. Rather than asking for help or calling a friend, I think that many Gen Y'ers (and younger) now turn to their computers for moral support. Rather than picking up a phone or knocking on a neighbor's door, they're sending out smoke signals into the digital mire. This has turned off a lot of us, and sent us hiking in the other direction, towards real people.

To Renee:
I don't think that 2007 would count as being an "early adopter" of facebook. When I started college in 2005, it felt like almost everyone was already on it. I had heard about it the year before from my sister who started college 2 years before me.

To Kate:
I agree with your comments about how these sites are creepy and we know it. I wonder if a generation will come after us who doesn't find it creepy to have so much information about new friends and near-strangers at their finger tips.

I have to disagree with your the reasons presented in your article as to why Gen Y isnt buying into the new web. I think it has more to do with the sites becoming less useful and more "cool" than your articles perspective that the sites are becoming more useful and less cool.

When in high school, I joined myspace as a method to keep in touch with my friends and see what they were doing, to me, it was a useful way to keep in touch and up-to-date with my friends. When I graduated in 2005 it was when myspace went into its cool phase and saw an explosion of growth. That growth brought with it more spam, more people friending and all that it entails. It was no longer a way to keep track and in touch with friends, it lost its utility by expanding to a larger market so I switched to facebook in college.

Facebook went the same way as myspace. What started off as a low key way to keep in touch exploded into a place full of useless applications and friend requests and updates from people you dont really care about what they are doing or shamelessly plugging this week.

As for twitter? Im still trying to figure out the utility of telling the world what I am doing in 140 characters or less…. Who really cares? What use does it have for me to update it? Absolutely none, its useless.

Hi Ryan!

Interesting post. I'll be sending out a tweet about it

And many of the responses people have shared provide valuable insights. But I think "time" has a lot to do with this. Many people, of all ages, jump on the latest social networking sites and then don't have the time to remain a part of the communities.

I'm 45 and have a presence on FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn. Plus, I maintain an active blog. All of this takes time. And, for me, I use social networking for business, not personal use. If I did jump on these trends simply for personal use, I probably would have let them "die" a long time ago due to not enough hours in a day.

I think that as Gen Y gets older, thus moving more of them into the career chapter of their lives, and/or into owning their own businesses, the number of Gen Y being involved in social networks will grow. But if you're 19 or 20, and still in college, being active in a variety of social networks, "just to be there", is time consuming.

But I find all of the social networks I'm active in to be extremely valuable for making new business contacts, attracting media inquiries for interviews, attracting clients, helping other people by providing advice or referrals to others who can assist them, etc.

Bye for now!
Lisa

I think it's because gen x have kids and full time jobs and don't hang out in person, it's a vicarious way to pretend to be being friends with people and to Network (so as not to feel guilty about not networking in person) in other words we have no life outside the house

however gen y still gets out, they are still trying to shack up with someone and thus why waste time with virtual people they already kinda know but don't want to date

[...] of great ideas for what we are building for the community. And we are obsessed with the news that Gen Y is not using social media at as high a rate as Gen X [...]

[...] Gen Y doesn't need to. They never lost their connections because they've been online since they were ten. They do not need to meet more people online to expand their network because they are native networkers – they have had the tools and the predisposition to use them since before Gen X even knew what Facebook was. [...]