Comments on: What the Young People Say About Social Media

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By: Brenna

Brenna — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:15:07 +0000

I am 23 and just graduated. My current job now involves social media, I understand the benefits of sites such as Twitter; its a very resourceful tool and has great networking potential. However most of my friends do not participate in Twitter or understand the benefits. Many college students misinterpret Twitter as similar to ‘facebook feed’ and are turned off by the thought of people talking about their every move, which is not what it is about.

By: marcy larson

marcy larson — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:54:57 +0000

One more comment….
Twitter’s value as a marketing/communications tool is in creating/connecting with a very targeted community. It can be large (Lance Armstrong) or small depending on the issue/topic you are building your followers and those following you.
And it is truly is a vehicle where you have to use it to truly understand how it works an therefore understand its value.
I agree with the basic premise in prior posts…students are not in a position to need or see the value of Twitter. YET!
Marcy Larson VP Marketing, e7sports

By: Sara

Sara — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 20:11:53 +0000

Many people who use Twitter effectively use it to create relationships & get freelance work. As many have already alluded to, college students have very little use for this so I’m not shocked that they’re not using it.
I use Facebook, but I’m not going to get a new business contact on Facebook like I have over and over on Twitter.
Facebook is for the people you know. Twitter is for the people you WANT to know.

By: DM

DM — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 22:15:23 +0000

Not surprised that college kids can’t see the need for of Twitter. They have grown up in a “me” society where the web sites they want are based on promoting themselves (MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs).
Twitter doesn’t have a large section where you can put such “important” info as your fave TV show, rock band, or marriage status. You cannot buy a friend a drink on Twitter or play useless games.
Twitter is for making connections and getting a message out – about yourself or your business. I have used it to great success and made world wide connections. The youth today want more than 140 words to say what they want.
Just remember..just as MySpace has faded so will Facebook.

By: Alan Wolk

Alan Wolk — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:37:33 +0000

Twitter is (often) about connecting with strangers.
Facebook is about connecting with friends (or friends of friends.)
Young people aren’t all that interested in connecting with strangers and as other have mentioned, have more face time with their real world friends and often larger groups of real world friends.
Hence the lack of appeal of Twitter to them.
For now.

By: Janet Krenn

Janet Krenn — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:40:45 +0000

I’ve wondered about this myself. As a nearly-fresh-out-of-college person, my cohort was the first to experience Facebook, Friendster, and MySpace. I’ve been having a difficult time understanding the pull of Twitter.
Of course, I have a Twitter account, but only because the majority of my professional contacts prefer it. Maybe professionals and adults prefer Twitter because it is simple and self-explanatory. Whereas professionals and adults might have felt as if there was too much to learn to be effective on Facebook and MySpace, Twitter only has one application. To the younger gen, Face. and My. have the draw of being incredibly personalized and full of hidden secrets to explore. There probably hundreds of thousands of apps and Facebook clubs/groups you can poke through in your spare time. And because each “friend” has many different kinds of content on his page, its more compelling to sift through, believing you will find something interesting to comment on. Twitter, on the other hand, doesn’t offer much room for exploration. You only have one kind of content (tweets), and if you have nothing to “tweet” about today, there’s no sense signing in.
I can go on and on with why Twitter is not satisfying to me, and maybe some in my generation fall in line with that.
But I think the key point is: Twitter comes off as all business and over simplified with little ability to personalize the experience. I’m not surprised that it doesn’t strike a chord with the younger gen, as it was clearly not developed for them.

By: Renee

Renee — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:48:56 +0000

Very interesting post and comments. I’m over in Oz and a few weeks back when I was out for drinks with an old colleague, she told me “word is, Twitter is for young people and Facebook is for the older generation like us”. We’re 35. I had not heard of Twitter before then and having only used LinkedIn and Facebook I was intrigued. Having created an account and started to follow many Tweeters, I’m sorry I can’t see the real value in Tweeter. After reading this post and comments, I’m starting to wonder in Tweeter is just a platform for Marketers to push there PR online, or are we just desperate to jump on the bandwagon and see what we can make of it. I noticed one Aussie company using Tweeter as a medium to provide technical support/ customer service. Are we just clutching at the next new thing and hoping this will give us the momentum to push more marketing messages out there? But to who? Other marketers?
My experiment since has been to mention Twitter to as many of my friends (esp. those on FB) and gauge their reaction. For most, they’re telling me FB is more than enough. A few showed a keen (albeit perverse) interest, wanting to know how can they get out there and meet more people online. In any case, none had heard of Twitter (don’t forget this is the mid 20’s to early 40’s bracket).
My younger sister is 12 and tells me “not interested” and returns to her FB page.
BTW thank you for the post and the interesting comments, I have found this extremely valuable.
Renee

By: Shannon

Shannon — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:18:54 +0000

I am a 24 year old commerce/marketing graduate (finished my degree in December). I am now working at an interactive marketing company and (ironically) my position is social media marketer.
I understand why young people (students), don’t want to use twitter. I didn’t use it until a month ago when I started my job and was basically forced to use the tool and learn with it. I’ve talked to my friends (all of whom are still in University) and I’ve heard “what’s the point?” COUNTLESS times, and even said it myself when I first registered last September.
Here’s my perspective.
Within online “communities”, unless all your friends are there, it isn’t a community. It’s a playground with no one playing, a library with no one reading. It’s pointless. I had Facebook when it first was available only to colleges but only started really using it when my friends subscribed. People go where their friends go, and if twitter is being portrayed as a community or a place for status updates, they won’t use it.
I use twitter a little bit for the community aspect, but more for information dissemination. I try not to follow people that have only “status update” tweets. (ie- I’m getting a coffee. Yum!”)
I follow people who are experts in their field who provide information that I’m looking for, I follow people I know, and I follow people who have interesting tweets about various topics (which usually aren’t focussed on themselves). I use twitter as a news source and a medium to disperse information, links, and insights that I think are valuable to others. I still post my own musings and status updates, but I think it’s only for my own benefit, and maybe for people who are close to me and use twitter.
I think if twitter marketed itself for ALL of its uses, not just “what are you doing?” to students, you would have many more students learning and reading about different subjects, then subsequently building their community based on that.
Twitter is what you make of it. I think it’s an invaluable tool, but the “What are you doing?” question throws people off because they only see one way of using the tool. If they knew they could get updates and discounts on purchases (@JetBlue), find valuable links and articles (for fun or learning, @mashable) , for meeting other people (@krusk), for broadcasting themselves and for listening, I think students would see more value.
Long post, but I was a student until 2 months ago who found no value, and now I use it all the time. It’s my live newspaper.

By: David Onoue

David Onoue — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:46:08 +0000

Universities don’t teach their students how to use social media as a marketing platform because it’s too new. Sure Professors may tell their students about it but if students don’t see the value, and if their friends aren’t using it, it slips off the radar screen.
MySpace and Facebook went through what Twitter is going through with young people. People hesitated about creating an account and once all their friends had one they end up creating one to.
It’ll take a little more time before Twitter gains critical mass amongst the youth but it will happen.
Twitter is a powerful conversation tool!

By: Paul Chaney

Paul Chaney — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:41:50 +0000

Allen, I had the same experience to a communications class I spoke to at LSU recently. Everyone of them was on Facebook, none had even heard of Twitter. I was flabbergasted.

By: Mack Collier

Mack Collier — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:17:00 +0000

First, who is this ‘Matt Collier’ guy?
Second, I think Clay hit on the important point, it’s not about the tool, it’s about your network. I love Twitter because EVERYONE I know is there. It’s now gotten to the point where if I need to contact someone quickly, I will DM them before emailing them. My network is on Twitter.
Interestingly, I see Facebook as information overload. I am constantly bombarded with event/cause/status/poke notifications, many of which I have no interest in whatsoever.
But if EVERYONE I needed to contact on a daily basis was on Facebook, I would probably have a much better opinion of the site, and would probably use it daily, like I do Twitter now.
For several months after I joined Twitter, most of my friends were on Facebook or elsewhere. I didn’t see the big deal, and it seemed like a big fat ole waste of time.
Now I would be completely lost if I had to go a day without access to Twitter. Because that would also mean I would lose a day’s contact with my NETWORK.
As always, don’t focus on the tools, focus on the connections that the tool helps facilitate. Right now Twitter is facilitating those connections for me. If someone else is getting the same from Facebook or another social tool, that’s where they will be.

By: Dusan

Dusan — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:22:29 +0000

It is about a basic human need to socialize.
Young people have this need very well satisfied.
People that work 8-12 hours per day, are not satisfied on this need.

By: Sarah Fowler

Sarah Fowler — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:00:15 +0000

One of my friends, who is still in college, has a Twitter profile and just uses it to “listen” occasionally. She joined because I told her it will be really useful in her career (and she’s since been asked about it in interviews with insurance companies). There are still a lot of my friends (and quite a lot of B-school seniors) who have either never heard of Twitter or don’t understand how it’s any different than Facebook status updates.
Just goes to show you that maybe you shouldn’t hire a just-out-of-college kid to run your internet marketing based solely on their “with it” age… unless they *really* know how to reach your customers in the social media space!

By: Mariana

Mariana — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:48:47 +0000

Hi Mr. Weiss,
I also was at your lectures in my Marketing class at the university and was definitely not surprised by the response of my peers to Twitter. Since basically everyone uses Facebook as their main or only social networking site, I think what a lot of people my age feel is that Twitter is basically one large “Facebook status update” website.
In fact, my least favorite feature on Facebook is the status update – so I definitely find the idea of Twitter and micro blog updates unappealing.
I cannot say that this will always be the case, however, because it is definitely possible that one day my career or lifestyle will make me realize that a Twitter account is a necessity. On that day, I guess I will have to throw away my apprehension toward it and accept it.

By: Kim White

Kim White — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:28:27 +0000

I use twitter daily. I am old (at least by your definition). But for me, twitter isn’t about keeping in touch with my friends as much as keeping in touch with people. You’d be surprised how many sports people and movie stars use twitter. I like following what they have to say. I rarely post. My life isn’t that interesting… I also use it to find out what leaders in the marketing field are doing, in general and with twitter, to grow their business. Lots of businesses use twitter. Did you know Bill Gates has a twitter site? I have more important things to do than post pictures of myself at the latest party, or tell everyone how I’m feeling.

By: Kelly Washburn

Kelly Washburn — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:03:25 +0000

Twitter only came alive for me once I started accessing it on an iPhone, rather than sitting at my computer. My twenty-plus-year-younger brother and sister can’t afford a phone on which they can follow Twitter. Does that effect adoption and interest rates?

By: Kevin Horne

Kevin Horne — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:53:23 +0000

Asked my grad class of 40 students the same questions end of January – mix of MBA and MS, split evenly between full-time and part-timers, more than half marketing majors, ages ranging from probably 24 to 44.
I got a “zero-for-forty” on who uses Twitter.
Shocked, i decided to then ask how many have never heard of Twitter. Got four-for-forty on that one.

By: Colby Gergen

Colby Gergen — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:28:44 +0000

I tried to read through other comments, but I don’t have the time, so hopefully this is something that hasn’t been discussed.
I’m in the Journalism school at the University of Missouri, and Twitter is starting to trend here. One of the younger professors and New Media Director at the local tv station, KOMU (@jenleereeves) has been talking about it and even gave a great brown-bag presentation on Monday to J-students and professors on the uses of Twitter, both personally and professionally. I’ve head a lot through school (not in classes but in interaction) about uses of Twitter in the newsroom, but as far as business goes, I haven’t head anything. The majority of my friends in business know about Twitter, but have no understanding of what it does or how they could use it.
I’m at the cross-section between journalism and marketing, being a strategic communications major in the J-School but also having great interests in marketing, so that is probably why I am more aware and well-versed in Twitter than my business school buddies. However, even the few business professors (only one specifically marketing prof) I have talked to do not use Twitter and have not tried to understand it from a business sense. This is why I am interested to see how this situation progresses. Will it become a part of coursework (Professor Reeves has started to integrate it into her new media classes and internships at KOMU), or will higher education ignore informing their students (especially the business sector)? If business schools continue to ignore this, will this hurt their product (students) when they are on the job market? Is Twitter and social media understanding going to become a standard interview topic for young marketers? These are all things I am interested to see progress in the next few years and I was wondering what your opinion is on this.

By: Alice Cordonnier

Alice Cordonnier — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:01:50 +0000

i’m not surprised too, in my own class i have the same conclusion. I asked my classmate if they use or will use Twitter and their answers was what is twitter ? or no, i’m still on facebook !!
I try to reflect on this and i think it is a problem of use : in general, using twitter is for us destinated to professional goals (find potential customers, discuss with interested contacts) but the term of social media never came in my discussions. I think , there is a lack around this notion, that’s why lot of students don’t know Twitter or don’t want to use it, because they don’t see any “personnal” interests.
I have another notion with the development of a “new marketing roadmap generation”, and i kwow and i’m sure that Twitter is very important and useful for people who come from marketing, communication world, but other worlds too!

By: Mathieu Chayegan

Mathieu Chayegan — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 04:40:37 +0000

Hi Professor Weiss! After listening to your lecture and reading this article I decided to create a Twitter account to see what it is. Right off the bat it seems like a very valuable medium of communication especially for staying in touch with people who either have horrible work schedules or live across the world. In regards to what you were saying about business students wanting to create new relationships, something bothers me. I understand we keep moving deeper into the world of technology and that social networks are increasing, but shouldn’t relationship building be done face to face in a café or anywhere else other than on a computer? I guess what I am trying to say is that although I find it very important to meet new people and create new relationships, I don’t know how far Twitter can help people out? It is just worry-some to think that some people may spend their lives Twittering away without actually having those real relationships. But as a way to meet new people, it is great.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:18:52 +0000

I guess my point is, Allen, U.S. college students, living in a weird bubble, don’t know what will be important to them when they enter the next phase of their life.
I realize that your piece really addresses those early-adopter evangelists who bank on “when the younger people come of age,” but we could silence a lot of the confusing noise by asking a two-part question: Are XYZ business’s customers using these tools and which ones?
We can debate all day about whether the social media addicts are right, the with-it journalists are right, our children are right, and so on, but all that really matters is what your customers and target audiences care about.
If one’s customers aren’t on Twitter but are on MySpace — despite it being the fashionably unfashionable platform of the moment — one should know where they need to be.

By: Ryan Jaworski

Ryan Jaworski — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:00:17 +0000

I’m 17.
I just don’t see what the real value is since 1) None of my friends use Twitter and 2) It’s Facebook except only with status updates.
Why would I ever want to downgrade so I can’t see pictures and post on my friends’ walls? The only possible reason I could see is that it isn’t exactly kosher to continually update your status but its still possible obviously. To me using Twitter just comes off as much more conceited.

By: Allen Weiss

Allen Weiss — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:58:20 +0000

Hi Jeff
Right, I was polling only a select group of business and liberal arts majors taking a business class. I’ve also asked my children (ages 15 and 17). Clearly, this is not a scientific sample (and I never said it was), only a basis for opening up an interesting discussion.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:52:49 +0000

If we had a dollar for every time a business person said they had polled their children about the social media recommendations a marketer had made, the proposals would be paid for.
Allen, you’re not polling your children, but you are polling another specious group: business or liberal arts majors at universities.
In 1998, if you were to ask non-techie college seniors about how often they used email, I bet few would’ve said more than a couple of hours per week. Yet, email was pervasive in business at the time, and when those seniors landed jobs the following year many were thrown into using the now ubiquitous correspondence tool day in and day out.
Many universities are bubbles with cultures and past times that hardly resemble those of other milieus.
Heck, if were to trust college students about what’s cool to listen to, for the past twenty years you would’ve heard The Grateful Dead or Bob Marley.

By: Allen Weiss

Allen Weiss — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:44:46 +0000

By the way, I’ll ask the students I taught last week to come here and post their comments, so you might check back here tomorrow to see what people in the teens think about this issue.

By: Allen Weiss

Allen Weiss — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:43:00 +0000

It’s interesting to hear from people in their 20s, now I’m wondering what that means for people 10 years younger (my son, for example is 17). Ten years is a long time in “internet time”, so it makes me wonder where all of this will be in 2019 (will you still be addicted to twittering all day, everday in 10 years?)

By: Beth Harte

Beth Harte — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:53:22 +0000

Allan, a great post! I teach this same age group and when I asked them what they knew about social media, I got blank stares. When I asked about MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I got smiles, laughs. They get the tools, but not the business terms we use for those tools. They are also struggling with making the leap on how to use it for business and that’s understandable.
My class also doesn’t see the intrigue of Twitter. It might just be the case that it’s too difficult to move their social network from Facebook to Twitter. We saw that with Plurk & Twitter.