Millennials are Tech Savvy and Sociable

There are approximately 75 million members of the Millennial Generation, people born 1977-1998. This generation is the largest generation since the Boomers. Millennial will make as big an economic impact as that generation. The economic impact will be different as they look at the world very differently than Boomers.

Members of the millennial generation are technically literate like no other generation. They grew up with laptops, cell phones, the Internet and TV. Their use of social networks have been well documented and are, in large, responsible for the phenomena of MySpace and YouTube. This combination of technological savvy and sociability affects how they work and shop.

So, how to reach the millennial generation? Peer reviews, including comments on blogs, forums and social networks, will become increasingly important. Word of mouth (WOM) marketing will become increasingly important.

From the following article, Millennials’ Tech Affects Work, Shopping - eMarketer

Millennials reserve the actual shopping activity in the store because it’s a social activity for them . . . We know that they can’t make a decision by themselves. They need constant validation from their peer group that they’re making the right decisions—and they’ll seek out that validation.

The eMarketer article also talks of research by Accenture in which over half of respondents said mobile phones were their preferred means of communication.

With the evolution of handheld technology, where even the staid Blueberry has features and functions to rival the computers of ten years ago, the question continues to be how to monetize Third Screen.

I hate to think the only choice will be "let Google find what I need."

Tags: millennials, 10-31 year old, tech savvy, social networks