I’m a frequent Adfreak reader. Yesterday, I came across a post that made me laugh.

A Northwestern University report (”If It Catches My Eye“) discovered something *unbelievable* — “Teenagers find online news troubling and a reminder of the world’s dangers. Meanwhile, time spent on YouTube or social networking and music downloading sites as a treat.” No way!!??

The study goes on to suggest that “news organizations should cultivate teen audiences by learning what appeals to them and diminishing their angst.” Seriously? Trying to diminishing teen angst would be like trying to tell salmon not to swim upstream.

But before I was tempted to tear further into this study the way Adfreak did, I did some reading. What I found was a 56-page study, a product of Northwestern University’s Media Management Center - a “qualitiative, in-depth study of a diverse group of 65 Chicago-area teens in 2007, seeking to identify what drives the online news consumption of teenagers.”

The purpose was to help news organizations more effectively attract and serve teens. 65 is a small sample size, yes. But, it does offer some insight into the thoughts, reactions, and behaviors of teens using the web on a daily basis.

My thoughts relate directly to one of my recent blog posts (Another Teen Community?) where I talked about the genuine importance of the teen population as an indicator of future marketing practices. We would be foolish to ignore a study that could provide valuable insight into the behavioral patterns influencing our next generation of adult consumers.

Some key findings from the study:

• Researchers repeatedly heard the phrase, “I will read it IF IT CATCHES MY EYE.”
• Few said they look purposefully for news. Rather, reading news is usually something they do if they happen upon it while doing something else.
• They look at news online an average of two or three times a day on weekdays.
• Teens tend to get news more from giant news aggregators and portals than from traditional destination products or news brands.
• They find the news stressful, not enjoyable.
• Teens don’t seem to differentiate between sites that generate news stories and sites that aggregate them.

My final thoughts:

They’re teenagers. In time, news will be more more interesting to them. The key question is what behavioral patterns will have developed by then that will influence their consumption of news and media?

News organizations - heck, any marketers - need to be thinking about how teens take in information, as this will likely be translated in many ways in their adult life.

The study said “when it comes to news, most teens are grazers.” This is important. Really all of us are grazers right now. In today’s digital society, we consume information very differently than even 10 years ago - we check news and email from mobile devices, we skim RSS feeds for top headlines, and watch headline news channels to gather snippets of the day’s top stories.

Understanding how teens consume information now is critical to marketing and selling to them 10 years from now as adults. The report also provides some interesting and detailed recommendations for news organizations trying to reach teens that as marketers should sound pretty familiar. One such recommendation is “go where they are” - a concept we often discuss when it comes to social marketing and online media.

One simply has to marvel at a man who, in Microsoft, has built an unquestionable empire. However, nowhere in my years of following Bill Gates have I thought “I’d like to watch football and have a beer with that guy.” He has, in fact, always been portrayed as a man with no personality (if not an evil one). Think back to Pirates of Silicon Valley.

Tangent: I actually just had a conversation with a couple of co-workers last week about Geeks being the new Cool. It’s true. I remember somewhere around 6 or 7 years ago watching an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (shameful, I don’t know why I just admitted that) where Buffy called a group of kids at her school “geeks.” These would be the computer lab-frequenting, Internet-savvy group of future business moguls she was referring to. I was insulted on behalf of all “geeks.”

Years later we live in a time where you’re not “with it” unless you have a Facebook account, the latest and greatest smart phone, and know who John Hodgman and Justin Long are. Even better, the more somebody knows about technology - the cooler they are.

Anyway … back to Bill. Jeff Hilimire forwarded me this video:

On the brink of departure from his day-to-day job at Microsoft (set for July), Bill decided to have some fun during a keynote at CES 2008 by showing a scripted, yet very entertaining video where we get a glimpse of how cool and fun he can actually be.

In a parody of what Bill’s last day on the job at Microsoft might be like, he endlessly pokes fun at himself - from workouts with Matthew McConnaughey where he’s told he’s “not ready” to take his shirt off, to an awkward experience with JayZee where his hopes of a rap career are dashed.

Sometimes the coolest people are those that embrace the parts of themselves that others might pick on. I had a blast watching this video!

If you haven’t already heard, it was announced in the last week or so that HarperCollins & MySpace have partnered to create an online community for teens. The Computerworld article I read says: “The community will allow teens to create their own profiles, including photos. The teens can also post their own creative writing stories for review by other teens.”

Certainly there are already hundreds of online communities for teens already?? So, I did a quick Google on the obvious search term “teen community,” which provided dozens of pages of results, including Teenhut.com, Teen Second Life, GreenTeen.org, and many more. I even found an online magazine, Teenink.com, written entirely by teens. Heck, even MySpace and Facebook should count as a teen community (even though old people like me can get in).

Is HarperTeen really just another teen community?

It’s always been my belief - and certainly that of all people in the interactive marketing industry and beyond - that teens are the predictors of future behaviors, technology, and marketing. Unlike folks in my generation - who took a typewriting classes in high school and had a party line (not as fun as it sounds) on their home phone - this “next generation” is a population of people who have literally grown up with technology.

My 9 Year Old Son.
I have a 9-year old son; and while he might not be a teenager, he is an excellent example. Jeffrey has schoolmates who actually have cell phones (and nicer ones than mine at that). He has multiple gaming stations, hundreds of channels to surf on the satellite dish, an active email address, surfs the web in school, and is a member of the Webkinz online community.

Teen Influence.
Beyond the definite edge these teens will have as they wave into the business world, this group has powerful influence right now. In fact, a recent report by Pew Internet and the American Life Project, found that “content creation by teenagers continues to grow, with 64 percent of online teenagers ages 12 to 17 engaging in at least one type of content creation, up from 57 percent of online teens in 2004.”

And, as my Jeffrey example suggests, teenagers have a wide variety of communications options. Because these teens are tech-savvy, they lean heavily on communication methods like instant messaging and social networks. The report shows that “39 percent of online teens share their own artistic creations online such as artwork, photos stories or videos, and “26 percent of online teens remix content they find online into their own creations.”

Bottom line, teens aren’t just waiting around for their turn to influence the development of technology when they “grow up;” rather, technology is constantly being created for them.

HarperCollins & MySpace.
This partnership makes a lot of sense. HarperCollins is one of the world’s largest publishing companies; reaching out to teens now is a wise move. Giving users something unique, and freedom in their participation is what they will need to be successful.

I did dig around a little on the site, and I have to say that it is actually fairly nice - not something I would typically say about a MySpace page. Both the style and functionality are appealing. And, they have 19,212 friends … not too bad.

HaperTeen is also holding a writing contest for MySpace members through January 7th, with a $5000 prize. Certainly HarperCollins has conducted many writing contests in more traditional models over the years. However, this contest does have a not-so-surprising spin, the final winner will be decided on by HaperTeen members. The good news is that people really do seem excited, with nearly every comment relating to the contest, and all of the user-created forums dedicated to it.

From my perspective, the biggest challenge for HarperTeen will be maintaining interest after the contest ends. So I’ll be keeping my eye on this, I’m curious to see how well they are able to foster community over time.

I came across a recent American Marketing Association consumer survey. In a press release issued in conjunction with the survey, AMA’s CMO, Nancy Costopulos, says “more Americans are taking their holiday shopping to social networks instead of the mall…”

Now, as marketers, we’re intimately aware of the impact social media has on consumer (and even business) behaviors. For instance, we already have an idea of how product ratings and reviews can influence online purchases.

This AMA survey sharpens the picture we had in our mind of how companies can leverage social media to inform consumer buying decisions - particularly during the holiday season. Check out this chart, which highlights Prospective Holiday Use of Social Networking Sites:

This chart shows us in black and white (and purple and red) that - if the service were available - almost half (47%) of all respondents said they would go to a social-networking site to download coupons or search for gift ideas. And nearly as many (45%) would use a social-networking site to find out about upcoming sales in stores or discounts on products.

This makes sense. But, why social networking sites and not just the company’s website or email newsletters, where sales and offers already exist?

I wrote a while back about Industry Specific Social Networks. Vertical social sites such as these are strong indicators of what this survey is referring to. People want to leverage their social networks - where people of like interests already congregate - to inform their buying decisions. Social influence and personal opinion is highly valuable.

For an example: On the advice of Shelfari, (who commented on my industry-specific blog post) I installed their facebook widget/application.

(A ’shelf’ in my Shelfari widget. Of COURSE there’s a children’s book.)

What makes this such a good example is not just that I have this shelf, or that people can see what I read; but that my ratings and reviews of them might influence others to purchase these books. For example, my co-worker Travis Bailey also has a ’shelf’ on facebook … and I do look at his book selections and reviews. (BTW - the application, which is very well designed - does allow you to link to Amazon.com to purchase the books you’re interested in.)

Pay attention during next year’s holiday season. I predict an increase in the amount of holiday purchases stemming from social websites.

Recently, I’ve seen a great deal of positive press about the virtual world Kaneva.

Second Life has been the big player in the space, stealing much of the spotlight from other worlds. But, as we’ve shared in previous blog posts, it’s certainly not the only virtual world out there. With millions and millions of people creating virtual lives, this space will only grow and reshape as the market defines itself.

So, this Forbes article (”Rocking the Virtual World”) says:

Among the producers of virtual worlds Atlanta’s Kaneva may be on its way to becoming the most “disruptive,” according to Strategy & Innovation, a Cambridge, Mass. newsletter founded by Harvard Business School’s Clayton Christensen.

That’s quite a statement. But, why Kaneva? Certainly Second Life has the greater mind share. Well, the article goes on with a quote from founder Christopher Klaus:

“Second Life currently has huge mind share, but they are after a different market,” says Klaus. “We want people who have never played videogames before.”

This is significant. Kaneva, unlike Second Life (and other worlds), encourages users to replicate themselves in-world, as opposed to creating a fantasy version of themselves. Kaneva wants to be the MySpace or Facebook of virtual worlds - a place to openly share your life and your interests with your friends. In fact, Kaneva has often been compared to the social network MySpace, not a frequent comparison for Second Life.

In the end, I’m left thinking: Perhaps we need to do away with the comparisons. The audience for Second Life and Kaneva are clearly different. There’s no reason at this point to say that it’s one or the other…just as there’s not just one social network, rather many that bring together groups of people with varying interests.

My “home” inside Kaneva - a little sad right now, but give me time …

I read yesterday’s MediaPost article about Facebook and MySpace’s new ad platforms. A couple of advocacy groups (Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups) protested these marketing plans to the FTC yesterday. These groups are actually quite large and influential; the U.S. PIRG has a number of interests, including the environment, transportation and health care, in addition to media and internet reform.

So, for those of you who haven’t heard about Facebook’s new ad plaform, it’s really simple - advertisers will be able to deliver their marketing messages to users based on their activity, and the information that they share with friends.

And, a Business Week article on this topic said “Under the new system, marketers also will be able to create brand pages where users can view related media, review products or services, add items they like to their personal pages, and become friends, or “fans,” of the brand—and even make purchases.” Of course, these activities would show up in the users regular feeds to their friends - which many feel violates privacy.

I think the real controversy in this case is how much personal information marketers are given. The Business Week article suggests that the most vulnerable group are those young members who might not realize how much personal information they’re sharing, or where it will end up.

Personally, I’m torn. At first I thought ”I’ve already learned to cope with the ads in Gmail”, which use my personal conversations to fuel ad selections. How different is this? I suppose I also think that if I use this product for free, I shouldn’t mind being advertised to (as with Gmail). Futhermore, if I’m going to be advertised to, at least this new ad platform has the potential to make those ads relevant to my interests.

To gain some perspective, I asked Dan Dooley what he thought. His impression (in part) was that Facebook might have been wise to put more controls around the free distribution of user behaviors for the profit of advertisers.  I do get what he’s saying. With no restraints it’s easy to see how, for example, men who meet certain criteria could start seeing Viagra ads in their ad feeds, even though they never suggested an interest.

I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this.

I’ve always had a bit of a sore spot for the Anti-Smoking campaigns. Don’t get me wrong, smoking among kids IS a problem: at least 4.5 million U.S. adolescents are estimated to be cigarette smokers and nearly 6,000 children under 18 years of age start smoking every day (American Lung Association, 2003).

My contention is this: I don’t believe anti-smoking ads are effective.

Let me back up a little bit … as a part of the Master Settlement Agreement with “big tobacco“, millions upon millions of dollar$ were given to states to create anti-smoking campaigns. However, according to a recent study conducted by the University of Georgia, the ads “do very little to dissuade middle school students from smoking—in fact, they increase the likelihood of teens picking up the habit.” The idea simple: teens don’t want to be talked down to, and as a result won’t respond to these ads. The study’s lead author suggests what I’ve always suspected, that the ads “inadvertently encourage rebellion.”

This leads me to the real purpose of my post … a recent campaign produced for another organization (that doesn’t work off the $$ of Big Tobacco), The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign’s “Above the Influence” campaign. Above the Influence is a result of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and is aimed at youth aged 9-18, especially the vulnerable middle-school adolescents.

The specific campaign I have isolated for this post is called STONERS IN THE MIST. And it’s cool. Stoners will love to play with this site. No, really. They will. Maybe even some young person who has only toyed with the idea of using marijuana will finally be swayed by this cool site. The site is led by Dr. Bernard H. Buck, a white-bearded explorer, complete with funny accent and safari suit. The entire interface is neat… there’s tons of funny video clips that “explore” the life of a stoner and a map users can click to see even more about the social life, health and fitness, and activities of a stoner.

I’m so confused. What’s the point of these anti-drug campaigns? Is it to create fun, flashy websites for kids to play with, or, are we trying to convince them they don’t need drugs?

I guess, who am I to judge? Perhaps the greatest challenge in advertising is to develop an effective anti-drug ad.

I was reading the AdFreak blog (which always tickles me) and saw a post about a fun little quiz created by MindFloss. 

Certainly nobody reading this blog is unfamiliar with the many, many, many pharmaceutical commercials and their drugs many, many, many “possible” side effects.

Well … MindFloss wants to see how well you paid attention. Take the Quiz.

Are you too good for Facebook? With your multi-million dollar homes, your Bugatti Veyron, and your fully-booked schedule of social gatherings … you can’t be expected to stay in touch with friends on Facebook, or - gasp - MySpace. That’s for “commoners.”

FINALLY, a social networking site for the rich and fabulous … aSmallWorld.com is a “private online community, which is designed for those who already have strong connections with one another.”

Before you get too excited, this is invitation-only from a “trusted member.” I mean, they can’t let just anyone in.

Jeff Hilimire recently blogged about how great our company and our office space is. Well, frequent commenter (and goddess of all things social) Sherry Heyl suggested a site called OfficeSnapshots.com. Apparently this got their attention, because Stephen from Officesnapshots.com was kind enough to comment that we should send some pictures over.

So, we did just that. Amy Griswold and I (mostly Amy) took pictures of the Spunlogic office and I sent them on over to Stephen. (Check it out.)

Now our office rocks, and if you read OfficeSnapshots.com, then you’ll know our office rocks.