FACT SHEET: The Net Generation (Net-Geners)
[This information, compiled by Frances Forde Plude, is derived mainly from grown up digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World, by Don Tapscott, author of the earlier work Wikinomics.]
These data are based on a $4 million research project, funded by large corporations to get a factual profile of Net-Geners (who are potential employees and clients/customers). 10,000 people were interviewed globally, 40 reports were produced, and several conferences were held. A global network of 140,000 Net-Geners hosted a series of discussions.
These research results indicate that Net-Geners are unique in many ways, but the current stereotypes are dangerously distorted.
1. Net Geners range from ages 11 to 31 (in 2008). They outnumber the Baby Boomers and were the first group bathed in the digital culture. They represent 81.1 million individuals, 27% of the U.S population.
2. As employees and managers they work collaboratively (influenced by working in teams as video gamers) and they collapse rigid hierarchies.
3. As consumers they want to customize the products they buy; thus, brands, like Apple, must allow for this product adaptation.
4. In education they want to change the model from a teacher-focused approach to student-based collaborative learning – the 2.0 school. They like peer projects. They value networking relationships, even in learning.
5. As citizens, Net-Geners are transforming elections and how citizen-responsive governance is managed – democracy 2.0.
6. U.S. youth have access to 200 plus cable TV networks, 5,500 magazines, 10,500 radio stations, and 40 billion Web pages. 22,000 books are published annually. Global video game sales will be $46.5 billion by 2010.
7. Net-Geners want freedom – freedom of choice and expression.
8. These youth value transparency: on their own web pages, at work, in government.
9. Net-Geners seek entertainment; they value fun at work, in classrooms.
10. This group has a need for speed; they are comfortable multi-taskers.
11. They are innovators and often initiate new products, new ways of thinking. Net Geners are the first global generation.
12. Net-Geners view the Internet as connection, conversation, not only information. They produce Net materials (blogs, video, personal sites).
13. By 2007, 72% of 13- to 17-year-olds in the US had mobile phones. This is the medium where most Net-Gen action occurs.
14. Net-Geners value integrity. Many ‘steal’ music but they claim, in response, that the industry needs to update its business model.
15. This group is service oriented. The Internet has given them a tool for easily connecting globally for social action and global relationships.
16. Over 80% of Net-Geners feel more entitled than youth of ten years ago; there is a workplace clash; (half of senior management will retire in the next few years). Youthful innovative creativity will change the workplace.
17. As consumers, Net-Geners turn to networks of friends online rather than traditional advertising sources. Consumer advocacy and customer review sites guide product and film choices.
18. Cheap video editing software and simpler interface tools feed the Net-Geners’ passion for modifying web pages, products, and work sites.
19. Many Net-Geners have ‘umbrella parents’ who exercised oversight, often restricted them from ‘strangers’ so youth found freedom online. They feel close to parents, often live at home longer than previous generations.
20. They have been called ‘a political juggernaut.’ They are one-fifth of all voters; by 2015, when all are old enough to vote they will be one-third of the voting public. They ‘speak’ and vote with networked tools.
21. Based on the Wikipedia model, youth do global digital brainstorming, a world-wide marketplace of ideas and virtual town hall meetings.
22. These youth prefer a more ‘open’ family, more collaborative, less authoritative. This culture will infuse other institutions also.
23. Youth volunteering has increased; network tools empower global activism and Net Gen creativity fuels this passion to ‘connect’ with others.
24. Net Geners are surrendering their privacy (on You Tube, Facebook, etc.); these tools are used in job searches (by employers and Net-Geners).
25. In the first week of the release of the video game Grand Theft Auto IV, it sold $500 million worth of games -- more than 11 of the top movies in the past 13 years made in the entire year of their release. It is a violent action-adventure game. Yet, the number of serious violent offenses committed by persons 12 to 17 declined 61 percent from 1993 to 2005.
26. As the Net-Generation grows in influence, the trend will be toward networks, not hierarchies, toward open collaboration rather than command, toward consensus rather than arbitrary rule, and toward enablement rather than control. This does not mean hierarchies will vanish completely. Society still needs authority and control in various areas.