The kids are all right and their media is in fine fettle, too, according to
Merrill Lynch equity analyst Lauren Rich Fine, who is also a member of
Poynter's National Advisory Board.
While
other experts are up in arms about the Next Generation's disinterest in
red state/blue state politics, world events and economic imbalance,
Fine doesn't see what the big whoop is all about.
"Were you ever
young?" she asked attendees at The Poynter Institute's "New Habits of
News Consumers" seminar this week. "When you were young, despite the
business you're in now, did you really care about world events and
news?"
Worrying about young people's interest in such things sounded downright schoolmarmish when Fine put it that way.
"I
am very passionate about the media," she said, "but I can separate
myself from whether they're good investments or not. I love the
newspaper business; I was certain I'd be in the business when I was a
kid. But I didn't care about world events."
And she's not a
disinterested observer; Fine is raising a 15-year-old daughter, a
12-year-old son and a 16-year-old niece. She's quite rabidly concerned
about their world and their preparation to enter it as young adults.
But not in the same way so many Media Chicken Littles are.
"Kids
have always been self-absorbed; it's why parents dread raising them. I
don't think a lot has really changed in terms of youth and what they're
interested in," according to Fine.
Perhaps the most striking
point in her presentation, however, was this one: "I don't think
companies should spend a lot of time pandering to youth."
That advice flies in the face of a general impulse among media moguls to follow the clicks. If a million kids join
Flickr,
MySpace or
Facebook today,
conventional wisdom is that chasing such a new market must be
profitable. But you might as well be trying to catch clouds on the
horizon with your bare hands.
"MySpace?" she scoffed. "Something new could happen tomorrow, grow just as fast, and MySpace might not matter."
|
Jim Stem
Lauren Rich Fine participated in Poynter's "New Habits for News Consumers" seminar March 12-15. |
Don't chase the kids, she said, but "it is interesting to watch what kids do."
In her own household, the girls both use MySpace and Facebook. All
three kids have their own PCs, cell phones and personalized ring tones
that tell them when mom or good friends call. And as consumers, they
are "wildly cognizant" that anything they want is a keystroke away.
On
the subject of conspicuous consumption, Fine thinks media pundits worry
too much about the end of TV commercials in the age of digital video
recorders, ad zappers and the like.
"We have Tivo; the kids use
it to condense 30-minute shows to 20 minutes. But I know they still see
commercials because they are always saying, 'Mom you have to see this!'
"
Fine told a wonderful story about how advertising is perceived
differently by the Next Generation than by its predecessors, which
typically viewed commercials and print ads as intrusive wastes of time.
Her
daughter told Fine that there is no advertising on MySpace. "Show me,"
Fine said, curious because she knew she had seen ads there.
Sure
enough, her daughter fired up her Web browser and surfed to
MySpace.com, which prominently displayed a Nike ad for girls' soccer
shoes.
That's an ad, Fine said.
No, it's not, her daughter said, they know I'm interested in soccer.
You don't mind that they follow you, that they know things about you?, Fine asked. That it's an invasion of your privacy?
No, her daughter said. She didn't see the Nike banner as advertising; she considered it useful information.
The next time Fine saw her daughter on MySpace, she pointed out an ad for eTrade.
OK, Mom said, perhaps overconfidently, what is that all about?
They know you're looking over my shoulder, her daughter retorted in true Next fashion.
Here's what Fine said you should know about kids and their new media habits:
- They share things virally.
- They test things out.
- It's all about video and music.
- The next big challenge you're all going to face is video online.
- Kids are "wonderfully obsessed" with video and photos.
- Kids understand the difference between credible, uncredible and
incredible sources online. In other words, they're not as naïve as you
think.
- "Every kid I know is going to be discovered by some reality show.
My daughter is convinced she's going to be a famous singer one day.
Take advantage of this in your various media!"
As for the news business, Fine challenged the media to reconsider
its narrow definition of news if it expects to capture the Next
Generation's eyeballs.
"There is a huge opportunity for you to
embrace this," she said. "There is a wealth of cool stuff online that
you can use to generate, at the very least, stories. What is news? It's
anything people are interested in. What's relevant to all of us in this
room might not be of interest to youth. Stop living in your silo of
what you define as news. Go online, see what they're doing and use it!"
Fine offered her own tried-and-tested gimmick for interesting her brood in old-fashioned news reporting.
"I
try to find one story a day my kids will like," she said. "My kids are
so knowledgeable. They're not interested in the things I'm interested
in, but they sample and experiment online because there's no cost.
They're much more open to things. I don't worry about youth today
because of how fast they learn. But you should understand what they're
doing."
