G E N E R A T I O N S 1904-1924 (age today: 90-110 | 59.6 million live births)

G.I./Greatest Generation

1925-1945 (age today: 69-85 | 55.4 million live births)

Silent Generation

1946-1964 (age today: 50-68 | 75.9 million live births)

Baby Boomers

1965-1979 (age today: 35-49 | 51.5 million live births)

Gen X

1980-2000 (age today: 34-14 | 77.9 million live births)

Millennials Image Credit: quinn.anya via Compfight cc, bit.ly/1y081sk

What do we know? • On track to become most-education generation. • They’re optimistic and want to make a difference. • But are skeptical and untrusting. • They’re staying single longer. • But rank parenthood and marriage > career and financial success.

• Ethnically and racially diverse. • Not likely to have served in the military, and are not very religious. • Respect their elders and get along with their parents. • Most likely of any generation to self-identify as liberals.

Image Credit: Yvonne Leow

What about news? Many are going without it.

Got news yesterday? Those who answered no: • 29 percent of those younger than 25

• 19 percent of those ages 25-39

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

First off We’re not idiots. We’re educated, and we care.

We do want serious news.

via Digiday, read more: bit.ly/millennial-readership

Digital is where it’s at

71 percent of those ages 18-29 cite the

Internet as a main news source.

Social is how they’re finding it

34 percent of those ages 18-24 said they saw

news or a news headline on Facebook or another social networking site yesterday.

Through their phones

Young people get news on mobile devices to

similar degrees as older users, more so on smartphones than those 50 and older.

When they have time

Younger news consumers and those who get

news online or from social networks “graze” — they check in from time to time, as opposed to

getting news on a schedule.

Image Credit: photosteve101 via Compfight cc, bit.ly/1m2OzpB Image Credit: mkhmarketing via Compfight cc, bit.ly/1s1v79l

Image Credit: real.tingley via Compfight cc, bit.ly/1peRaYt Image Credit: Adrian Ilie, cc via Wikimedia Commons, bit.ly/1qTr6pK

What do I do with that?

• Make mobile a priority.

• Care about social presentation.

• Build “scannability” into (many) articles.

• Rethink how ongoing news is structured.

Image Credit: Jonas Tana via Compfight cc, bit.ly/1nVuSeU

WINNING MOBILE

• Fast load time (Go light on heavy elements such as photos and videos if your site doesn’t play well.)

• No interstitial ad (Google penalizes you as much as your user does.)

• Responsive design (Fits to the users’ screen)

• Think in terms of thumbs (Can the thumb easily scroll up and down?)

• Mobile = On The Go (Your user is probably on the go. Is your content easy to consume on the go?)

LOSING MOBILE

Social Presentation You pitch a story to an editor, but how are you pitching it to your audience?

✔ Simple, informational and dynamic headline ✔ Strength and relevance of a related image ✔ Tone of language accompanying the link

✔ Engaging share text ✔ Employ emotion where relevant.

C H E C K L I S T

Beyond millennials: We have a problem with ongoing news.

The platforms we deliver news on have changed, but our approach

to covering news has not.

Photo Credit: _M-j-H_ via Compfight cc, bit.ly/1BE0cH4

Circa is trying something

Vox is trying something, too

Scannability It’s not about dumbing down content or creating cat listicles.

• Rethink the traditional article structure around informational subheds. • You don’t have to use numbers (even though these examples do).

Via Las Vegas Sun, bit.ly/amber-article

Via oregonlive.com, bit.ly/oregonlive-ducks-spartans

Exercise Take this article, make it scannable.

What about video?

T h e b a s i c s

• Replicate broadcast news • Be redundant of the story • Include video just to have it • Shoot vertical on your phone • Use a continuous clip of a talking head • Pan and zoom*

DON’T • Focus on emotion • Use video that complements the story • Be ready for breaking news • Learn basic editing • Use b-roll • Use stationary clips*

DO

* Unless you’re a professional, super-great videographer

Image Credit: David Freid, @dfreid

DON’T FLOOD THE INTERNET WITH

BAD VIDEO, PLEASE

Image Credit: alltheragefaces.com

Do be ready to capture moments like this

What’s everyone watching?

It’s not really about millennials.

What next? I mean, I’m not a wizard. I don’t know. Maybe think about stages of life instead of generation-specific stuff. And keep changing.

They’re gonna grow up. And change. There will be other generations (some say Gen Z)

“Gen Z” is already ditching traditional social platforms. And technology is going to keep changing, too.

Image Credit: Karen Workman

MAY WE ALWAYS TELL GREAT STORIES.

Image Credit: Lisa Yanick Jonaitis, @lisayj_msun