The ‘Facebook Generation’

A round table discussion

Paul Coyne, VP Innovation, Emerald Group Publishing

BITS Foundation, November 12th 2009

what is a Generation?

“in addition to coincidence of birth, a generation is also defined by common tastes, attitudes and experiences…Those times encompass a myriad of circumstances – economic, social, sociological and, of course, demographic.”

Source: Generations at work, Zenke, Raines & Filipczak (2000)

some sweeping Generalisations…

Silent Generation Baby Boomers Gen X Net Gen

1900 - 1946 1946 - 1964 1965 - 1982 1982 - 1991

Attributes Command and control

Self sacrifice

Optimistic

workaholic

Independent

Sceptical

Hopeful

Determined

Likes Respect for authority

Family

Community involvement

Responsibility

Work ethic

Can-do attitude

Freedom

Multitasking

Work life balance

Latest technology

Activism

Parents

Dislikes Waste

Technology

Laziness

Turning 50

Red tape

Hype

Anything slow

Negativity

Source: Educating the Net generation, Oblinger & Oblinger (2005)

Silent Generation Baby Boomers Gen X Net Gen

1900 - 1946 1946 - 1964 1965 - 1982 1982 - 1991

Attributes Command and control

Self sacrifice

Optimistic

workaholic

Independent

Sceptical

Hopeful

Determined

Likes Respect for authority

Family

Community involvement

Responsibility

Work ethic

Can-do attitude

Freedom

Multitasking

Work life balance

Latest technology

Activism

Parents

Dislikes Waste

Technology

Laziness

Turning 50

Red tape

Hype

Anything slow

Negativity

some sweeping Generalisations…

Technologies

Cinema

Telegraph

Biro Pen

Radio

extended family

Technologies

Television

Telephone

Telex

Vinyl

nuclear family

Technologies

Video games

Email

Walkie Talkie

CD

individual

Technologies

Internet

Mobile Phone

I. M.

MP3

online community

Source: Educating the Net generation, Oblinger & Oblinger (2005)

Silent Generation Baby Boomers Gen X Net Gen

1900 - 1946 1946 - 1964 1965 - 1982 1982 - 1991

Attributes Command and control

Self sacrifice

Optimistic

workaholic

Independent

Sceptical

Hopeful

Determined

Likes Respect for authority

Family

Community involvement

Responsibility

Work ethic

Can-do attitude

Freedom

Multitasking

Work life balance

Latest technology

Activism

Parents

Dislikes Waste

Technology

Laziness

Turning 50

Red tape

Hype

Anything slow

Negativity

A digital Divide?

Digital Immigrant

Digital native

Source: Educating the Net generation, Oblinger & Oblinger (2005)

A Digital Native’s relationship with media and technology is fundamentally different. This difference affects them as …

Workers

Consumers

Decision Makers

Learners

A typical 21 year old has, on average:

Sent and received 250,000 emails, instant messages and SMS texts, used a mobile phone for 10,000 hours, played video games for 5000 hours, and spent 3,500 hours social networking online…

always on

net Generation norms

1 & 2 They value FREEDOM and CUSTOMIZATION

They SCRUTINISE

“Scan, navigate, analyse whether

information is pertinent,useful,

relevant, and meaningful.”

3

They care about honesty and INTEGRITY

“However, statistically more than 50% of Net Geners

have downloaded illegal material , but do not see this as illegal or justify it some other way.”

4

They COLLABORATE

They are natural collaborators and "..want to work hand-in-hand with companies to create better goods and services"

5

They expect to be …

ENTERTAINED

"This generation brings a playful

mentality to work...and has been

bred on interactive experiences."

6

They need SPEED

“They are accustomed to instant feedback and instant response

through video games and Google, ”

7

They want the

opportunity to INNOVATE“They want the workplace

(or classroom) to be innovative

and creative.”

8

As Digital Natives enter your workforce they bring with them their norms of sharing, collaboration and processing. These norms differ significantly from traditional corporate environments.

Not everyone agrees

Moral

PANIC?

“proponents arguing that the workplace and education must

change dramatically to cater for the needs of Digital Natives have sparked a form of ‘moral panic’ using

extreme arguments that have lacked empiral evidence”

Source: Bennet, Maton & Kervin (2008) “The digital natives debate: A critical review of the evidence”. British Journal of Educational Technology

Where’s the smoking gun?

Digital Population

“Rather than calling Digital Natives a generation – an overstatement in light of

the fact that only 1 billion of the 6 billion even have access to digital technologies – think of them as a population…

The vast majority of young people born

in the world today are not growing up as digital natives”

Source: Palfrey & Gasser (2008) “Born Digital: Understanding the first generation of digital natives”. New York. Basic Books

Where’s the smoking gun?

Digital Illiterates?

Low web literacy skills

51% believe “most or all” of web can be trusted

Little sense of online “privacy”

No understanding of digital or intellectual property rights

Weak Search and Evaluation skills

Some reflectionsAre terms like ‘digital native’ and ‘digital immigrant’ useful or appropriate – do they

simply reinforce sterotypes?

If “digital competence” is determined by individual/personality/background and

other contributing factors…can we really call this a generational divide?

Could employers, managers, governments, educators and parents do better by understanding the digital world and seek to influence the Net generation through Digital Literacy

Discuss

The ‘Facebook Generation’

Question:“Should organisations re-organise in order to exploit the creative and innovative properties

of Digital Natives?

Or, should we encourage digital literacy in the younger generation and in return insist they

conform to our working practices?

Photo Credits

• Texting photo by Nesster on Flickr• Working photo by Knebworth Chap on Flickr• One Laptop photo by One Laptop Per Child on Flickr• Wearable Computer by Erik Charlton on Flickr• Scrutiny photo by !borghetti on Flickr• CD collection by Furldman on Flickr• Collaboration pic by lumazart on Flickr• Club Penguin Pic by dinoboy on Flickr• Speed pic by atzu on Flickr• Innovation pic by Natashalatrasha on Flickr

References and Readings

• Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Marc Prensky & Emerald Group Publishing

• Grown Up Digital, Don Tapscott

• Digital 'Natives' Invade the Workplace, Pew Research, Internet Research Project