Generation Y 2.0

Whilst our Generation Y colleagues provide significant commercial opportunity for many businesses such as advertising, shopping, gaming, and  e-commerce, and entrepreneurial benefits for others, they are also proving a headache. A headache for those who have yet to redefine their IT strategies in order to accommodate integrated media platforms whilst safeguarding company security and data protection.

In “IT Security’s Next Big Threat: Young People”, in Dark Reading, editor Tim Wilson concludes from three recent studies that our Yers “are engaging in online behaviour that could expose their organizations to data leakage and information theft”. The question being whether it is the behaviours or the company policies and training that are ultimately to blame.

More and more people are using Instant Messaging, social networking, open source technology, and other online applications rather than traditional tools and email, many of which are not supported by their employers. On top of this there appears to be a growing need for online learning suites.

Chris Sparshott provided the keynote at the Digital Technologies Professional Learning Symposium in Auckland, NZ,  recently, using a Generation Y persona to illustrate his perspective on the need for training and education to embrace the benefits of the computer/video gaming, virtual worlds and 3D UIs that our Y’ers and Generation Z have grown up with. David Williamson Schaffer long pointed out the benefit of educational games that can bring players together, promote interactive learning and help individuals absorb fairly dry complex topics, for example.  Also Daniel Sieberg from CBS News more recently reported on the benefits of the right games in education to help individuals learn, solve problems and overcome obstacles.  

Whilst some organisations are looking to revise their platforms to accommodate the new tools and new ways of working, others are tightening their policies whilst many continue to remain exposed in more ways than one. 

The three studies mentioned above came from Accenture, Intel and ISACA (a major IT users group):

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“In love, two is company and three’s a crowd, but in friendship ten is the magic number” according to a report by Fiona McRae of the Daily Mail. The question is how close are we to those with social networks and how important are these friendships in the current climate.

 The report highlights studies by Dr Richard Tunney of Nottingham University showing that those with 5 to 10 friends in their close circle will be happiest and content in life, some say potentially adding to our longevity.

It would seem that communities, teams, and above all close friendships not only give us comfort and moral support in troubled times but pulling together our resources and contacts can help with entrepreneurial activities and job hunting more than ever.

However, although it can help, it seems that adding more ’friends’ doesn’t particularly increase our happiness. Today’s GenY and upcoming Z’s take comfort in being seen to be part of a wide social network, giving them the acceptance and approval they need from their community and peer groups. But are the 200+ contacts on their Google Talk, Messenger, Beebo or Facebook superfluous to their needs? How well do they know them? How many have they met or spoken with on a regular basis? Many Generation X and Y are spending their evenings in darkened rooms, or with their Blackberry’s and iPhones on the train, texting and chatting online with their virtual community but as Ryan Healy commented earlier this year, there are a ‘plethora of weak ties’ yet few strong friendships in the social networking arena. Many are starting to ask just how superficial these connections are.

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What’s different about the US presidential election? The fact that there is a black American presidential candidate or a potential female vice-president? A chance for the democrats to win back what they believe is rightfully theirs after the Bush years? Maybe, but it is much more than that. For the first time in perhaps as long as forty years or more, Generation Y have been very much actively engaged in this campaign.

Record numbers of young voters have signed up to vote in the 2008 US election. For those who see our GenY colleagues as apathetic, this appears to fly in the face of those who believe in stereotypes. Something has gripped the American consciousness but rather than fuel the glamorous ideological aspects of the campaign, Obama’s crowd have tried to ‘non-ideologise’  and to involve and engage their voters in new ways.  They have brought the campaign into the 21st century with social networking, online forums, blogs, campaign youth volunteer groups, Facebook followings, approachability, cool branding, and real involvement of America’s youth.  So much so that Obama has surrounded himself with diverse advisors including twenty one year old Tommy Stadlen from West London.  In addition to probably the largest emerging teen population America has ever seen, these are the voters and citizens of the future and they have been placed  key in this campaign right from the party nomination rounds and endless university campus visits.

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