A new infographic from ‘The Drum’ reveals the social media habits of Generation Y. The results aren’t exactly surprising, but maybe that is because in some definitions I am actually just about part of the generation addicted to this medium. So far today, I have social media to thank for providing me with an article from Mashable about the most beautiful mobile games (at least one of which I will likely purchase). I also have to thank it for this brilliant video of a homeless chap in the states and his amazing impressions of the characters on ‘Breaking Bad’.
And it’s barely 9am. There’s is no denying that we are spending more and more time on social media and considering it’s definition 10 years ago was just MySpace, it sure has come a long way. According to the infographic, 80% of generation Y login to a social media site every day. If anything this strikes me as being fewer than I expected.
The report also states that the second highest given reason for interacting with social media was to ‘kill time’. However, generation Y is far more likely to use their smartphone and social media whilst on the toilet. So if that combination can be thanked for anything, it can be for removing the need for a pile of magazines or newspapers in bathrooms across the country, to simply be replaced by the smartphone. Good times.
It seems as though the younger generations desire to kill time has created a few opportunities for advertisers too, with StumbleUpon (the original internet time wasting tool) seeing a resurgence in fortunes through its advertising revenue via mobile platforms.
I often wonder if generation Y will ever be baffled by new technology. Whilst it feels slightly naive to think that they wouldn’t, I very much struggle to predict how they could…
