Mar
06

To Stay on Top of Trends, Ask a Teenager

Wed Mar, 2013 by Digital Bus

Reading sites like Mashable or Adage, and scanning your Twitter feed for news is a daily ritual for many of us in the digital media field, and quite possibly a labor of love. Yet, not everyone feels this love affair (dare I say addiction) with staying in the loop; not everyone processes and adopts new ideas at the same rate. The Diffusion of Innovations, a Public Relations theory coined by Everett Rogers, is an explanation of how, and at what rate new technology and ideas spread through a culture. Rogers explained there are five categorical types of people that fit into this theory:

• Innovators
• Early Adopters
• Early Majority
• Late Majority
• Laggards

Working in the digital marketing landscape in some capacity, we work hard to stay current enough to be considered an Early Adopter, or at the very least in the Early Majority. So here is another way, besides your morning ritual of scanning streaming news, to keep up with what is cutting edge: ask a teenager!

Photo by Greg Clark

Studies show that teens are typically in the Early Adopters category when it comes to technology. The latest research shows that there has been a drop in teens’ use of Facebook and an increase in use of Instagram and Tumblr. Facebook.  In the mind of many teens has been overrun by corporations, parents, bosses, and ex-friends. Many teens are bored of hearing people “brag” about their lives so they have moved on to other platforms. Just like they moved from MySpace to Facebook, and we all joined them there.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the end for Facebook, but it can offer you some food for thought when planning new business strategies. Both Tumblr and Instagram are visual sites, which means visual is playing an even bigger role with teen Early Adopters, so when launching new campaigns, think of new ways you can use images to tell your story. The sooner you incorporate it, the better you will be at in when the rest of the masses join you.

– By Krysia Hepatica

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