How do Millennials use social media? How do they see it evolving? The Advertising Research Foundation’s 2009 Summer Interns have provided unique insights into the ever-changing world of social media.
Learn about social media by those who use it as part of their daily lives. View the recorded webcast by logging onto My ARF.
Part 1: Social Media Past
We as millenials
And slightly above
Have strong feelings of media
From which we won’t budge.
Please sit back and listen
As we elocute
Social media’s past
And what’s followed suit.
Sometime in the 90s,
When we could first click,
AOL and Yahoo
Chatrooms were legit.
Those of us who yearned
For more
Navigated through
IRC doors.
But in these days,
Before we kept records
Next steps were not clear
And lurked like a specter.
Then eons ago
In ninety-seven,
The site Six-Degrees
Descended from Heaven.
And though we interns
Have never once used it
Our lives were all changed
Though none of us knew it.
Right ‘round this time
New figures came forth
And everyone’s compass
All seemed to point North.
It happened so quickly,
From the hills we would sing,
“My word, life’s so good with
Instant Messaging.
Yes, it had come,
The factor with which
Our brains were turned on.
The crucial light-switch.
Of us twelve interns
Each possessed
Some form of screen name,
For this format impressed.
Hours per day
Were now spent by computer.
And though but a blink,
The rest couldn’t come sooner.
Mighty Xanga and L.J.
Together arrived.
And for four of us interns,
Changed were our lives.
For now every teen
Could publish their thoughts.
But how little we knew
About the licked chops.
For Marketers began
Their long salivation
Who would believe we’d
Donate information?
But we teens and tweens
Had no idea
That our info was free
And we had no fear.
Now the stage was set
The stars were aligned
Six degrees would rise up
For our new frames of mind.
But this time it would be shiny
And have a new name
And, yes, from the ashes,
Friendster aptly came.
So sad, dear Friendster,
Not ahead of your time,
But all on you were old,
And the space was not mine.
Not ours, no no,
Absolutely not yet,
For the format was still young
And we hate to vet.
Now the year was O-three,
Our habits were shaped,
And from these new expectations
No one could escape.
Fueled by alt music
It was truly a hub which
Allowed all Gen Y-ers
A good place to publish.
Our friends, our hobbies,
Our music and stars,
It had come at last,
The media was ours!
Around this time,
The masses did notice
That sharing online
Came with a bonus.
Accessibility and joys,
For all girls and boys,
Sharing photos and music
With our electric toys.
We made it. We loved it.
And blushed were our faces,
Two thirds of us interns
Had MySpaces.
Oh, in it
How we would all revel,
Nothing came close to this
Personal level.
But the culture did change,
And my, how quickly,
The race to ad friends
Made us all sickly.
No one knows
Exactly what happened,
But something changed
And response was reaction.
In the infinite knowledge
Googling age,
Even a fifteen-year-old’s
Words can be sage.
So take this with
A grain of salt.
But turning a profit
Is what was at fault.
When MySpace was
No longer just mine,
Our generation knew
That it was the time.
A time for change,
Though we knew not for what.
We had all become addicts
Pages we’d glut.
There was some layover,
Lag time if you will,
But our commoditized
Voices were shrill.
Something was missing,
Covered weren’t our bases.
The space was carved out
For the book of faces.
Now if we weren’t students
At schools far out east,
The wait was in anguish
To say the least.
But something organic
Needs time to grow.
Slowly but surely
We again ran the show.
We were the content,
We pushed it out.
This time friends were friends
Not just social clout.
Functionality was the game.
Expectation - on a new plane.
The rate of improvement
Would boggle the brain.
Craigstlist and ebay,
Photobucket and tweets.
Facebook tried hard
To keep everything beat.
But it seems like the subtle
Breezes shift again.
Could our beloved Facebook
Commit the same sin?
Of this we’re not sure,
But time will tell,
Which new platform
Will match our new demands well.
Though these may all
Be simplifications,
Be aware of
The implications.
A generation that
Can talk with Skype,
Most of whom
Can also touch type.
Through Windows and Leopard
We can navigate quickly.
And we expect our apps
To be useful and nifty.
So don’t skimp on design,
Don’t sacrifice grace,
As it’s so quick to find
Something akin to our tastes.
Part 2, Social Media In the Present, Part 3, The Future of Social Media, and how today’s youth use social media available as a webcast on demand on at My ARF.
