by Brian Brady
Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL
Guy Kawasaki moderated a panel of college students in a combination panel/ focus group about marketing to the Wired generation. The results are predictably astounding.
Conversations are electronic– two users sent over 4000 text messages each month. From texting, they progress to mobile voice communication; nobody uses landlines anymore. Very few actually use the camera function of the mobile phone; they prefer digital cameras.
They use e-mail serially. Every panelist said that they can be reached via e-mail throughout the day.
Here’s the interesting part- they all use MySpace and Facebook and consider that to be the primary communication tool. When asked to explain the fascination, they all pointed to communication as the primary reason.
They read but don’t write blogs. Most read celebrity blogs and don’t comment (no surprise there). None of them knew what a RSS feed is. They rely on wikis to obtain information but are somewhat skeptical about the veracity of the information there. If they see a disclaimer from a moderator, they tune out immediately.
They rarely watch television and when they do, they use TiVo to block ads.. They watch YouTube and read magazines. Wired Magazine is on everyone’s reading list. When asked how they receive marketing communications, they pointed to celebrity users. Endorsements of a product, by a celebrity, hold a tremendous amount of value with them.
When questioned about their dream gadget, all of them requested a device that integrated an iPod, a cell phone, and a personal computer that had data safety if lost.
What does that mean to us, real estate marketers, in the next five years? These young adults will be the first time home buyers of 2010-2020. Certainly, their habits will change as they age but their commitment to communications technology and social networking will not.
Does this mean that the real estate weblog of the future will be written by Paris Hilton on Facebook? If you sell a home to Matt Leinart, you’ll want to make sure your Facebook profile publishes his video endorsement (cross-posted on YouTube). That Facebook profile will need a widget that allows for a text message question so you can provide quick, relevant information.
A fascinating video to watch.
David G says:
“When asked to explain the fascination, they all pointed to communication as the primary reason.”
… and this is why facebook will outlive myspace. FB is optimized for communication – a “social utility” as they call it. Whereas myspace is the online equivalent of a nightclub – and while the crowd is certainly interesting, it’s hard to communicate effectively over the noise.
The latest Fortune has a fascinating interview with myspace founders which gets into their defensive angst about the rise of fb. For their part, fb don’t even consider myspace to be competition.
September 26, 2007 — 8:48 am
Brian Brady says:
Agreed, David.
But don’t discount MySpace as an effective medium. The “right” client reads the New York Times and professes to be a serisl reader. That same guy spends just as much time checking out the Sports section of the Post or Daily News- he just doesn’t brag about it.
September 26, 2007 — 11:30 am
David G says:
Agreed, Brian – and excellent analogy.
September 26, 2007 — 3:50 pm
Michael Cook says:
Brian,
That article describes my friends and I perfectly, its good to know I am not old just yet.
Mike
September 27, 2007 — 9:42 am
Michelle DeRepentingy says:
My kids are 19 & 24 and they scare the hell out of me! A couple of days ago my youngest son text messaged my phone and he was no more than 300 feet from me. Their reliance on technology is incredible. My son’s girlfriend is helping me with Facebook, but trying to keep up with everything is driving me crazy!
September 27, 2007 — 10:47 am
Eddie D says:
The texting phenomenon is amazing. I’m 34 so I am a little too old for the demo, I think. My brother is 27. He just turned 27 and had a b-day party which I attended. The majority of guests were younger than him or so it seemed to me, my bro graduated from college at 24 so his friends have tended to be younger.
Anyway what amazed me was that everyone was texting. Even to people across the room. There were two girls texting back and forth and they were literally 10 feet apart from each other.
Find a way to make money from that and you’ll be rich.
September 27, 2007 — 11:12 am
Barry Cox says:
For some reason all my clients love to text. They don’t want to talk on the phone, they want to text. I on the other hand hate texting. Lol. I have a Motorola Razor right now and texting is kind of hard. Has anyone found a great phone for texting?
Nice post Brian.
September 27, 2007 — 5:36 pm
J. Ferris says:
Barry,
My Motorola Q has been great for texting but I’d recommend a Blackberry. Blackberry phones are reliable + great for texting.
By the way, for anyone wondering why people tend to text each other even if they are close by it’s because they are talking to each other in a way that other people won’t hear them (usually talking about someone nearby).
September 29, 2007 — 12:50 pm
Brian Brady says:
“they are talking to each other in a way that other people won’t hear them (usually talking about someone nearby).”
which is one more reason why I will avoid college frat parties. Thanks for the clarification, J
September 29, 2007 — 2:14 pm