Katie Lorenz, Nathan Goetz, Will Johnson
I had the honor of participating on a six-person panel at the Chicago Interactive Marketing Association (CIMA) titled “Digital Natives vs. Industry Experts”. Panels can be deadly but this one was different. Troy Mastin, of the Marketing Store, provided great moderating direction before and during the panel. (It also helped that we had an hour to get to know each other over dinner and wine.)
The three ‘digital natives’ were all students or recent graduates from different schools. Each provided a unique perspective on their media usage, social media habits and preferences. Then the ‘industry experts’ – me, Brad Kleinman of the Online Marketing Institute and Jeremy Thum of the Chicago Bulls – reflected on the same questions.
Judging by the live Twitter stream projected for everyone to see, the audience liked what they heard. Here are some of the highlights from the Millennial ‘digital natives’.
Katie Lorenz
Katie Lorenz recently graduated with an MBA in Marketing from Loyola University in Chicago and is now the Manager of Communications at the American Lung Association. Katie is an avid user of digital media. She keeps her Facebook page open on her browser at work, but expects to use Facebook less in the future. As she put it, “I don’t want to be one of those sending a stream of wedding and baby pictures in my updates. I hope I’ll have more important things to do with my time in the future than social media.” (More on this in a future post!)
Katie uses Twitter to keep up on news from CNN and the WSJ as well as links from people she knows. She is an Apple enthusiast with an iPhone and Mac laptop. If you want to reach her, don’t send an email – she may answer in two weeks. Friends know to reach her via text. Katie like social coupons and is ‘sitting on four Groupons’ right now. Discounts from Groupon on yoga have enabled her to drop her gym membership.
Will Johnson
Will Johnson is a senior at Northern Illinois University majoring in Marketing. He was a resident hall assistant last year which allowed him to make observations about the students in his dorm as well. Will says he “doesn’t watch TV anymore” and would let go of his cable subscription if he had one. He observed that the students in the dorm at NIU tend to only watch live in a group setting – social TV watching. Will was the least involved with social media of the three digital natives. He just signed up for Twitter earlier in the day (two tweets!). Like Katie, he thinks Facebook will be replaced by other social networks such as new competitor, Diaspora. Unlike Katie, he finds Groupon offers irrelevant. “I’m not interested in a boat cruise no matter how inexpensive“.
Nate Goetz
Nate Goetz graduated in May 2010 from the University of Iowa, but NOT in Marketing. He doubled majored in Finance and Cinema and is pursuing a career in finance. Nate says he gets most of his information online, but isn’t partial to any site – “wherever I can get the info.” He claims to check his Facebook page frequently, ‘cracking open a new tab about every five minutes”. Nate sees no immediate use for Twitter. He carries an Android phone and thinks Apple is “a bit hyped right now.” Nate maintains you are either an Apple person or you’re not”. He also notes that PC’s are better for games, although he prefers to play games on a console. Although he enjoys games he finds constant social game updates like those from Farmville “annoying”. “Why do I care if your horse needs more hay or your lawn needs watering?”
The diversity of the panel is what made it work. All of these Millennials are a digital natives, but each has a unique approach to using digital media. What they share is an ability to make the tools of the online world work for them.
