TrendWatcher

I recently had the opporunity to sit down with my niece who is in her senior year of college and talk with her about generational differeneces. One of the greatest influential forces on her generation is communication technology. She comes from a generation that doen't know a world without e-mail, cell phones, and personal computers. More so for my younger niece who designs web pages at conducts half a dozen simultaneous conversations on instant messaging. This technology generation grew up in a world where individuals are far more connected and networked with each other. The rate at which information and ideas diffuse within this group is phenomenal.

Those of us from an older generation may question the business model and value or application of the emergent social networking phenomena. After all, many of us have parents that instructed us not to talk to stangers and to have proper introductions. These rules do not apply in the new age electronic world, where on-line conversations and communications occur in cyberspace. I know have acquantances I only know through electonic communication. It seems that the current "fads" around social networking technology are a reflection of the subtle but profound underlying changes in the very fabric of social relationships. To the "technoid" generation, it is not new or different, but just a natural extension of what they already do.

Thoughts?

Dan Lewis


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