Piers over at PSFK wrote a provocative post challenging people in the "trends" business. I'm not going to agree or disagree with his analysis here, but it did inspire me to want to continue to clarify what Ypulse is vs. what it isn't. We are not a trends consultancy or company that does research on the youth market. My background is in journalism and web content, not marketing. I became an expert aggregator and writer of snappy copy over the course of several internet writing gigs. So how did I become a "youth expert"? Part of what I think/hope comes through is my passion for this audience. I was a screwed up teen and have been constantly drawn back to this audience and this time in my own life. I began my career in the non-profit youth space working directly with inner city teen girls and worked in several teen or youth related media jobs throughout my career. I wrote a book where I got to interview lots of teens (I'm trying to make sure my next book project puts me in touch directly with lots of teens again). I scour the web every day looking for anything Gen Y related and read lots and lots of articles. Whatever insight I bring comes from my gut, not from some marketing insights methodology (does that even exist?).

That said, we link to lots of agencies that are in the trends business in our directory. We summarize research we get on the blog (and are working on becoming an aggregator and reseller of youth oriented market research). We try to include some of these perspectives at Ypulse events. We want to be the clearinghouse for all things youth, media and marketing. Just please don't ask me "what's next." If you do, I'll give you an answer based on "what's now" but I have no crystal ball nor do I sell any service that promises to give you that information.

Posted by anastasia