- Location-based social networking (Google Maps meets Facebook with Socialight opening up its tools to mobile developers - Michael Sharon, Socialight's CEO, will be a speaker at the Ypulse Mashup in July!) (Mashable)
- Aniboom goes mobile (the ugc animation site also happens to be a Mashup speaker) (Media Post, reg. required)
- Rapping about 'The Economist' (the song, along with a new "Economist" Facebook group, is bringing an unexpected young surge of readers to the periodical) (Guardian)
- 'Truth' ads are a tad out of touch (claims AdRants citing ancient quotes from now-deceased tobacco bigwigs has little sway with teens)
A comeback for "Square Pegs" (the '80s show will be released on DVD and remade into an upcoming movie - is there anything better than pre-SATC Sarah Jessica Parker?) (Washington Post, reg. required)
- OMFG ("Gossip Girl's" gay teen character is outed. I liked the scene with mom. Plus the show regains the top spot on iTunes) (Queerty) (Lost Remote)
Correction from Anastasia: In my jet lagged state, I posted in yesterday's Essentials that 7 Eleven was doing a Rockband promotion when it was actually a Guitar Hero promo with Slurpee. Thanks Chris!
Disclaimer: I'm not a trendspotter. Ypulse has always been about aggregating, distilling and attempting to make sense of what's happening in the world of youth culture -- not predicting the future. That said, I am going to repeat my "Hot or Not" post for 2008 -- you can see last year's attempt here. This year it's more tech focused, since that has really been my focus in 2007.
Hot:
Casual games for kids. Kids are getting online and getting cell phones younger and younger. As a result we're going to continue to see a proliferation of what younger kids want most from technology -- games. Games on tween cell phones, games in kids' the ever expanding universe of virtual worlds. Once kids hit full blown tweendom, they also want to socialize, but until then, the internet and phones are still about playing. Let's make them fun and educational. Related:Another new study on what kids do online (i.e. play games).
Mobile social networking. Allison and Alan from NGT wrote about this in a Ypulse Guest Post recently. I think 2008 is the year this will really begin to take off with teens -- mostly as another way to check "email" or messages, comments, etc. via cellphone since MySpace and Facebook have replaced email as the way teens message each other. I also think it's a way for teens who either don't have access to the internet at home or who are forbidden to use these sites to participate in social networking -- MTV has already launched a mobile social network for Tr3s...
Facebook, apps instead of widgets and more "privacy." This may be the generation that is more comfortable living their lives online, but not when the people looking are adults with authority over teenagers (parents, teachers, cops, etc.). There will continue to be a migration to Facebook from MySpace as Facebook is viewed as "more private" by teenagers. Teens may keep their MySpace profiles to connect with bands and check out content, but it's becoming all about Facebook for socializing. It doesn't matter to teens that there are tons of loopholes or that adding Facebook apps exposes your personal data to marketers (though I am a proponent of opting in), it's just that most moms and dads haven't figured out how to find you there...yet. And as I alluded to the other day, this move towards private is fueling the growth of applications and apparently hurting the widget space.
As the iPhone drops in price more teens will buy iPhones. Since phones are teens' lifelines, they want everything on one device - web, music, video, photos. The iPhone is the first consumer oriented smart phone to do it. And well, teens already love their iPods...
UGC (user generated content). I don't believe the hype about the decline of user generated content -- maybe for some sites and some audiences, but UGC has always been about the Long Tail with the exception of breakout viral videos. Teens love looking taking and looking at photos of themselves, reading comments from their peers and watching videos made by other teens. This content may not be able to be monetized, but it's not going away, and if anything will continue to grow as tweens begin using their camera phones....I also think it's still a great way to engage users in a branded promotion, i.e. ugc competitions.
Not:
TV. Teens have been replacing television with the internet even before the writers' strike or at least are surfing while watching their favorite shows. But with the strike dragging on, this will only intensify and speed up in '08. I definitely don't think TV is dead for this generation, but this is just one more reason to turn it off and go online.
Podcasting. I just don't hear that much about it anymore. I know there are some high profile teen podcasters but it never quite reached the mass adoption level of blogs or even online video.
Tier 2 Social Networks. I think there is going to be a shakeout at this level. Tagged, Bebo, Sconex....all with loads of users but can they all survive with Facebook becoming more and more of a social operating system?
Internet safety as scary. I hope in some tiny way I had something to do with this. Parents don't want to hear from well meaning law enforcement or fear-based internet safety experts anymore. They got that message. Social networking, virtual worlds and all of this technology is not going away. They want to understand how it works and how it is affecting teens' socialization.
MySpace. They're still huge and not going away, but how many of their teen users are still active? I know they are focusing more and more on content, and that will always be a draw, but where teens socialize with each other is where they spend the most time online...
I'm just skimming the surface. Feel free to post your own tech or non-tech predictions, agree or disagree in the comments!
High school dropouts (get a Boost from JWT and The Army in a new interactive campaign. Some of this content is what I want to include in my virtual peer counselor app)
- 'Don't tase me bro' (is the top quote of 2007...runner up is Miss Teen South Carolina) (CBS News)
- What They Play (the video game guide for parents...who like to play, too)
- Teen angels (WWD posts the list of top female artists for teen girls from TRU...but it's behind a subscription wall. If you're a WWD subscriber, post the list in the comments for Ypulse readers!)
- We're still number 1! (MTV reminds us in a press release. Didn't MySpace also do this recently in the wake of Facebook competition? And it's quality shows like the planned Tila Tequila spin-off that keep them on top) (Hollywood Reporter)
Our latest guest post is from our friends Alan Rambam and Allison Mooney at Next Great Thing, the insights arm of Fleishman-Hillard's Youth and Mobile Marketing Group. I mentioned mobile (in the US) was finally moving beyond voice and data in the Ypulse [Y]ear in Review post last week, but Alan and Allison offer a detailed glimpse of what's next by looking to Asian youth who have always been on the cutting edge when it comes to mobile adoption. Remember, you can participate in the Ypulse Guest Post program by emailing me your idea, and a bit about your youth media or marketing background. You don't have to be a marketer to post! Ypulse welcomes posts from content producers, educators and non-profit professionals, too!
Looking to Asian Youth for 2008 Mobile Trends
Coolhunters have always looked to Asia for what's hot. Not just because youth in Tokyo, Shanghai and Seoul are super-trendy, but when it comes to technology, these cities are far more enabled than we are. This is especially true when it comes to wireless technology.
Mobile is the new ultimate global youth convergence platform. Asian youth represent a fifth of the earth's population and many of them are leapfrogging past the Internet directly to mobile. The wireless handset is their "first screen," and it's merging with the Internet into one seamless communications medium. At NGT we've been tracking Asian Youth trends for years, and we will continue to look to them as a trend beacon for mobile in 2008. Here are a few key areas that we'll be watching:
Social networking sites (SNS) are as hot in Asia as they are in the States, if not more so.
Social networks are only successful if they capture the unique cultural nuances of the cities where they originate. This is extremely important in Asia where privacy is a big concern, and there is a high level of comfort with written communications over spoken word or face-to-face interactions.
SNS sites enable youth to stay connected to their ever-expanding networks of friends. It is only natural that they will be enabled on the handset -- a personal "always-on" communications device. We are just getting started in the U.S. with the mobile version of sites like MySpace and Facebook, which are getting increasingly easier to access and interface with inside the mobile ecosystem. However, these early applications have a long way to go in terms of connectivity and location-centric access that is a must for all brands, large and small.
In Japan, Mixi, the most popular SNS, hit over 100 million page views in one day last January. Softbank put links in its Yahoo! mobile portal to Mixi Mobile and others including MySpace Mobile and Gree. The mobile version of Gree, EZ GREE, surpassed 1 million members in October, and parent company KDDI plans to integrate more carrier- led mobile data offerings, notably location-based services, going forward.
Speaking of LBS, since Asia has much better GPS penetration, it's become the launching pad for this exciting technology. Take mincle, a mobile social mapping service that pinpoints and shares a user's favorite locations with others in real time. Viacom also decided to test the waters with its ad-supported mobile SNS, myMTV in Asia.
As social networks are melding with virtual worlds and games -- a trend that started in Asia -- avatar-based SNS are likewise moving onto the handset. Softbank Mobile's S! Town, launched last November, was the first 3D world for cell phones. Mobagetown and Chipuya Town are the hot properties right now. These Japanese social networks are centered on casual mobile gaming. Members earn currency to pimp their avatars by watching ads, interacting, and signing up friends. Mobagetown hit 4 million users this past March. As Chipuya Town's virtual world mimics the real one, offline purchasing is probably not far down the road for this and many other SNS/Avatar based services in Asia.
In this vein, there is a huge opportunity for mobile to extend into real-life interactions and purchases. Driving this are Bar Codes, also known as Kool Tags (Singapore), Quick Response (QR) codes (Japan) and Semacodes (US and Europe). These codes contain information such as URLs that can be decoded using software on a camera phone. QR codes are very popular in Japan, often appearing in magazines, on signs, buses, even business cards. By allowing users to send out invitations via QR codes, Mixi Mobile was able to reach that impressive 100 million mark. We've had barcode technology for awhile in the US, but it's not widely used. However, today's new advanced and GPS-enabled handsets are stimulating demand for improvements in mobile advertising and media personalization.
NTT Docomo really made the "mobile wallet" a reality with its i-mode mobile payment system. The carrier collects user payments for vendors, and the money is automatically deducted from consumer's monthly bills. As one of our NGT correspondents in Tokyo told us, this method is incredibly popular among Japanese women. In fact, it can often be cheaper to buy products via mobile (not to mention easier!) We have heard some rumblings from a few carriers and brands that they are planning some very targeted carrier-enabled mobile purchasing pilots in the US in 2008. So, maybe next year you will be able to all of your Christmas shopping on the way to mom's house.
It's no wonder young people in Asia spend twice as much time on the mobile Internet as they do consuming traditional media. Not only can you shop, but you have that web wonder, the widget. These RSS-powered "tiles" will become the entry point to the mobile web with the iPhone, Yahoo! Go and startups like Zumobi leading the way. The next use of RSS is already manifesting itself in Asia with ticker tape news. These CNN-like feeds let you read the news in real time as it scrolls across the bottom of your phone. NTT DoCoMo was first to launch this subscription service on its portal. 18 months after launch, NTT DoCoMo reports that it has already 8 million paying subscribers to the service (16% of all subscribers). And you thought the iPhone was cool...
2008 will be a big year for mobile in the US as the proliferation of 3G handsets will bring about a host of new mobile applications and functionality. It is still going to be a slow adoption process here, but the move towards open platforms (Google's Android, Verizon, Nokia) will help to spur a sea change. In the meantime, we can peak into the future across the Ocean and look forward to the coming years.
Alan is Senior Vice President, Senior Partner, NGT and Allison is Director of Trends & Research, NGT.
It's that time of year, where I attempt to look back and highlight what I thought were some of the biggest trends in 2007. For fun, check out the Hot or Not post for 2007 I wrote in 2006. As always, feel free to add your own 2007 top trends in the comments!
Virtual world explosion...for kids & tweens
I have no doubt that virtual worlds, like Habbo Hotel, Zwinktopia, Gaia Online, There and MTV's worlds have become a hit with millions of teenagers. I just don't sense that it's teens en masse quite yet. But I think eMarketer got it right when they predicted that "by 2011, 53% of them will be going virtual." This year, the real explosion of virtual worlds happened for kids and tweens. Club Penguin and Webkinz can almost be seen as the mothers or fathers of the next wave of virtual worlds for kids. Disney (which now owns Club Penguin in addition to several other virtual worlds of its own), Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network all jumped in. With Barbie, Bratz, Trollz, Ty Girls, LEGO and several other toy-inspired worlds launching or planning to launch in 2008. Not to mention all of the independent kid/tween worlds like Cartoon Doll Emporium, Girl Sense, and Whyville (which has been around much longer). Ypulse pal Izzy Neis is maintaining lists of existing tween virtual worlds as well as those in beta. Obviously, this is raising a lot of questions and concerns among parents around how safe they are, as well as how much time kids are spending in these worlds, what they're learning, in-world cyberbullying including theft of virtual goods, and the level of commercialism kids are exposed to. And with Dr. Phil calling it a "shocking teen trend" using his mass media microphone, I wonder whether we're looking at the moral panic around social networking sites moving on to the virtual world space.
For a lot of complicated reasons beyond my cursory knowledge of the mobile space, U.S. teens have always lagged behind teens in Europe and Asia when it comes to using their cell phones for just about everything. I sensed a shift this year. Maybe it was MySpace and Facebook going mobile, the continued attempts at making phones competitive with iPods as MP3 players or maybe it was the launch of the iPhone from a brand teens love showing all of us how much we can actually do with our phones. Now that tweens are getting cell phones at earlier ages (Nielsen just reported 35 percent of 8-12 year olds have them), we're going to see an expansion of mobile gaming for this demographic as well -- remember for tweens it's all about games.
Don't get me wrong -- I like reading my US Magazines at the nail salon as much as the next woman, but this year celebrity gossip went wild. I remember when there was outcry of the Gawker stalker feature -- now there's TMZ tracking celebrities' every move (and every court filing) online and on air, just waiting for them to screw up. Larry King is interviewing Paris Hilton. Perez Hilton got his own show on vh1. Yahoo! launched OMG and Trent from Pink is the New Blog relocated from Detroit to L.A. where he can cover his idols up close. Pop Sugar has done so well with its vapid postings of celebrity photos, it has allowed them to launch tons of new niche Sugar blogs. I'm not sure how any teen idol or celebrity spokesperson can withstand the constant scrutiny or remain completely untarnished. More importantly, the barrage of coverage allows us to escape the more serious issues (like the war in Iraq) we should be paying closer attention to.
In 2006, I really believe teens did not understand that the internet is a public space. After a year of moral panic, sensational media coverage, internet safety talks given by law enforcement and the drama resulting from inappropriate posts, parties being busted and cyberbullying incidents, teens have begun making their profiles private. According to research from Pew, 66 percent of teens on social networking sites are limiting some aspect of their profile. But if we've learned anything about this generation, it's that they're still way more comfortable than older generations living huge chunks of their lives online -- as long as they get to control how it's being shared. Ironically, Facebook, a company started by Gen Yers, is continuing to learn this lesson.
Marketing to Teens Online: Online marketing not only invades privacy; it often misses the mark. An "opt-in" system would protect kids and help advertisers target customers
The Wii redefines what it means to be a gamer
In 2007, the Wii became the sales leader of its generation of consoles and basically opened up video gaming once again to non-hardcore gamers (more girls, parents and even elderly people are playing Wii sports). We also saw another push from the industry in general this year to develop more girl-friendly games -- it was largely unsuccessful in the 90s with the exception of The Sims, but with so many tweens of both genders growing up playing casual games, the timing may now be right.
OMG! The Pope just texted me! (Pope Benedict will send inspirational messages on "World Youth Day") (via Yahoo! News)
Casual games for kids. Kids are getting online and getting cell phones younger and younger. As a result we're going to continue to see a proliferation of what younger kids want most from technology -- games. Games on tween cell phones, games in kids' the ever expanding universe of virtual worlds. Once kids hit full blown tweendom, they also want to socialize, but until then, the internet and phones are still about playing. Let's make them fun and educational. Related: 
Coolhunters have always looked to Asia for what's hot. Not just because youth in Tokyo, Shanghai and Seoul are super-trendy, but when it comes to technology, these cities are far more enabled than we are. This is especially true when it comes to wireless technology. 
SNS sites enable youth to stay connected to their ever-expanding networks of friends. It is only natural that they will be enabled on the handset -- a personal "always-on" communications device. We are just getting started in the U.S. with the mobile version of sites like MySpace and Facebook, which are getting increasingly easier to access and interface with inside the mobile ecosystem. However, these early applications have a long way to go in terms of connectivity and location-centric access that is a must for all brands, large and small.
