@MTVInsights

MILLENNIAL BIZ BITE: BUCKETFEET

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:52:00 -0400

by alison hillhouse

As entrepreneurship is such a key part of the Millennial generation’s DNA, you can see how this generation’s values are manifesting in the businesses they give birth to. In this series of posts, we’ll look at GenY businesses and how they reflect generational intent.

On a recent trip to Chicago, I bought a pair of sneakers from mostly-Millennial start-up Bucketfeet. Their mission is to give “talented artists a platform to showcase their art” and to get their fans “awesome, original shoes so they can stand out from the crowd.” It’s a very Millennial sentiment – sneakers with a purpose, that also provide a vehicle for self-expression.

As Bobby Stephens, COO of Bucketfeet said, “Wearing something that is different, colorful and unique is for someone who wants to get noticed… the shoes are a vehicle for people to start a conversation and tell a story. You aren’t just wearing Nike.” He showed us one pair of shoes created by a Columbian fine arts professor named “Fat Sugar”… and another by Sophie Roach, a young sketch artist from Austin, Texas.

To give you material for “the story of your shoes,” a personal note from the artist accompanies every pair:

Bucketfeet has rooted itself (for now) at Catapult, a largely Millennial co-working space in downtown Chicago. It’s chock-full of businesses espousing Millennial innovation mantras (crowdsourcing, customization, DIY, etc.) A few were:

· StyleSeek - analyzes your “fashion DNA” to provide shopping recommendations

· MentorMob – a how-to-DIY-anything social network, “changing the way you learn by leveraging the wisdom of the crowd”

· shiftgig- a career networking site for the service industry

Bobby of Bucketfeet described the atmosphere:“Catapult is an exciting environment, with good collaboration and idea sharing. There’s no competition- it’s all about cooperation, how can we grow as a community?” And general manager April Lane noted, “Five years ago, you could fit the entire Chicago entrepreneurship scene in a space like Catapult… but now it’s just exploded.”

X-HEALTHY

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:10:00 -0400

By Jillian Curran, MTV Insights

We always pay attention when Millennials push a boundary, so most recently we’ve been looking at the generation’s relationship to diet and exercise regimes. Veganism, Juice Cleanses, and Gluten Free diets (used specifically for weight loss) are gaining momentum on college campuses; many girls are even starting their own blogs/Tumblrs to promote and show off their healthy lifestyle.

We’ve also seen a trend in bodybuilding and lifting among girls, as one panelist told us, “There are actually some girls on my Facebook who have taken up bodybuilding and post picture updates of their bulging muscles regularly. And one is kind of a girly girl, so I didn’t expect that. They’re not just wanting toned muscles, but muscles bigger than most guys have. The app “Watch Me Change My Weight (a time-lapse video of your fitness progress) is also popular. “ Many blogs and tumblrs are dedicated to this trend under the tag #fitspo, #fitspiration, and #Fitblr, curating workouts, diets and inspirational messages for motivation.

Running a half marathon or participating in a triathlon is “NBD”, “everyone does them” (and “humblebrags” about their workouts on Facebook). People are even entering out of-the-box competitions like Tough Mudder, Warrior Dash, and Spartan Race that showcase crawling under barbed wire, jumping in freezing cold pools of water and running through fire.

We cant tell yet if it’s perfectionism, one-up-manship, sensation-seeking or some new dynamic driving this trend, but we’ll keep watching it closely and making mental notes while taking our Soul Cycle classes!

TUMBLR FAMOUS...THE NEW 'X-FACTOR?"

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:30:44 -0400

To paraphrase Warhol, everyone seems to be getting their 15 minutes of “Tumblr Fame.” The “Tumblr Famous,” those who gather a serious following and through this highly platform-specific notoriety, are multiplying.

TF is an interesting new development in the story of social media’s ability to create ‘distributed fame.’ What’s quite intriguing here is how hard it is to put your finger on what exactly is driving the popularity of any individual TF. It’s not “famous for nothing,” as some media commentators have claimed. Their followers clearly find something captivating about them. But what exactly is that elusive ‘x factor’ that’s so hooky with the follower fans?

It seems that the TFs are operating as “brand-lettes”…micro-brands broadcasting in a very specific, distinctive, authentic “micro voice,” and on a very particular “dog whistle” frequency: inaudible to many, a clarion call to some. This micro-branding is often playing with one or more quite sophisticated principles of good mass communication. For example…

Visual voice: Many popular bloggers can be identified by the visual vibe of their page or personal style. Molly Soda, for example, has fans who emulate her very particular look.

Editorial voice: Some popular Tumblr users include info and photos from their actual lives, but many don’t. “Deep” use of the reblogging function of Tumblr Tumblr to curate with a very particular viewpoint. This curatorial, filtered view appears to creating a kind of intimacy with the follower that that is especially compelling.

Relatable voice: Marketers have struggled for decades to create the illusion of relatable. So-called “Slice of life” advertising was coined for just this reason. “Hey, recognize this scene? Yes, it’s your life. Well here’s how this product makes it better…” By screen grabbing the stuff of their everyday lives and making a channel of it, TFs are creating complete authentic slices of life that invite the follower in to say “I know you, I recognize myself (or see my aspirational self) there, we are ‘friends’….”

Some of the “Tumblr Famous” are drawing in as many fans as mainstream celebrities. Clearly we are witnessing another chapter in the flattening of the field between the famous and the fan. One the one hand the distance between the famous and the fan is collapsing as we have discussed before (link to zero distance), and on the other the tools and techniques of fame are now in the hands of everyone, fueled by powerful platforms to bring that to full expression.

What's the Future of.... Celeb/Fan interaction in Social Media?

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:17:00 -0500

By Alison Hillhouse, MTV Insights

Thanks to Twitter, Diplo can invite fans to graffiti his photos, Khloe Kardashian wishes followers good luck on midterms and fans truly believe “artists can be your best friends.” MTV has been talking with Millennials about this narrowing distance between fans & celebs … we call it “Zero Distancing.”

In a panel @MTVInsights hosted during Social Media Week, Millennial super-fans painted a picture of what today’s intimate interactions with celebs looks like. Here’s what we heard:

· Rewards in Re-tweets: Kassie, 22, went backstage to show the famous DJ Diplo her “Diplo Kitty” nails. “He Instagrammed this shot… and it made my life,” she explains. She also talked about when he invited fans to creatively alter a photo of him, and “make it trippy.” Kassie’s photo-editing creativity earned her a re-tweet. She says, “A re-tweet seems small, but it’s so rewarding… it shows me he acknowledges what I did and makes me even more obsessed with him.”

· Behind-the-Behind-the-Scenes: Devi, 18, loves One Directions’ behind-the-behind-the-scenes Tweets, whether it’s Zane taking a photo of Harry sleeping or the guys posting a goofing-off video when fans thought they would’ve been rehearsing. “It gives you insight into what they do all day… and we get to see this side of them that not all artists share.”

· Punctuation Perfectionists: Emily, 17, notes that One Direction fans are OBSESSIVE about every character in every Tweet from their favorite band. “We notice all the little things, where they put periods; how they do smiley faces… we know right away when something is off.” Like when a manager takes over. “It irks us. We know that’s not Liam. That period wouldn’t be there. We know Liam can’t spell.”

Real Love: Nicole, 14, gets real love and friendship from Khloe on Twitter. Khloe’s sent her advice on studying and offered well wishes when she was sick with the flu. Nicole says“It’s honestly like I know her, even though we’ve never met… it’s like we just have a relationship. I love her.” She explains that every Friday Khloe has FanFriday and will post a picture someone made for her on Twitter… here’s Nicole’s, along with Khloe’s glowing feedback:

So…What’s the Future? Through hack sessions MTV orchestrated with Millennial super-fans, we learned they are eager for 3 things from their favorite celebs or artists:

1. More “creative challenges” rewarded: True super-fans aren’t opposed to working for celeb-love… in fact it’s even preferred. They want to Photoshop images, go on scavenger hunts, write funny one-liners, and then be rewarded by their favorite celeb with something as simple as a re-tweet or as big as a special Meet & Greet for their city

2. Co-creation opportunities: Super-fans want to be part of the creative process , whether that’s contributing song lyrics, designing album covers or voting on merchandise. Devi, 18, dreams of a world where fans design official merchandise in place of the “cheesy” OD-branded UGGs… and a contest where a fan gets to serve as photojournalist and take over OD’s Instagram feed for a day.

3. Tapping the creative jugular: We’ve heard that celeb Instagram feeds are hot because they are like “mainlining” into the artist’s creative jugular. And our fans are looking for more vehicles to get this intimate revelation as to what inspires their favorite celeb… whether that’s through celeb-generated playlists on Spotify or inspirational photos. They want more than just in-the-moment status updates… they want to get inside celebs’ brains and unpack what inspires them to actually create.

To read more about celebs and “zero-distancing”, check out our initial post here. A recap on @MTVInsights at social media week can be found on the Social Times

This is your brain on Instagram

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 17:07:00 -0500

by Nick Shore, MTV Insights

“We have been taking a lot of disposable camera photos and when the light is low, sometimes they create this pixelated amazingness.” - photo & quote from Beach House

In the movie Being John Malkovich, when confronted with the surreal truth that people had been renting space behind his eyes, JM famously melts down, screaming “But it’s my HEAD”. However, if it were say 2013, and Malkovich were, say, the lead singer of an indie band or an EDM DJ, he might have just given an n.b.d. shoulder shrug, or even put a logo on it…..

We have been hearing more and more in our work about how social media, particularly visual forms like Instagram, have created an “open source” portal directly into the “midstream” of artists, musicians and so on, a stream that can be accessed directly by anyone.

“…following a band on instagram is like literally seeing the world through their eyes…” said John, a 20 year old on a panel we ran connecting young fans with music industry executives recently in Los Angeles. ”it’s like what they see, you see, in real time…”

This dynamic runs even deeper though, we think, based on what we have been hearing more and more frequently from our audeince of late. It is as if social media forms like Tumblr provide direct access to the actual creative inspiration, process and “spirit” of the artist/musician/talent.

The experience is like plugging directly into their “creative jugular” as one 20-something music fan described it, “and mainlining it”.

It’s a fascinating modern development for a generation that runs on high octane creativity and inspiration. We have known for some time that in this culture of celebrity everyone wants to get behind-the-behind-the scenes. Yesterday at Social Media Week we discussed what we call the Zero Distancing between those in front of and those behind the screen. But “mainlining” into the creative wellspring of the famous seems like a whole new, almost narcotic level. “It’s a rush” one panelist commented…”like, this is your brain….this is your brain on Instagram”.

Adulting

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 16:56:59 -0500

By Jillian Curran, MTV Insights

A whole slew of social commentary has emerged about what it’s like to be 20-something today, with sites gaining momentum like F*ck I’m in my 20s, Thought Catalog and Adulting. On these blogs, Millennials try to dissect the dos/don’t of this somewhat ambiguous life stage in the confusing and chaotic world today…. as Adulting puts it “figure out how to be a grown-up in 468 easy(ish) steps.” Our panelists often express similar feelings. Mike, 24 says, “We’re not really sure when we’re supposed to become ‘adults’ and I’m not sure if I’ll ever really feel like one.”

As we study this generation, we are seeing this constant need to know the “why” behind the “what.” As “natural researchers”, Millennials are always trying to decode issue and figure out a lifehack for it. It’s not surprising that they are collaborating and working out the rules of modern adulthood together in a funny and even self- deprecating way in these kind of forums. “This content is self-deprecating and honest, giving young people a platform to bitch, learn and figure it all out together.” Explains one of our panelists

All the self-reflection is perhaps not so surprising. There is so much conversation & media commentary out there about what it means to “grow up Millennial” and run headlong into an adulthood laced with unemployment and mounds of student debt. “20-something-milestones” and “before-30 bucket lists” abound. It’s so much a work in process these days, that adult has morphed from a noun to a verb!

Zero-Distancing: The Collapsing Distance Between Fan & Celebrity

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:53:00 -0500

By Alison Hillhouse, MTV Insights

* Here’s a sneak peak of what’s to come in @MTVInsights presentation at Social Media Week NYC on Feb 20^th *

It’s no longer unusual for the biggest pop star in the world to wish you luck on your math test, or for a reality star to forgo therapy and solicit advice from 8 million teen fans. The pedestal has been dismantled by social media tools in the hands of a generation that loves to flatten hierarchies. We indeed live in a flat world where fans demand not just a VIP pass to celebs, artists and entertainment experiences, but an eye-to-eye view.

This is the age of “Zero-distancing”

As Julian, 21, says “Today, artists can be your best friends.” So conversations like this between Nicole (@trukardashfan) and Khole Kardashian about Nicole’s upcoming midterms aren’t unusual:

As Nicole says, “Khloé always makes time to talk to all of her fans. Whenever I get a tweet from her it makes me so happy because it feels like we are close since we communicate often.”

Millennials also crave intimate glimpses into the mundane daily activities of their favorite celebrities, such as Taylor’s cat claw clipping:

We hear from Millennials that they click through various social media channels to get different perspectives into a celeb’s life, like different video camera angles at a live performance. Each social media channel serves a distinct & unique purpose:

· Facebook is the most “formal and official outlet” for tour updates and information

· Twitter offers a “blow-by-blow feed”, and highlights interactions with other celebrities

· Instagram provides a direct line into their literal world-view, like “seeing the world through their eyes”

· Tumblr is the most intimate glimpse into an artists’ psyche/spirit. Jessica, 25, explains that it allows fans to get a authentic glimpse into an artist’s creative inspiration and process… it “shows how artists express themselves, the aesthetic that makes them tick.”

@MTVInsights will be speaking more about “zero-distancing” on February 20^th at New York’s Social Media Week. We’ll start with a teen panel who will speak about their virtually-intimate relationships with celebs in social media, and then be joined by Viacom stars who will speak about their experience interacting with fans:

· Nev Schulman from MTV’s “Catfish: The TV Show”

· Drita D’Avanzo from VH1’s “Mob Wives”

· Cody Alan from CMT’s “Hot 20 Countdown” and nightly syndicated radio show, “CMT Radio Live with Cody Alan”

· Ivy Winters from Logo’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race”

Sign up here! Event will take place at Viacom’s headquarters in Times Square, 1515 Broadway.

(This article was originally published as a guest-post at Social Media Week)

The End of the (Material) World

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:50:00 -0500

By Nick Shore, MTV Insights

At the end of 2012, we were having an @mtvinsights dinner with a little crew of 13 to15-year-olds, asking about their world and lives as the year came to a close.

The thing that struck me as especially poignant from the conversation was a response by one 14-year-old girl when I asked about how she thought the world would change in the next few years. “Newspapers will probably become extinct in our lifetime,” she said, “and we may be the last kids to use actual books in school. They are already starting to get iPads for us.”

The sense she conveyed was that the material world is in some ways disappearing before her very eyes. There was a distinct note of ennui in her voice. Or maybe it was the way my ears were tuned, since our discussions were taking place right before the end of the Mayan calendar. The world didn’t end, I reflected on December 22^nd when we all woke up in one piece, but maybe it is ending in a way; a more curious way than we could ever have imagined.

Things have always disappeared and been replaced by the new: horse & buggy to motor car, Betamax to VHS, etc. But is there a difference, I wondered, when something disappears into a string of 1’s and zeros? And what will it feel like to a generation who grew up watching this dynamic speed up, where materialism sprints ever more quickly towards the non-material?

I had a glimpse into the answer to my own question last week when I saw my own 15-year-old daughter listening to one of my songs on her iPhone.

“Where did you get that song?” I asked.

”From my Cloud….oh, no, actually from your Cloud” she said.

“Hey, you, get off my cloud” I managed to restrain myself from saying/singing. But to her, it’s clear and unquestionable that most everything’s just floating up there; sent up into the atmosphere like all the stuff needed to make a new home in space, should the one we currently inhabit ever crumble or start to disappear.

Love Stuck: The Meandering Path From Hook-Up to FBO

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:01:00 -0500

By Alison Hillhouse, MTV Insights

It seems everyone these days is bemoaning the state of 20-something relationships, from The Atlantic to the New York Times to Thought Catalog. Just this weekend, the NY Times published The End of Courtship,lamenting that hook-up culture has replaced traditional dating. MTV’s audience agrees – in fact, 8 in 10 18-24 year old viewers say they wish that “dating were more common than just hooking up.” And perhaps surprising to some – that number is the same for both males and females.

In this day of ambiguous text messaging, Facebook stalking and morphing gender roles, MTV research shows that Millennials are having an increasingly difficult time navigating the path from casual hook-ups to FBO. It seems to look something like this:

As Maddy, 21 explains ““Relationships tend to either be married or hooking up. We don’t know what’s in-between.”

We see a lot of what we call “faux-stalgia” among young men & women for the dating rituals of their parents’ era… an era they never actually even experienced firsthand. One collegiate woman said, “Today, it’s not about a conversation at a party and then a date… it’s all about Facebook and texting and will he change our status to FBO. If it’s not FBO, it’s not real. Back in my parents’ day, it wasn’t like that.”

Obviously technology plays a part in muddying the waters, as it facilitates a new “permissible vagueness” in today’s relationships (late night ‘heyyyyyy’ texts, casual encounters, etc.). Plus, there’s less societal pressure to settle down in your early 20’s. A few more interesting dynamics of “love-stuckness” we’ve seen:

Initiation Conundrum

Morphing gender roles (rise of the alpha female) have led to a world where it’s unclear who should initiate in heterosexual relationships. While girls complain that guys don’t do enough, likewise, many guys are frustrated that girls don’t play a bigger role.

Consider these two stats: 76% of girls say guys don’t take enough initiative in relationships… and 64% of guys say girls should take more of a role initiating relationships. Though the first-date-rule still holds relatively sacred (both genders generally believe guys should organize and pay), guys feel that girls should play a bigger part in pre-first-date-initiation, and also the facilitation of future dates.

A lot of young men confess to us they are “terrified” of approaching women in bars who can often be “total bitches,” and also harbor some concern they will offend women for offering to pay. Meanwhile, a majority of the young women in our panels say they crave the storybook romance they see in The Notebook and Disney movies.

But my stock is rising…

The ‘more fish in the sea’ adage has never been more true, with the plethora of online dating sites available to ‘shop’ for mates, a giant pool of Facebook ‘friends of friends,’ and many apps that facilitate meeting potentials (we’ve heard tales of people meeting on Words with Friends, and even a guy who picks up girls through Yelp reviews he writes). So not surprisingly, a lot of people just don’t want to commit. As one of our panelists who has had a great deal of success with online dating puts it: “Why should I sell if my stock is rising?”

Faux Sex and the City Mentality

Millennials have a love/hate relationship with hooking up. As the author of The End of Men explains in the NY Times “Nobody says, ‘I love the hookup culture,’ and nobody says, ‘I want it to change and go back.’ ” A lot of our panelists feel conflicted about this dynamic, and many who long for something more serious say they put on a front that they are “cool” with a casual hook-up.

So perhaps not surprisingly, we’ve seen Millennials turn to tech for answers (or at least for a good laugh.) There’s apps like Drunk Dial NO! that don’t allow you to text certain people after a certain hour, and sites like hetexted.com that help you decipher text messages. So maybe now you can finally have some closure as to what that “it was cool to hang out” text really means…

Male-ennials...and the Rise of the Wolfpack

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 10:34:32 -0500

By Jill Bromann, MTV

photo credit: College Humor

Guys have moved in packs ever since they were hunting with spears, and the concept of the “bromance” and “metrosexual” are at least as old as is I Love You, Man. However, there are significant and noteworthy new dynamics emerging with guys’ relationships with other guys that seem to be driven by a changing social, economic and cultural landscape.

Male-ennials are More Open than Ever Before

In a recent MTV survey, we found that nearly half of our male 18-24 year-old respondents reported that they “share emotional stuff” with their guy friends, representing a clear difference from similar research conducted as recently as a few decades ago that bemoaned the lack of emotional intimacy in male friendships. We theorize that an underlying force – the mothers of Male-ennials – has inspired more closeness among guys

Compared to mothers of previous generations, the mothers of Male-ennials instilled values of open communication within their children from a young age. Many Male-ennials were raised by moms who came of age during the height of the second wave of feminism (e.g., the bra-burning of the 1960s and 1970s), and certainly were influenced as mothers by the zeitgeist of their formative years. Contrary to the parenting they received, these mothers encouraged their sons to express themselves, rather than bottling their emotions.

Turning to Bros and “father Google” to Navigate Masculinity

At the other end of the parenting dynamic, many Male-ennials grew up feeling that their dads were from a less enlightened frame of mind, and thus unable to weigh in on navigating important social areas of their lives such as relationships within social media, or the complicated space of being a 20-something guy in a challenging economy. Without his dad’s guidance on key issues, one Male-ennial told us his friends resort to “father Google” and often collaborate with their fellow peers as they figure out the evolving face of masculinity together.

Broculture Dominates their Social Life

The rise of increasingly elaborate male bonding activities and badges of wolfpack identity, such as matching accessories and “family portraits” of guy friends sent out as holiday cards, reflect how guys today are both self-referentially mocking and embracing “broculture” as never before. One group of guy friends indicated expressing their bro solidarity by wearing matching Swatches while living in various time zones. Another group of friends reportedly band up and ride around to bars in matching cruiser bikes on the weekends

Wolfpack proudly displays each friend’s matching Swatch.

Extended Bachelorhood Changes the Game

The advent of “mancations” and “bro-outs” over fantasy football teams are another manifestation of the increasing length of time guys remain bachelors. The median age at first marriage has consistently risen since the birth of Millennials in the 1980s, from 24.7 for men in 1980 to 28.2 in 2010. Compare the current timeline of bachelorhood to Male-ennials’ generational predecessors, and the difference is striking: guys from the previous generation dedicated more time and savings on raising families as relatively younger men than guys today. As Male-ennials enjoy singlehood longer, they can reap the bro-ish perpetuation of their college-era friendships, with more time on their hands and greater discretionary incomes to spend on activities with guy friends.

Wolfpack dresses up in pink flamingo costumes during biannual guy’s trip to teh Bay the Breakers footrace in San Francisco.

It seems that today’s guys have been inspired by the “bromance,” in the Urban Dictionary defn: “the complicated love and affection shared by two straight males.”…and turned the page for “wolfpack,” defn: “a brotherhood of attractive male friends who are bonded together by concentrated awesomeness.”

The Loopers

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 14:07:00 -0500

By Alison Hillhouse, MTV Insights

Constant feedback looping is a way of life for Millennials, who grew up with “full on” parenting, as well as the omnipotent social media machine, powered by “likes”, lols, RTs and <3333333333. So it’s not surprising that Millennials are creating new apps, sites and forms of digiquette that fuel the loop. In chatting with MTV’s Inner Circle, our college trend panel, we’ve learned about two new feedback mechanisms gaining momentum at universities:

- Anonymous compliment sites – Compliment Facebook pages have been cropping up for colleges around the country — students anonymously post compliments for friends, crushes and randoms in their Psych 101 class. While compliments run the gamut between sincere and joke, most seem to reflect a witty hybrid of both. A sampling:

o “_____ has her sh*t together more than anyone I know. The most beautiful and the most insightful.” ~Kenyon compliments

o “______, every time I see you I just feel happy …. Also, you make a mean Spotify playlist.” ~Kenyon compliments

o “____, you are like the kidney of Hamilton College. People abuse you sometimes, but everyone loves you and needs you no matter what.” ~ Hamilton compliments

o “_____ has a neat beard, a cool personality, and rocks at social media (texting, twitter, and stuff like that)! He’s also nice. Xoxo” ~Michigan Law compliments

- Lulu- This new app is exploding at the University of Florida and other campuses down South – it allows girls to rate guys in their Facebook network across a variety of dimensions from manners to sense of humor to commitment potential. Each guy is also assigned positive hashtags (e.g. #WillSeeRomComs or #Perfect Grammar or #SexualPanther) and negative ones (e.g. #IntegrityChallenged or #Worlds Worst Massages).

Many guys are obsessed with their rankings and feedback, and are clamoring to check girl friends’ cell phones to check their latest status. And when they aren’t pleased, we’re seeing responses in Twitter like this:

Tweet: “I HAVE TROUBLE WITH COMMITMENT?!?! YOU INSIGHTFUL BITCH! #Luluproblems #yoursoright”

With all the interest in soliciting “likes” & positive feedback across different platforms, we’ve also heard rumblings of annoyance that peers are so feedback obsessed. Some of this is reflected in snarky or fake posts seen on these sites. Regardless, we don’t see the “looping” trend reversing anytime soon.

Safe Sex 2.0?

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:47:00 -0500

By Matt Cohen, MTV Insights
@matthewscohen

In true Millennial fashion, the students behind the recently-launched “NYU Hook Ups” Facebook page are taking an organized and responsible approach to…well, anonymous sex. Tackling their new venture with the same dedication and efficiency they’d normally reserve for an extracurricular activity, these students are helping classmates hook up faster and smarter.

Why waste time scanning through hundreds of OKCupid profiles when you can post anonymously on NYU Hook Ups and wait for the “Likes” from potential hook up buddies to roll in?

Some of “NYU Hook Ups” safety and efficiency features include:

a 2-step verification process to confirm that hook-up seekers are actual NYU students (No need to open yourself up to Craigslist randos when you can stay within the safety of your college bubble)
a commitment to keeping post-ers “100% anonymous” and to “hook[ing] you up in less than 24 hours” (Sure beats Match.com’s six-month guarantee)
an advisory urging users to “be careful” and “always make sure to use condoms” (Thank you free NYC condoms!)

As Millennials take unexpectedly responsible approaches towards other “taboo” or “rebellious” behaviors – whether it’s serving as the sober “babysitter” for a friend who is planning to get wasted or using home testing kits to make sure their molly is free of “harmful substances” – this generation is truly redefining what it means to have “good clean fun.”

UPDATE: NYU Hook Ups announced yesterday that they will be transitioning over to a full site with a more sophisticated interface. Could we be witnessing the birth of a new start-up?

Twitter is Trending

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:20:00 -0500

By Alison Hillhouse, MTV Insights

Twitter is on trend with Millennials, particularly teenagers who are looking for a more coded, parent-free and conversational platform to chat & share pics.

Time spent on Twitter has climbed significantly in the past year amongst young Millennials aged 12-24: total minutes spent Tweeting on a PC/Mac are up +94% (Oct to Oct) and up 62% on mobile (ages 18-24; both app+mobile site).

Of course, Facebook is still the elephant in the room, or the mammoth we should say. Its 34.3M 12-24 year-old users dwarf Twitters’ 12.4M (on Mac/PC, Oct.) But the fact that Twitter is picking up steam is something to explore further. MTV Insights hears more & more teens across the country getting excited about Twitter, and here are a few of its advantages…

Parent-Free

The age-old teen cry “get out of my room” has now translated to social media. While Millennials often have more peer-like relationships with parents, this doesn’t mean that they want parents involved in their online social life. A group of high school boys from Cincinnati revealed to us: “the good thing about Twitter is parents aren’t on it.”

Subtweeting

The 144-character-limit to Tweets naturally gives rise to a more coded language amongst teens; one that not only parents have difficulty interpreting, but also friends who aren’t in on the joke/storyline. Teens frequently “subtweet,” or post coded/vague messages that only the right receiver will be able to interpret (messages that often give rise to intense speculation amongst classmates interested in that night’s drama…)

A subtweet might involve the phrase #oomf (one of my followers) which gives someone the opp to vaguely direct the tweet, e.g. “I like that #oomf said she was going to sleep but is still Tweeting.”

Thought-training

Teens love that Twitter gives them permission to share more “train-of-thought” commentary. Alise, a 17-year old from Chesapeake, VA says “I think Twitter is better because it’s updated in real time. I think Twitter is more of a “train of thought” site – people pretty much post anything they want from jokes to how they feel to what they did today.”

Alondra, a junior from Redford, MI explains “Twitter’s become very popular in my school. While on Twitter, they Tweet all day. You can mention things you’re doing every second of the day without posting it on Facebook and seeming annoying.”

Filtered followers

Teens pretty much feel pressured to Facebook-friend their entire school… but Twitter is generally a more socially acceptable environment to be selective. Andy, a 16-year-old female from New Jersey explains: “Twitter is a good way to separate my acquaintances from my best friends. On Facebook, I have a bunch of people, most of which I don’t even talk to. On Twitter, I have people that I can’t go a day without talking to.”

While a lot of Twitter is all about interacting with friends, it’s equally as entertaining to follow celebs, news, sports and parody accounts. So to conclude, we’ll end with a few handles that our @MTVInsight teen panelists recommend:

· Bad Luck Brian: @UnluckyBrian

· Funny Facts: @FunnyFacts

· Aziz Ansari: @azizansari

· Bleacher Report: @BleacherReport

*Data source: ComScore

WTF?: (What's The Future) Of The Millennial Generation?

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 13:52:19 -0500

By Nick Shore

As the largest generation in American history, Millennials will no doubt create tidal waves of change in society for many years to come as they come of age and become consumers, producers, citizens and leaders.

Raised in more “democratic” households (“hey, what shall we have for dinner kids?”) by more non-hierarchical parents (“can I help you with your homework, son?”) they are opening systems, flattening hierarchies, and fostering collaboration at every turn…while at the same time looking at a pile of college debt, a tough mother of an economy and let’s not forget Hurricane Sandy. It’s a heady mix….

Here’s 5 predictions for 2013 from the @MTVInsight crystal Tumblr:

1) Smartphone, the movie! – From Cinemagram to Action Movie FX to 8mm, we’re seeing an increasing number of vehicles for Millennials to become mini-Spielbergs with just their mobile phones. We’ll see more “mobile phone productions” go center-stage, and maybe even the first mobile phone video creation made by Millennials will hit the big screen

2) Death to the Brainstorm, all hail the Hackathon – Schools, non-profits, businesses and even the government will begin to use hackathons as an approach to solving real-world challenges. …hack the lesson plan, hack the fund raiser, hack the bill…. Brainstorms just generate a bunch of “ideas”….Hackathons generate tangible, actionable solutions. People in boardrooms will stop saying “Hey, maybe we should brainstorm it…” and saying “Yes, let’s hack it!”

3) YouTube U– As “slashitude” becomes a way of life in the job-challenged economy (as in “I’m a graphic designer/ accountant/ DJ/ pastry chef”) we’re seeing Millennials pick up mad skills wherever they can. They’re busy supplementing formal education with peer-to-peer learning (e.g. Skillshare), entrepreneurial skills training at places like General Assembly, and taking MOOCs (massively open online courses) from institutions anywhere in the world. In 2013, we’ll see an influx of new online vehicles for collaborative learning, like peer-taught courses on YouTube

4) The post-apocalyptic product – The showRevolution gave us a prescient peek into a world without power, Walking Dead showed us unshaven guys in suits wandering around empty cities, and then suddenly, there was Sandy! One of the most tweeted about pain points for Millennials was an inability to recharge iPhones. Much talk of products like the Biolitestove that allows you to burn twigs and re-charge your iPhone with the energy generated. And a UVA sophmore is seeking a patent for Power Sole, a shoe he hacked in his dorm room that generates enough power to recharge a phone from just walking around. 2013 may see a new market emerge in how to stay connected all day, even after the end of days.

5) First art in MOMA where the artist is “Everybody”: We’ve seen the wisdom and power of the crowd leveraged to predict outcomes, inform, and ever more to create things…. from fashion design (e.g ModCloth) to innovative household products (Quirky). Millennials in particular intuitively know that no one is as smart or creative as everyone. In 2013, we’ll see a whole slew of crowdsourced “firsts” emerge, maybe including a work of art in MOMA where the name of the artist is “Everybody.”

Nick Shore is senior vice president, strategic consumer insights and research, MTV

"What’d You Say?": A Quick Dip into Millennial Slang

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 15:03:00 -0500

By Jillian Curran, MTV Insights

After spending countless hours on social media and talking to Millennials themselves, it’s impossible not to notice the rapid evolution of youth slang and how closely it is tied to the heartbeat of the generation. Here are a few emerging trends that speak to how they define what popular is today, living in the moment and their fratty sense of humor.

The Chill Hustle: We noticed two sets of words emerging simultaneously that describe the perfect combination of cool. One set comprised of words like, “chilla”, “chillax,” “straight chilla” and at the same time words like “hustle”, “on my grind”, “Boss” were popping. Put those two together and you get “the chill hustle”. These words describe someone who is motivated, successful, has their hands in a million things but can still have a good time. They make success look easy. For Millennials who thrive on being self-made, these words pop up in tweets and everyday speak to show how hard they are working and their jack-of-all-trades ambition. At the same time, they want to show they are cool, calm and collected and look damn good while their making moves. As one intern Jaclyn told us, “I have so much going on, but you always want to look chill. The worst thing in the world is to be called stressed!”

YOLO (you only live once) popularized by Drake’s song “The Motto” was a huge hit among Millennials. At first we saw people declaring this as their generational anthem, some tattooing it on their wrists or hashtagging it on every tweet; YOLO felt like it encapsulated Milennials’ care-free attitude and drive to live it up. But with anything, the oversaturation of YOLO has spurred an equally popular backlash. People have used YOLO to call out insignificant events or poke fun at people who are acting ridiculous. Either way, YOLO’s moment in time shows this generation’s desire to experience everything before age 30 and waste no time or opportunity.

Cool Story, Bro: We’ve seen a new kind of Frat Bro humor emerging, used to call out anyone that is acting dumb or foolish; mocking college frat culture. If past generation’s humor was more cynical or snarky, this generation is ruled by an undercutting wit, like a smart slap. Cool story, bro is a quick response to call out a friend and get the upper hand on the joke. “Cool story, bro. The best part was when you stopped talking”

Other variations of this lingo are:

o Soft : “Yo bro, You’re eating a pinkberry? Stop being so soft.”

o That’s so Frat: “Yo, is that dip spit on my sperries? #thatsofrat”

o She can get it: Guys have this faux-cockiness, so instead of saying “I’m into this chick”, it’s “Yo bro, Jenn can get it.” It’s like I’m so awesome, she can get with me!

In addition to some trends, here’s a quick list of random and awesomely funny youth speak. Who knows, some of these could show up in the next installment of Webster’s Dictionary.

N.A.R.P (Not a Real Person): “Snooki is such a NARP”
#Boom: Used after a good comment or joke, an extra exclamation. “ Making things happen today. #BOOM
Wifed- Up: You’re guy friend hangs out with his lady too much. “ Kevin can’t hang out tonight, he’s wifed’ up”
Getting Swole: For those who spend too much time in the gym. Short for swollen. “Yo Bro, you’re so swole!
White Girl Wasted: For those who have a little too much to drink. “ Damn, I got so white girl wasted last night.”
Selfie: Turn your camera around and take a pic, you got yourself a selfie. Some of our panelists have told us they will send selfies to their friends if they have nothing else to talk about.
Mupload: Mobile Upload

Dear MTV: I Think I'm Having A Quarter-Life Crisis

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:35:19 -0500

Junene Taylor, MTV Inner Circle / Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Millennials like you and I have a bit of a problem on our hands. Because of our misfortune in having graduated during this economic climate, many of us are “on pause” from chasing the American Dream. Instead we are chilling in our parent’s basement waiting for our Dream to re-emerge and knock on the door. Preferably with pizza. But once we realize that this isn’t happening anytime soon, the ¼ life crisis can set in.
How do you know for sure that you’re caught in the vortex of a QLC? Here’s the checklist:

1. You repeatedly doodle on coasters “Why oh why didn’t I invent Pinterest?”

2. You change your major between 3 and 6 times.

3. You are jealous of how popular your cat is with all the other cats, and want her “social life”.

4. You spend a whole Wednesday creeping on the Facebook walls of a friend you haven’t seen since kindergarten.

5. You self-pierce your nose (on a whim).

6. You break out in a cold sweat every time you see the sweet girl with the 4.0 and Ryan Gosling look-alike boyfriend.

7. You genuinely wish you could participate in the Hunger Games.

8. You genuinely wish you were a vampire

From @MTVInsight’s study on Generation Innovation Click on...

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 09:58:00 -0500

From @MTVInsight’s study on Generation Innovation

Click on image for larger, high res version!

The Millennial Pilgrimage to Sensation Innerspace, Brooklyn

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 16:06:00 -0500

By Alison Hillhouse, MTV Insights

On October 26^th, I witnessed something unusual in the streets of Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Mobs of teens & 20-somethings were wandering about clad in all-white from head-to-toe, donning accessories such as white sunglasses, white furry boots and white angel wings.

This was the pilgrimage to Sensation, an internationally renowned EDM (electronic dance music) festival making its first American appearance at Barclay’s Center. I interviewed several groups of Millennials who traveled from places as far and wide as Buffalo, Denver and Amsterdam to find out what was so special about this particular rave:

1) Once-in-a-lifetime

Millennials hunger to be a part of never seen before or again experiences… almost an antidote to a world that’s become so manufactured and where everyone has access to the same pieces of digital content. This was the very first time Sensation had travelled to the US, and young people wanted to be physically present at this once-in-a-lifetime event, which they could Tweet, FB and Instagram for friends who couldn’t make it (just check out the thousands of Instagram photos of Sensation Innerspace, many here)

2) Generational water cooler

Millennials are community-oriented, and crave a feeling of oneness and unity – so an EDM show has almost become a religious experience for this generation. Sensation particularly achieves this with its mandatory “all-white” rule, and a few Denver 20-somethings who made the pilgrimage to BK explained they liked the dress code because of the “sense of belonging” it fostered.

via @shinsterrr

This crew also said they like how Sensation connects young people around the globe. “The whole world is connected, you can’t think locally anymore, you have to think globally” said Kan, 24. Al, 24 noted that these kinds of festivals feel right for his generation because they “transcend judgment and presumed stereotypes.”

Denver-ites: Linda, David, Al and Kan

3) Hyper-experience

In a world that’s trending towards post-consumerism, experience trumps physical things…. particularly the hyper-experience offered by EDM shows. Drugs are not required to feel transcended by the pulsating bass, multi-colored lights and fountains of fire & water spewing from the set of this $2.5M show. But it wouldn’t be an EDM show without Molly… as publicized on a young woman’s glasses below. And as I finished up my interviews and headed to the supermarket, I came across a pack of teens in all-white who were aggressively searching for the cough syrup aisle to concoct their own transcendental evening…

[Photo via @elisemami]

The LOL Democracy

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 09:59:33 -0500

As the election draws to a close, @MTVInsights asked our college interns to tell the story of how their generation has engaged with this election over social media. Many have coined this the “first social election”… and for first time voters like our interns, they know nothing else. Millennials have been sharing witty memes and Tweefs (def: beefs in Twitter), as well as smartly utilizing online resources to fact check and discover their presidential soul mate.

Our interns Carly Ivrey and Hannah Nicklas share the most frequent kinds of political posts grazing the walls of their social media accounts…

1. Vote for Meme!

The presidential debates have allowed Millennials to go crazy creating GIFs and memes to express our opinions on politics. Even if a meme comes with a point of view, it’s usually more based on ribbing the subject’s reputation rather than policy, so supporters from both sides might be able to have a laugh.

2. Tweets

During most of the debates, Millennials live Tweeted their opinions about what was happening on screen. They also poked fun at some of the crazier things politicians said by creating fake twitter accounts like @FiredBigBird and @RomneysBinders.

3. InstaPrez

Instagram users got political by posting photos of things like their morning coffee in 7-Eleven’s “candidate cups,” their friends in politician costume masks, and images of their laptops as they watched a candidate’s speech

4. YouTube/YouVote

While many humorous political videos have been made by previous generations (and SNL shows little sign of slowing down), Millennials took it into their own hands to create something entertaining and kind of (but not really) informative. Some of our favorites:

· “Mitt Romney Style” (a parody of “Gangnam Style”)

· “99 Problems Explicit Political remix” (a mash-up of videos clips that produce President Obama’s take on Jay-Z’s hit) are a few examples of popular political viral videos.

· “Epic Rap Battles: Romney vs Obama” (Romney + Obama duke it out rap style)

5. “Dot Gov”

Sometimes we take a whole domain name to get a laugh, with these faux-sanctioned websites like RomneyTaxPlan.com and TextsfromMitt.com.

6. Finding a Presidential Soul Mate

On a serious note, quiz websites like ISideWith.com helped many Millennials, us included, to figure out which candidate really mirrored our opinions. These were a great stepping stone for us to learn more about the candidates, and with the sharing app, it was a great way to learn more about friends’ views too!

7. “Flack-checking”

Fact-checking is extremely important to Millennials, since we were raised on Google. People posted tons of videos from FlackCheck.org showing what candidates said and revealing the truth behind their statements. Plus these videos run no longer than a minute, making them perfect for our ADD generation.

Romney vs. FactCheckers on Food Prices

Obama vs. FactCheckers on the Effects of the Obama Budget

Whatever our opinions may be, whatever our approach may be, we all used our technology-savvy skills to make sure we were heard leading up to the election. Plus, it gave us another reason to keep humming the tune of “Gangnam Style”.

"Twitter, Tell Me What To Think": Live-Tweeting the 2012 Presidential Debates

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 13:41:00 -0400

Stephanie Monohan, MTV Insights

Photo courtesy of Virginia Newton (@va_newton)

Social media has been playing a crucial role in the way Millennials talk about politics for quite some time, and that has never been more apparent than during the current election season. Following the presidential debate in Denver on October 3, Twitter announced that there were more than 10 million Tweets that evening, making it the most tweeted-about event in U.S. politics.

(courtesy of http://blog.twitter.com/2012/10/dispatch-from-denver-debate.html)

I myself attended a small debate party, in which we played “debate bingo” as a way to keep track of what topics the candidates covered and to make listening carefully to minute details on economic policy more fun. However, Twitter dominated the attention and conversations of everyone in attendance, for multiple reasons.

Twitter provided an outlet for users to share their reactions to the debate instantly, while also checking out the reactions of their friends, comedians, political analysts and experts, and even major celebrities, all of whom live-tweeted the event. People could either publish their own thoughts or instead re-tweet statements that they find humorous or intelligent as a way to convey their opinions without getting too personally involved in the conversation. Twitter (along with other social media sites) was also utilized as a live fact-checker for those closely following the stats and policies that the candidates mentioned. Even @MTV teamed up with the non-partisan FlackCheck.org to help their followers fact-check the information put forth in the debate in real time.

(courtesy of https://twitter.com/MTV)

Ultimately, the activity of Twitter users during the Presidential debates further demonstrates the complex ways in which Millennials utilize social media in their personal and politically active lives. There were plenty of jokes thrown around (Various Big Bird accounts appeared almost immediately upon the controversial Muppet mention), but even those reveal how Millennials’ political awareness is shaped by technology and what people share with one another online. However, while humor appears to be primary lens through which Millennials understand and talk about politics (and the fewer characters the better), it is still evidence of strong investment in the national/international issues and political discourse.