Generation C

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Generation C (also known as Gen C) is the label given to a new generation by trend spotters, media commentators, technology industry observers/CEOs and semioticians. What the C stands for is currently under debate, particularly given the lack of direct research (as opposed to deductive reasoning) on the subject. Although, some believe this to be irrelevant seeing as Generations X & Y do not stand for anything either.

The American Press Association's Media Center [1] describes Gen C as "creating, producing and participating in news in a connected, informed society."

Contents

[edit] Psychographic vs. Demographic

Like Generations X and Y, Generation C does not have definite start and end dates. Commentators generally describe Generation C as ‘young’ however the age ranges are severely inconsistent, ranging from those born in the early 1980s all the way to those born at the beginning of the new millennium. Unlike previous generations, Generation C appears to be defined more by behavior and psychographics as opposed to common demographics. For example, major components of the movement would include its members' hometown or worldwide acts of selflessness or altruism, as well as offering new additions to a society's creative output; wherein another major requisite would be those who "produce and share content." The Term Youth psychographics was created by Lawrence Lotman explaining Leveious Rolando's concept of Global youth trends global sphere .[2]. Though these hypothetical philanthropist/artists need not necessarily be considered mass consumers as some marketing strategists have already begun to assume.

[edit] Early sightings

Generation C was first documented in detail on Trendwatching.com in March 2004 [3]. Then and subsequently, Trendwatching.com has identified C as standing for creativity, content, celebrity and control.

In March 2005 the first book discussing Gen C was released, Communities Dominate Brands, by Tomi T Ahonen and Alan Moore (278 pages hardcover, futuretext) with a whole chapter on Generation C (as in Community Generation). Since then this book and its usage of Gen C as the Community Generation have been quoted at numerous instances and by such organizations as UK publisher Emap, advertising agency Ogilvy, Oxford University and UK based Sub TV, Nokia and Coca Cola.

In May 2006, New Zealand's Idealog magazine published an article "Meet Generation C",[4] which brought together many of the already-identified characteristics of Generation C. The article compared Generation C to the archetypical Renaissance Man or Woman, positing that the rise in creative expression was due to the same conditions that led to the renaissance - namely trade and widespread peace.

In August 2006, the second book to discuss Gen C was released, Mobile Web 2.0, by Ajit Jaokar and Tony Fish (335 p softcover, futuretext). The authors referred to Ahonen & Moore's book and definition.

In June 2007 the first university short course about Generation C was run at Oxford University's Department of Continuing Education.

In August 2007 the third book covering Gen C was released. Digital Korea, by Tomi T Ahonen and Jim O'Reilly (284 pages hardcover, futuretext) which examines the advanced digital information society of South Korea, explored deeply the South Korean youth and its advanced state and behaviour in exhibiting Gen C behaviour, reporting for example that 30% of South Korean Gen C youth send over 100 SMS text messages per day.

In 2008 the fourth book discussing Gen C was released, Mobile Advertising, by Sharma, Herzog & Melfi (404 p hardcover, John Wiley & Sons) which also referred to Ahonen & Moore's book.

[edit] Related Terms and Trends

Generation C could be said to comprise the people who use Web 2.0, create user-generated content and participate in the co-creation of products and services. UK university broadcaster SubTV CEO Peter Miles concurs saying Gen C distinguishing aspect is the use of SMS text messaging as Gen C's connect almost telepathically sending dozens, some even 100 text messages per day in what Miles calls a hive mentality, allowing groups to spontaneously connect, collaborate and share.

The first commercial service proposition targeting Generation C (with the Community Generation definition) exclusively and based strongly on the book by Ahonen & Moore, is UK based youth-only mobile phone service provider Blyk, which limits its customers to those between ages of 16 to 24.

Alan Moore is continuing his writing into Generation C through lectures at Oxford and MIT and with his second book project, as of yet unnamed.

Jake Pearce is currently working with journalist Simon Young and youth activist Ilai Amir on the world's first in-depth research into Generation C. They have coined the term "digitally native" as the differentiating factor between Gen C and other generations. In other words, there is a growing idea Generation C was born into a digital world. However, those in the vast age-group of Generation C are opposed to this being a differentiating factor because it excludes those born in the mid-to-late 80's, leaving them "digitally naive". Many of those who are soon to reach post-college adulthood wish to uphold same ideals and are eager to be involved in the newly coined Generation C.

Tomi T Ahonen is doing research in several countries to follow up on his South Korean book about Gen C and is finishing a new book examining specifically the role of mobile phones for Gen C. This book is tentatively entitled Mobile as the Seventh Mass Media and will have a chapter on how the preferred communication media for Gen C is the mobile phone.

Students at UCL theorised that the tag MSN Generation could also apply to this group, who taught themselves computer use through MSN messenger and other similar IM programs.

[edit] What 'C' stands for

The most commonly accepted definition for what the C stands for is Community, as described by authors Ahonen & Moore, Jaokar & Fish, Sharma Herzog & Melfi etc in their books relating to the phenomenon.

An alternate title of 'The Content Generation'[1] has thus far been maintained although there is currently no consensus regarding what the 'C' stands for. Some of the evidence cited for Generation C and the motivation for their behavior is indirect (e.g. numbers of people contributing to YouTube or myspace, uptake of certain channels over others, or content on the Web).

The lack of direct evidence into the subject precludes any judgement regarding whether Gen C is a ‘global phenomenon’, particularly since only 5% of the global population has access to the Internet[citation needed], and some mostly USA-focused commentators had cited Internet driven behavior as critical to Gen C.

The more widely held view observes that the 3.3 billion mobile phones in use around the world already reach 50% of the total population of the planet, and SMS text messaging is the most addictive service used by Generation C with 2.4 billion active users, so the defining characteristic for Gen-C is the use of SMS text messaging, rather than the internet. This enables Gen-C behavior also in countries where internet penetration is very limited and PC ownership minimal, but still Gen-C can be observed in the millions, such as India, South Africa, Indonesia etc. The point that the defining technology is in fact mobile phone usage as first argued by Ahonen & Moore in their book of 2005. The Catholic University of Leuwen study on mobile phone addiction found that the majority of teenagers are wakened at night to incoming text messages and 20% regularly have sleep problems due to night time text messaging exchanges.[citation needed]. Authors from Howard Rheingold (Smart Mobs) to Ajit Jaokar (Mobile Web 2.0) have illustrated how strongly the change in behaviour is rooted in mobile phone and SMS use, rather than internet use.

Emerging Mobile sphere has gone global Team of people from America,U.K.and Germany /Austria, South Korea-Japan promoted well define Gen C market truly from consumer point view a very secretive company called MindCraft 2.0 www.overcell.com is penetrating youth market from radical approach through street teams but their approach is from youth straight to actual 3-G mobile phone .Leveious Rolando which is the co-founder of Mindcraft 2.0 has co developed with Gibran Burchett and Lawrence Lotman and Richard Dawkins associate and the consumers a personal memetic approach of the going changing and adapting C-Generation consumer spac. What was done in August of 2007 was documented in a BBC Documentry coming out in Oct 2008 of shows a dramatic shift of how consumers will purchase products and services with influences of music and visuals as user generated branding. Leveious Rolando says, In fact, the growth in mobile products such as ringtones, games, and graphics will displace spending on many traditional youth products such as music, clothing, and movies. Radically changes the dynamics of all visual- entertainment and product-services distribution world wide so you can target the end-user diverse youth mind set. Since youth market has historically shown a rapid viral point view which will gain acceptance in the mass market. While emerging markets are proving to be the ideal solution for sustaining revenues in the face of falling average price per unit, analysts said the rapid commercialization of 3G-WiFi services is likely to open up new opportunities in developed markets.Inrecent Telephone interview Mindcraft 2.0 says no secret in how they immerse product placement by working with the certain types of consumers to produces mobile viral campaigns that are driven by consumers from phone to phone from C-generation online and mobile and real time events relative to the market they are embracing.

There is also a small environmental group making different use of the name Generation C. Recently started in St. Andrews, the group is gaining popularity slowly in several different countries spanning over several countries. The 'Generation C' hopes to combine forces with similar environmental groups in the United States. They claim that global climate change is going to effect 'Generation C', not the current generation in power. Therefore, this new generation should make the C stand for 'change'. The website for this group will soon be seen at www.generation-c.org.

Currently the 'C' has been noted to refer to the following items:

  • C – Cusp
  • C – Caring
  • C – Culture
  • C – Control
  • C – Content
  • C – Channel
  • C – Criterion
  • C – Celebrity
  • C – Cynicism
  • C – Character
  • C - Community
  • C – Connected
  • C – Consensus
  • C – Complexity
  • C – Collaborative
  • C – Communication
  • C – Code (internet coding)
  • C – Companies/Corporations (most will be working for large companies and/or corporations rather than small or medium sized businesses)
  • C – Creativity/Creative/Creators (also Creative Class)

Other terms include: Millennials, Gamers, Pharmers, the "Internet Schooled" or Students of the Internet, the optimistic New Revolutionaries or New Altruists, as well as the less than hopeful, Apathetic Generation, Internet Generation and the "Sad Generation" (See reference under Generation Y). In addition to their many monikers, their involvement in the digital revolution has been dubbed the "open source movement"[5].

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Meet Generation C
  2. ^ FrugalMarketing article on Generation C
  3. ^ Trendwatching article on Generation C
  4. ^ Idealog article on Generation C
  5. ^ LearningCircuits article on Generation C

[edit] External links