Immigrant teens (in the spirit of today being the anniversary of 9/11, I thought I would post this article about a photography exhibit in Los Angeles documenting the experience of new young Americans) (Jewish Journal)
- Too much girl talk? (I feel like this study has been out there for awhile…NY Times, reg. required, on how too much talking between girls can lead to anxiety/depression. Also in the Styles section, Twittering babies — parents starting that digital trail early)
- 'Sorority Forever' (goes mobile. I keep wanting to call this series "Sorority Fever" for some reason. And carriers adding mobile social networking to attract more young subscribers) (Media Post, reg. required)
- HarperCollins signs LC (Lauren Conrad gets her own 3-book YA series "about a girl who moves to L.A. and stars in a reality show." Sound familiar?) (nj.com)
- 'Secret Life' smackdown (of The CW — evidently it's not just tweens tuning into this show. Molly Ringwald nostalgia buffs? Fans of baby mama drama?) (TV By The Numbers)
- Tweens on Nick.com longer (a follow up to yesterday's link about how Disney's millions of streams on Disney.com) (BusinessWeek)
- S.A.T. prep (got game) (USA Today)
- Pre-paid debit cards (all the rage on campus) (WSJ)
- mtvU + HP (launch Engine Room - "an original series that will follow the 16 contestants, divided into four teams, as they produce digital art using — of course — PCs, work stations, monitors and other products sold by HP." Full press release here. Plus MTV fights "green washing" with a new campaign targeting faux green companies) (New York Times, reg. required) (Guardian UK)
- GOOD borrows from Radiohead (and asks subscribers to the magazine to name their own price/donation) (Folio)
- Causecast launches (yet another Gen Y oriented activism site to know. And this new multi-player game makes learning fun - thanks Andrea!) (Tech Crunch)
- Wendy's goes viral (with mixed results. J.C. Penny gets into the act with HSM 3. P&G wants laundry slackers to "Swash it." And more on the Sparks ads that sparked the lawsuit against MillerCoors.) (AdAge.com, reg. required) (Media Post, reg. required) (USA Today) (CSPI)
Tuesday night a received an email via Facebook from a friend from college notifying me that I was tagged in a photo. As many of you on Facebook know, once you have been friended by a college or high school alum, you begin getting more requests from some folks you never thought you would hear from again. Of course Tuesday's photo of me was from a semester abroad when I was at Antioch — I was 21, smoking a cig and drinking a pint. The photo certainly brought back memories, made me laugh and then made me ask my friend to take it down. Since I speak to parents around the country about teens posting inappropriate photos or other content online, that photo could potentially damage my personal brand. And who knows, I may have to look for a job at some point again in the future…
I wanted to share that anecdote in the context of a story in today's Media Post about how many employers are actually looking at social networking profiles when screening candidates. When I was speaking to parents in Chicago, one of them confessed to me that they actually have a company in China that scours social networking sites to review potential candidates' profiles (i.e. is able to see "private" profiles). From the article:
A new CareerBuilder.com survey found that 22% of all hiring managers have combed through social media profiles to help evaluate potential hires, up from just 11% two years ago. HR execs from media and creative agencies like MediaVest and AKQA weighed in on the practice, identifying LinkedIn as their site of choice for new hire research…
…more than a third of employers that checked profiles said they had found content that disqualified a potential hire. The top three reasons for dismissal were that the person had posted info about themselves drinking or using drugs, posted inappropriate photographs, or showed that they had poor communication skills.
One more reason to talk to teens (and our own friends) about managing our online reputations.
Yesterday's Essentials post about Jordin Sparks and her remarks at the VMAs provoked some interesting discussion in the comments about this year's VMAs and the issue of tween/teen/twentysomething overlap. Izzy pointed out:
I was kinda upset at Nickelodeon for trying to prompt kids on Nick (the cast of iCarly "inviting" kids to watch the VMAs) - and then having adult topics in Russell Brand's opening (ahem, "self gratification" ahem). I was disappointed they would slyly pull kids to be viewing audience for content not suitable for U13 tater tots.
While LizB said:
I also thought the MTV awards didn't know what they wanted. Given Brand's humor, and given the audience for Twilight, Jonas Brothers, and HSM — well. I don't think the 2 audiences appreciated each other.
We've written on Ypulse that just as college students make their beds with SpongeBob or Sesame Street sheets, older teens *heart* The Jonas Bros., HSM, Hannah and the rest. But the core audience for tween entertainment is still screaming 8-13 year olds, and inviting them to watch a show with adult humor not only exposes younger viewers to inappropriate content but may leave both audiences unsatisfied. I also think MTV's version of HSM, "The American Mall" flopped with its core audience of older teens because it was too earnestly aimed at them. It's ok for them (older teens) to *heart* something for younger tweens, but that doesn't mean they want their own version.
On the flipside, Disney has been marketing HSM 3 on MySpace, which is a site for users 14 and up. We know that lots of tweens are lying about their age and have MySpace accounts — is marketing tween content on the social networking site quietly admitting this or an attempt to go after the older teens who *heart* tween fare.
What do you think? Should these media companies promote squeaky clean tween fare on sites for older teens? Should MTV be promoting the vmas on Nickelodeon? Does mixing these audiences dilute or grow Disney/Nick and MTV's brands?
