I have spent the better part of the past decade dedicating my life towards understanding how generations interact with each other. First I wanted to understand the differences between myself and teenagers as a youth ministry volunteer and then later how generations interact as a paid youth worker that would interact with parents and teens. Nowadays, I am a counselor that seens people struggle regularly with psychosocial development which has huge implications with people needing to grow.
The psychology of this is extremely important for anyone that works in marketing. While I do not at all agree to labeling this new generation as Generation Z (Millennials like myself hate being titled Gen Y, fix this please people!), the content here is still valid.
Here are some of the top stats all digital marketers, including church staff and volunteers that work with blogs, video that goes online, and social media, need to understand about this next generation.
- As the population of this latest generation is just getting finalized, They already are at 20% of the global population (and that is before other generations start to decline to do age)
- This is the age of being online and mobile. They watch school lessons online, read via tablet, and engage with people virtually. This will quickly translate into work environments, social functions, and spiritual implications as well.
- This generation is declining in active use on Facebook, increasing on Instagram, and going “incognito” as they find they don’t want their lives exposed to anyone that can see it.
What I would love to know is, how does this impact youth pastors and others that hope to engage with this generation online effectively?
[via Marketo]
Eric Dye says
I dig this.
Jeremy says
Which generation do you fall into Eric?
Eric Dye says
X. Almost, Y.