It's pretty obvious that teenagers love technology. They are constantly hooked up and sometimes oblivious to their surroundings. Engaging in normal conversation for a lot of teens takes the form of text messaging. Keyboarding skills aren't nearly as honed as the thumb actions taking place on cell phones. Advertisers were all ears this week at the "What Teens Want" conference in Manhattan as they learned more about these young consumers.
"Technology is starting to define what's cool in a way that fashion used to define what's cool," said Tina Wells, CEO of Buzz Marketing Group. For teens, "as long as it's technology, it's what hot."
Technology also has turned advertising upside down, with companies scrambling to adapt to Internet video, digital video recorders, mobile media devices and online social networking. It's a fast-moving, tech-heavy world that teens take for granted.
There's not much that a cell phone can't do. Connecting to the internet, sending text messages, acting as a GPS, taking videos . . . the list goes on and seems to get longer daily. You don't have to be a teenager to want the latest and greatest in technology. I was watching Oprah this week and saw a Flip camera for making YouTube videos and decided that I have to have one. It's on my birthday list. Maybe some of those advertisers need to have a "What Baby Boomers Want" Conference.:)
See if you agree with teens about "What's hotter?"
Teens on tech: What's hotter?
93% say Internet rather than TV
• 71% say texting rather than IM
• 69% say magazines rather than blogs
• 65% say Mac rather than the PC
• 57% say Facebook rather than MySpace
Source: Buzz Marketing Group