The document discusses emerging patterns in social media use, highlighting key insights for brands, such as the importance of understanding user culture and the shift towards hyper visual communication. It emphasizes that younger generations are increasingly security literate and value authenticity, suggesting brands should adapt their strategies accordingly. Ultimately, it warns of potential tensions arising from generational differences and the evolving digital landscape.

1. Emerging Patterns of
Social Media Use
@neilmajor Strategy Director, Yomego

2. Eight premises
A mixture of data, observation
(and conjecture)
…and some conclusions on
what this all means for brands

3. An opening observation
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Global Population by age

4. 1. Real Time

5. Imagine what attending school is
like now

6. I forgot my iPhone

7. What this means for brands…
Obvious really – the right
message can spread through
the network like wildfire – but
so can the wrong one.
Think like an editorial outlet

8. …but don’t newsjack

9. Know who you are
(chart by @willsh)

10. 2. Semi - Anonymous

11. Private vs. Public
Private Public

13. What this means for
brands…
The social data land grab could
be reaching its end
However, the new networks are
places of great user creativity.
Learn the culture.

14. 3. Curated self

15. Curated self?
The idea that young people
don’t care about privacy is a
myth.
Young people are incredibly
sophisticated at crafting their
identity

16. Example #1
Mikalah described that she deactivated her Facebook
account every day after she was done looking at the
site. Deactivation was introduced by Facebook as an
alternative to deletion; users could deactivate their
content and for all intents and purposes would
disappear from the site, but if they later regretted it
could reactive their account and retrieve all of the
content, connections, and messages.
Mikalah did this every day, which in effect made it so
that her friends could only send messages or leave
comments when she was logged in.

17. Example #2
Shamika took a different approach. As she explained…
she found that Facebook contributed to drama by
providing a plethora of past comments that could be
used against people whenever a friendship or
relationship turned sour. Thus, she preferred to minimize
her risk by deleting every comment she received after
she read it.
Furthermore, she’d write a comment on someone else’s
page and then delete it the next day, presumably after
they had seen it. Shamika’s constant deletion turned
Facebook into a more ephemeral space, destabilizing the
persistent nature of the space.

18. Hiding from search engines
Tum bl r an d L J u sers sep ar ate w ords thr ou gh o dd
spacin g in o rde r to fo ol sea rc h en g i nes.
Chinese users hide political messages in image
attachments to seemingly benign posts on Weibo.
General Pretraeus communicated solely through draft
mode.
4chan scares away the faint of heart with porn.
More technically astute groups communicate through
obscure messaging systems. (insight via @kenyatta)

19. Book
recommendation!
Follow:
@zephoria
Website:
zephoria.org

20. We are all increasingly security
literate

21. Young people lead the way

22. …and are highly technically literate

23. What this means for
brands…
Don’t be creepy (or assume your
users won’t care)
But if collecting data, move
towards more explicit CTAs

24. For instance…

25. 4. Hyper visual literacy

26. Photography is exploding

27. Where are they located?

28. Images spreads through the
new networks with users are
exposed to more than ever

29. An example

30. What this means for brands…
Eye candy spreads! Make sure your
sites are easy to harvest
Mobile makes images the most
important medium
Take time to explore the visual web

31. 5. Networks as cultures

32. For example, Tumblr

33. Consider the
fandoms

34. What does this mean for brands?
It’s not enough to look at the
technical nature of each site or
demographics
Consider the culture and don’t
aim at individuals - think about
the networks of users

35. 6. Internet famous

36. Internet famous

37. Just Influencers?
…not exactly. Influencers online
traditionally are more akin to
bloggers
Internet fame is about what the
network decides they like

38. For instance…

39. So just memes?
It’s part of it, but only part of it.
What it’s more a manifestation of
the offline popularity contests
that have already existed.
Internet fame is an end in itself

40. What this means for
brands…
Internet fame is a culturally closed
world. Outreach is a little more
problematic.
Instead identify breakout hits early
for maximum success (velocity)

41. 7. Social as human right

42. Workplace use of Social Media
56% of Generation Y will not work
for a company that bans social
media (40% work for companies
that do)
¾ disobey these
work policies

43. But they don’t want to be tracked

44. …and they don’t have to be anyway

45. What this means for brands and
companies
Context is important – content
will be received within a time
poor environment
The law of the playground exists
in your company

46. 8. What happens next?

47. “Snowden is 30; he
was born in 1983.
Chelsea Manning is
25. Generation Y
started around 1980
to 1982.
But the signs of
disobedience among
Generation Y are
merely a harbinger of
things to come.”
Charles Stross,
Foreign
Policy, 28.8.13

48. “Generation Z will arrive brutalized and atomized by
three generations of diminished expectations and dog-
eat-dog economic liberalism. Most of them will be so
deracinated that they identify with their peers and the
global Internet culture more than the… nation-state.
The machineries of the security state may well find
them unemployable, their values too alien to assimilate
into a model still rooted in the early 20th century. But if
you turn the Internet into a panopticon prison and put
everyone inside it, where else are you going to be able
to recruit the jailers? And how do you ensure their
loyalty?"
Enter Generation Z

49. What this means for us…
If things continue as they
are, an inevitable tension
between the establishment and
generation will result
Given the demographics at play
this is unlikely to end well

50. …so in summary

51. 1. Assume a critical audience
2. Be open (explicit)
3. Learn their culture
4. Examine them as networks
5. Work with them – not through
them
6. If it’s not mobile, it won’t work
7. Work/home/online/offline
distinctions are dead
8. Watch the demographics

52. Thank you!
@neilmajor Strategy Director, Yomego