Youth Lifestyle Trends
Society
Is Twitter the new CNN?
Social website Twitter has played a big part at making the world aware of the situation in Iran. Social media also allows the citizens of Iran to organize and take action against the government. (Grownup Thinking.com)
Check out more news covered here on mobileYouth about Iran. Referencing Are today’s freedom fighters using Twitter and Facebook as weapons? (Source Guardian) and How are Iranian youths connecting through technology? (Source YouthMesh)
Chinese attitude towards sex
In Chinese Youth and Their Quiet Sexual Revolution by Mark Hiew, the author interviews Chinese youth regarding their attitudes and perceptions towards sexuality. The results are not what you think. Chinese youth share the same sexual mores as their Western counterparts. (Derek E. Baird)
Take a Look at China’s 240 million mobile owning youth
Here’s a video of ours from earlier featured here. According to our data, despite the actual decline in the numbers of young Chinese, mobile ownership continues to increase rapidly - from 240m in 2009 to 320m in 2012 - that’s 80 million youth still to buy their first phone in the next 3 years. We recommend China Youth Watch if you want to follow this market in more detail.
More on Asian Youth
If you’re interested in Asian youth, check out our earlier post here. Referencing Mobile Advertising in Asia (Source Emarketer), Japanese Social Networking (Source What Japan Thinks), McDonald’s marketing in Japan (Source CScout Japan), Chinese Youth Myths (Source Changing Asias) and Blyk in India (Source MoCoNews).
Interested in Regional Specific Youth Trends?
The mobileYouth annual research subscription covers 60 markets highlighting key trends and insights for brand, product, consumer insight and strategic managers in telecoms, marketing, agency, public sector and FMCG.
Work
Teen Entrepreneur
Teens age 16 to 19 are facing the largest unemployment rate since 1992. Their solution? Start a business. Laura Durst, 18, said she was inspired by her mother, “Seeing her work from home, where she could be her own boss, I liked the idea of that,” she said. (Eilene Zimmerman @ Don’t Call Me A Tween)
Improve chances for work
A report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers annual student survey said that only 20 percent of 2009 college graduates who applied for a job actually have one. Don’t worry 80%, there are things you can do to improve your job prospects. (Seth Godin)
Employment
Rural growth higher than urban growth
While companies see a bright future in Rural India, it is also a perfect opportunity for Indians to gain employment in agricultural. In the financial year 2009, fast moving consumer goods rural volume growth is estimated to be 5% to 12% higher than urban growth. (India Knowledge@Wharton)
Youth unemployment
Youth unemployment is a hot topic that should be addressed by the government. Statistics are alarming, ”economists believe that the number of under-25s out of work will rise to above 1 million…”(Kathryn Hopkins @ Guardian.co.uk)
Education
Technological cheaters
Students are now using technology to cheat in class. In a survey, 26% of teens use their phones to store information to look at during a test, and 25% text-message friends about test answers. (Greg Toppo @ USA Today)
Digital books
The Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, plans to have digital math and science books instead of the traditional paper leaf books. He adds, “…schools could save hundreds of millions of dollars a year,…could be used to hire more teachers and to reduce class sizes.”(USA Today)
Looking for an Internship?
Check out mobileYouth’s own internship here. We’re looking for radical brand heretics who can tear up the script. Changes Agents only need apply!
Meet the Freshers
Some things will never change. Here’s a dig into the vaults with Bebo’s little known “meet the freshers” series we covered here on mobileYouth earlier. “We love Pot Noodle ‘n’ stuff”
Money
Drop the plans
Half of Americans would cut their expenses by dropping their mobile data plans. This is according to a new study published by Strategy Analytics’ Multiplay Market Dynamics service. (Jason Ankeny)
Get paid to file-share
Pirate Bay has a new file-sharing concept: Become the first BitTorrent site to pay members cold hard cash for seeding the paid content they download. (David Kravets @ Wired)
