Sorry, internet. Generation Y just doesn’t Twitter.

The numbers aren’t wrong– they’re damning, even: in a recent Harvard Institute of Politics poll of 3,117 Millenials (18-29 year olds), 64% have an account on Facebook, but only 15% have one on Twitter. And we’re not even talking about regularly posting (in fact, another recent study says less than 17% of Twitter users have tweeted more than 10 times). Most of us haven’t even tried. Why not?

We’re digital natives, sure. We’re comfortable, we get it. Growing up with digital technology has led our generation to see the world in a different way, transforming our approach to everything– politics, school, work, social life, whatever. Dismissing a recent and though-provoking article in The Economist that questions whether this is even true (that there’s “as much variation within the digital native generation as between the generations”) and assuming (at least for the purposes of this post) that nearly all of us have access to the Internet, get it, and have heard of this Twitter thing… so what’s the deal?

First, we’re not early adopters. We wait for others to tell us what’s best– and only when something truly hits mainstream critical mass (or all our friends get it) do we try it out. We don’t listen to “experts,” we listen to our friends. What’s Consumer Reports again?

Second, we’re content to exploit the internet, not innovate in it. We’re lazy (but we’d prefer it to be called “use our time more wisely”). Generation X can invent the new web– and we’ll use it when/if we need it.We’re not willing to spend the time to learn how to utilize new technology– we use Wikipedia for homework, not Google Scholar. We search YouTube for videos, not Clicker. We aren’t curious to explore others– in fact, we’re done exploring the web unless it’s for specific content (music, video, news). We’ve chosen one or two resources we’re comfortable with– and we’re sticking to them.

Third, we love gadgets and games, not internet services. We might switch cellphones as often as we can, but the things we use work– so why bother taking the time to try something else? We don’t think about ways to improve the services we’re on. When we get a new gadget, we don’t read the manual. Once enough friends recommend them, we blindly assimilate them into our lives (see: Macs, RAZR phones, Livestrong bracelets?).

Fourth, we hate being told what to do… by anyone but our friends. And, often, we’ll do just the opposite of what you say. CNN telling us Twitter is cool doesn’t make it cool… it makes it very uncool. And that matters to us. A lot.

Fifth, we don’t need anything more than Facebook, at least while we’re still in school. Who needs another tool for status updates? Unlike much of Generation X, we’ve had a chance (and taken it) to build vast social networks and stay in touch with people we actually know through Facebook. The value of making new friends is diminished, especially without a professional networking element while we’re still in school. And, perhaps paradoxically, we’re wary of making friends & connections with people we’ve never met.

Sixth, we’re surprisingly self-aware of how unproductive too much time online is. We’re addicted to gchat, AIM, and Facebook, but we know they’re time-sinks. We’re busy. We’re don’t have the time or the desire to try something else… unless everyone we know is on it already.

The web today is about different types/experiments with communication & recommendation, real-time & location-based updates, and apps to increase productivity/experience. And Generation Y doesn’t care.

But? You need us. We’re entering the work force and turning everything upside down. We’re prepared to work a bazillion jobs and move a bazillion places. We expect service & product providers to adapt to our needs (and we’re pretty needy). We expect everything for free– and to be sync-able with every piece of technology we own. We want it to be personalized, flexible, easy– and easily organized and manageable. Basically, you can’t ignore us. We’re huge, we’re loud, and we’re everywhere. So how’re you going to deal with us?

Though I’m a proud digital native and millennial, I clearly buck the trend. Maybe that’s just my nature in all things. But I openly love Twitter. I’m convinced of it’s value. So convinced I’ve already written an entirely separate blog post about it: It’s Not Too Late: 10 Reasons There’s No Better Time Than Now to Join Twitter!

But just because I’m convinced doesn’t necessarily mean the rest of my generation should be.

And maybe Twitter isn’t necessarily valuable for them to begin with. Maybe it’s less about why Millenials aren’t using Twitter, but why Twitter isn’t useful to them. For example, a friend of mine (the awesome @m2309a3) recently followed me in disconnecting his Titter account from Google Buzz. As he put it:

“the demographic of people I’m tweeting to since most of my contacts aren’t into social media, tech start-ups, or being switched on to what’s happening in the world, in general.”

Rough. But I do think that, eventually, Gen Y will give in to the value of innovating and experimenting with new social media tools like Twitter.

Then, it’ll simply be the next Generation we have to convince.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 9:00 am and is filed under Digital Media, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.