From Pixels to Plastic
As trendwatching.com has observed, there’s a new generation around. Generation C, which is defined not by age by activity.
Generation C form communities easily. They’re highly connected, both socially and electronically, with the internet and other devices. They expect to be involved in the creation of the media they consume, and the products they buy—they’ve not afraid of adapting things. They like control. They generate content too… they have bands, they photography, and they write blogs. They are comfortable with complexity.
There are lots of C words there. Generation C.
This all sounds terribly familiar. While I heard this from a site which generally addresses itself to marketing, I’m hearing the same ideas from artists and advertising planners. And also from this industry: It’s the internet sensibility, right?
We know – you know – exactly what Generation C is. It’s small dev teams responding quickly to users, and users being involved in the co-creation of niche, long-tail websites. It’s social software, and mash-ups, and podcasting and all of that.
So what? Well, the story goes like this:
We – and I expect that everyone here is a fully paid-up member of Generation C – we now carry that expectation of creativity, networks and involvement along with us, and we have these expectations of the products we buy and the media we consume. We want to know who writes the TV we watch and we want to have a say. We’ll watch it when we want, with our friends, not when the TV scheduler wants. Passive consumers we ain’t. We’ll customise our mobile phones, and we’re happy putting homemade or adapted products next to mass-produced ones, in our homes. The stigma of the amateur is going.
And for good reason. We don’t just carry our expectations to the big wide world of product, we’re capable of acting in it too. We’re powerful with our tools and our knowledge.