Generations and Communications

When I finished reading this testimonial by Rory Metcalf, my thoughts began to drift. For example, what would a Martin Murphy Twitter feed look like? Can anyone imagine someone like Dakota Wood or Seth Cropsey pounding out notes 140 characters at a time? What would they be saying right now about the EFV or LCS? Whatever it is they said, there would be an audience.

If we actually believe what we say about the younger generations and how the next generation interacts with information and each other, engaging with a tool like Twitter could legitimately be part of their job.

It is an odd truth that at least half of my interaction with Navy/Marine/Coast Guard PAOs, defense reporters, and insider sources are now driven primarily by Twitter or Facebook in January 2011. I could not say that at this time last year.

I learn about virtually every news topic from Twitter now, and often in cases like J-20 - long before the news is reporting the issue or from a direct source at the scene of an event (worldwide!). Even more interesting, when I see something odd pop up on Twitter, if I contact the Navy PAO folks - often they have already seen it too. In other words, the Navy, in part, is using Twitter as an information sentry like most of the rest of us.

Social tools can be useful and powerful, but are not always so. Often it is messenger - and message. If you are familiar with Malcolm Gladwell's critique of social activism online back in October 2010 New Yorker (I am a huge Malcolm Gladwell fan, and recommend all of his books), you may want to check out Clay Shirky's response in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs.

It is behind the firewall, but PDF reprints cost $1 and I thought the piece was worth the price.

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Food for thought:

True story. One of my closest friends, a lady who went to law school with my wife and the very first person I met when I moved to New York, makes me pajama pants for Christmas every year. They are fantastic, seriously. This particular pair uses a print of Star Wars, and they are seriously bright and radiant pants that might even glow in the dark. A few weeks ago I sat down on my couch to relax with a glass of wine next to my oldest daughter who was on her laptop. Through the power of Skype and her webcam, next thing I know I had 3 teenagers laughing and commenting about my pants.

Lets just say Daddy was not happy.

My oldest daughter is 15, almost 16, and every month I've been taking the time to review the statistics of her cell phone for total minutes and total text messages. I often compare these statistics with the parents of my daughters friends - it's become something of a game for all of us parents actually.

I have the 6 month average of 9 of my daughters closest friends (7 girls and 2 boys), plus my daughter, so we are talking about 10 intelligent, above average education sophomores in high school.

Who thinks they can guess the 6 month average of both total minutes and total text messages for these 10 young people? I'll give the answer later today and we can see who is closest. Unless you have a teenager who is active and social, I doubt you can guess these numbers, but I believe the numbers tell an interesting story about the next generation.