YouthNation summary

So, if today’s young people aren’t enticed by material symbols of status, what are they looking for?

They want an unforgettable experience right now.

Were you raised in a house that your family owned? Many Americans were, but in the future, buying a house might become an exception rather than a rule.

Why?

So, young people’s consumption habits have changed and so has the economy. Nowadays young people do everything from dating to exchanging money faster and more easily through the power of the peer-to-peer economy. This also means that an increasing number of the products and services that YouthNation is consuming are coming from their peers instead of businesses.

This trend is in large part due to the connective power of the internet, which allows all consumers to buy and sell anything they want directly to one another. The result is a disruption of every industry that stands in its path.

Today, when practically everyone has internet access, it’s easy to build a community of people who live all over the world. But as we’ve seen, the definition of a community isn’t the only thing the internet is changing – it’s also fundamentally altering the nature of business too. A great example is the rise of crowdsourcing, a tool for tapping into the knowledge and talent of people all over the world.

Crowdsourcing is actually a legitimate and extremely cost-effective way of doing business for everyone from the largest corporations to one-person operations. Whether it’s the design of a logo, data entry, real-time feedback or advice on advertising concepts, freelancers and volunteers are now an essential force in practically every industry.

As you now know, the modern economy is developing an increasing number of ways for people across the globe to support themselves by freelancing. With countless new employment opportunities, easy access to tools and training and a technologically connected world in which the next job is just a tweet away, it’s clear that we’re transforming into a society of free agents.

In fact, a recent study conducted by Edelman Berland found that a whopping 53 million Americans are currently engaged in some form of freelance work. That’s over a third of the country’s workforce!

In the ‘60s, making an impact in advertising meant securing your product an ad during primetime TV. But social media has made expensive ad slots a thing of the past by opening up countless opportunities for you to make your message stick.

In fact, in this day and age you can run a hugely successful marketing campaign using nothing but social media. For instance, do you remember the Super Bowl blackout in 2012?