Text Messaging is News?
Poynter’s The Chaser breathlessly tells us that teens are using text messaging in droves. I guess, being academically oriented, they have to have “proof” even of the obvious. But anyone interested in the next generation need only ask any college professor about their latest tech annoyance (students using Sidekicks in class, for example, is what I heard one prof complain about on Saturday), to find out which way the wind is blowing among this choice demographic. (Is it really a surprise to anyone that young people are using text messaging? Is there any news organization that hasn’t at least considered the impact of handheld devices? Well, yes, of course…).
I guess that’s a marketing research tip for new media: Ask college instructors what their students are using, to find out how the new generation of high HHI, 18-24s consumer their media. Ask the kids, themselves, what media they consume — but that’s a more rigorous research project.