Gen “C”

For some time now I’ve been thinking about the whole generational categorization scheme that always gets a lot of coverage. The idea that certain age groups have some common traits has been around for a long time I guess. We have Boomers, Gen X, Y, Z, Millennials, etc. Now I suppose there are commonalities that are shared because of the external factors that exist during the time when someone grows up, but I’m starting to think that age may not be as important in the emerging connected world that we inhabit. I hear often enough that web 2.0, social networking, social (fill in the blank) is for the “kids”. It most often comes from a business person that is trying to deny that business is being impacted by the social web, a defense mechanism of sorts. We get it in comments on our surveys and in person but it does seem to happen less and less.

More and more I see commonality between people who are very active on the social web and who tend to be fast adopters of technology. While my daughters are certainly digital natives (ages 14 and 11) they are no more involved in the social web or with technology in general than I or many of my friends are. I’m starting to believe that …

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