Comments on: Adult-driven growth in social networks http://tarina.blogging.fi/2009/08/27/adult-driven-growth-in-social-networks/ Social media, knowledge management and leadership. Sat, 12 Nov 2011 16:45:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Rob Salkowitz http://tarina.blogging.fi/2009/08/27/adult-driven-growth-in-social-networks/comment-page-1/#comment-235 Rob Salkowitz Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:18:14 +0000 http://tarina.blogging.fi/?p=410#comment-235 Teemu - As a proponent of the NetGen thesis, I agree with your analysis here. When I talk about the NetGen in my work, I prefer the term "tech aware" to "tech savvy," because, as you say, some of the greatest skepticism about social technologies comes from younger people. I'd argue that's because familiarity can breed contempt. The critique offered by younger people is one based on personal experience and proximity, which is why it is worth listening to. The important part about generational issues in enterprise adoption of social technology has to do with the expectations that the generations bring around work roles and technology, not familiarity with the tools per se. People who learned their work skills first (before the advent of social computing) look at the tools and ask "how can I accommodate these new tools into my existing way of working?" Younger people who have experience with technology but not experience in job roles look at existing work processes and say, "how can these processes be made more efficient/convenient/fun through the application of social computing?" That's a subtle difference but an important one, and it's the cause of many of the misunderstandings that people talk to me about in, or as about in the Q&A of my sessions. Teemu – As a proponent of the NetGen thesis, I agree with your analysis here. When I talk about the NetGen in my work, I prefer the term “tech aware” to “tech savvy,” because, as you say, some of the greatest skepticism about social technologies comes from younger people. I’d argue that’s because familiarity can breed contempt. The critique offered by younger people is one based on personal experience and proximity, which is why it is worth listening to.

The important part about generational issues in enterprise adoption of social technology has to do with the expectations that the generations bring around work roles and technology, not familiarity with the tools per se. People who learned their work skills first (before the advent of social computing) look at the tools and ask “how can I accommodate these new tools into my existing way of working?” Younger people who have experience with technology but not experience in job roles look at existing work processes and say, “how can these processes be made more efficient/convenient/fun through the application of social computing?” That’s a subtle difference but an important one, and it’s the cause of many of the misunderstandings that people talk to me about in, or as about in the Q&A of my sessions.

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