• by May 7, 2004

Millennials. Born in 1982, this is the next big generation marketers are wondering how best to reach.

They grew up on computers. They multi-task online-chatting via instant messaging while downloading music and studying. "Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation," a book by Neil Howe and William Strauss, chronicles the outlines of this generation, and Howe, speaking at an Alloy event last night, noted that Millennials will have a profound impact on the evolution of the Internet.

Howe told me over a drink at the multichannel youth marketer's event that Millennials are also interested in politics in a way that we haven't quite seen before. "They are more interested in volunteering and they are more apt to see government as a force for change and as a necessary tool." This is in contrast to GenXers whose interest in politics was rather fragmented, cynical, and social vis-à-vis "Rock The Vote" campaigns and other diffuse efforts. "Millennials are likely to create a 'New, New Deal,'" Howe maintains.

They had better, since many of us are sucking up their future earnings--in terms of Social Security and the like. JupiterResearch yesterday issued some new teen research. The research projects that there will be 22 million U.S. teens online in 2008--there are 18 million today.

The Jupiter research found that teens spend seven hours per week online versus 10 hours watching TV. And compared to adults, more online teens are regular users of instant messaging (71 percent) and online content like personal pages and weblogs (30 percent).