At Live Talkback we had the opportunity to pitch to a panel of teenagers yesterday - and the insights were great. The panel was organised by the fabulous Julia Shalet, and is something I recommend that any product company does - the feedback was honest, blunt and a great insight into the minds of a generation who will be shaping the future.
The panel started with introductions from the teenagers - who had each prepared photo montages of what was important to them. The panel came from a mixture of backgrounds - two from a private school in North London, two from a South London Comprehensive, and two from an Inner City Comprehensive in Hackney.
I was struck by the similarities, and the intelligence of all on the panel - they all were able to thoughtfully articulate issues and concerns with all the product pitches.
I was struck by how deep the understanding that the panel had around how to leverage networks and online activities - and the dangers. Quotes (which are my paraphrase, any errors or misattributions are entirely mine) which stuck in my mind are "I take care not to post photos that could be embarassing to Facebook - I don't want them to appear in the school magazine". The teens were all fully aware of the issues around privacy in networks, and able to manage them - though I'm confident that they could all have shared mistakes (who couldn't?).
They all also had multiple "social networks" with different levels of trust. Instant Messaging, particularly Windows Live IM were in use by all of them, and SMS was hardly mentioned - indeed sharing a phone number was seen as something rare - it's a private thing, where teens were happy to share Windows Live IM identities on a more casual basis. Facebook usage was similarly restricted to close circles of friends.
For the many companies, mobile operators included, who offer a proposition of "unified communications" - this is rather a wake up call - teens want to maintain different identities for different people - so tempting them with a "simpler" unified identity is unlikely to be desirable. It seems people can manage the fact they have different circles of contacts.
Mobile phone use was very limited - two teens expressed "A phone is for making calls" - while two wanted slim, touch screen phones.
A common pattern of usage seemed to be limited phone usage, but much more use of the web on the PC (facebook and Windows Live IM stood out here). I'm curious as to how this usage will evolve over the next 5 years of their lives - as the environment that they work in changes, moving from a school environment with time for personal PC usage after school, to a work environment that has PC usage available during the day - but personal usage may become more restricted to mobile phones.
If there are any 23 year olds reading this blog then please comment with how your usage of PC and mobile have changed in the last 5 years.
What was the result of the panel discussion? At Live Talkback we have work to do to create a proposition that shows real benefit to teens - fortunately the suggestions the teen panel made are all areas that we are working on, so I'll continue to engage with our customers and find out how they want us to develop our offer.
I recommend anyone creating products to try a similar exercise - the feedback is refreshingly honest and productive.
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