Millennials. Or Generation Y as they’re sometimes known. The lost Generation.  For Generation X everything was new and exciting, growing up in the 60s and 70s. For the new generation Z, they’ve inherited technology at their fingertips, and their almost scary ability to use it as a second nature. We’ve had to deal with a lot as we’ve grown up us Millennials have. We’ve experienced the largest UK recession since the war; the bigger threat of terrorism, the bigger prominence of global warming effects, not to mention natural disasters and national safety paranoia being the highest it has ever been. I don’t want to sound like I’m feeling sorry for myself, but we haven’t necessarily been dealt the best hand when it comes to our generations future prospects.

We’ve grown up with technology, which for me is such a massive concept. I can just about remember mobile phones not really being a ‘thing’, but now I genuinely can’t imagine how I’d cope without one. I realise how shallow that sounds, but everyone is so connected through so many different channels it would completely fall apart if suddenly all these channels just disappeared. 
We’re ‘Likers’ ‘Retweeters’ ‘Swipers’ and ‘Sharers’. We know what we like, and we’re not bothered to go ‘against the grain’ and actively search out content and information that interests us. We pride ourselves on being exactly who we want to be, whether that be in real life or on social media.

So, what’s the pitfalls of this? Well, a Millennial’s attention span is seven seconds. They get bored easily. We’ve got everything literally at our fingertips, we can see whatever we like exactly as it comes on our screens. As soon as it’s done, we’re searching out the next bit of content to entertain us for a few seconds. 
Working in Social Media you can imagine how hard this is to get your head around. You’ve got to stay relevant, almost one step ahead of the game. If you don’t someone else will. They want their information funny, topical, and above all else, interesting. Don’t be thinking they’re all cat videos and cheap laughs.  What I’m about to say will send a shiver down the spine of any Social Media practitioner, but if you can master that formula of making content go ‘Viral’ you’ve well and truly cracked it.
My advice for anyone trying to target us Millennials would be just don’t patronise them. We’re a lot more intelligent than people give us credit for. A good attribute of us Millennials is we’ll let people know if we like something. ‘Likes’ ‘Shares’ and ‘Retweets’ are our bread and butter. Don’t be afraid of being a little bit different to stand out from the crowd.

After all Generation X, it’s your fault we’re like this.