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Born sometime between the launch of the VCR and the commercialization of the Internet, Americans 18-34 are redefining media consumption with their unique embrace of all things digital. According to Nielsen (@NielsenWire) and NM Incite’s (@nmincite) US Digital Consumer Report, this group — dubbed “Generation C” by Nielsen — is taking their personal connection — with each other and content — to new levels, new devices, and new experiences like no other age group.

The latest Census reports that Americans 18-34 make up 23% of the US population, yet they represent an outsized portion of consumers watching online video (27%), visiting social networking/blog sites (27%), owning tablets (33%) and using a smartphone (39%). Their ownership and use of connected devices makes them incredibly unique consumers, representing both a challenge and opportunity for marketers and content providers alike. Generation C is engaging in new ways and there are more touch points for marketers to reach them.

Access the report (registration required).

Also see our blogpost "Millennials Will Benefit & Suffer Due to Their Hyperconnected Lives."

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you navigate the changing demographics in today’s publishing world.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Research tab.

Education Week (@educationweek) reports that US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski unveiled the new Digital Textbook Playbook, a resource designed by the Digital Textbook Collaborative to help guide educators in their transition to electronic resources, as the pair headlined a national online town hall meeting for the inaugural Digital Learning Day (@DLDay2012) Feb. 1. Specifically noting that South Korea plans to use only digital textbooks by 2013, Chairman Genachowski declared,

If we want American students to be the best prepared to compete in the 21st century global economy, we can’t allow a majority of our students to miss out on the opportunities of digital textbooks. Today, I want to challenge everyone in the space – companies, government officials, schools and teachers – to do their part to make sure that every student in America has a digital textbook in the next 5 years.

He and Secretary Duncan plan to meet with CEO’s of relevant companies to spur movement toward this objective.

Read his remarks in full.

Read the Education Week article in full.

What do you think? Is a digital textbook for every US student in 5 years a realistic and helpful objective? What will it mean for your textbook publishing agenda? Write your comments below.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you in your textbook publishing and marketing needs.

Bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard, created especially for marketing and publishing executives.

As online college courses have become increasingly prevalent, the general public and college presidents offer different assessments of their educational value, according to a new Pew Research Center (@pewinternet) report. Just 3-in-10 American adults (29%) say a course taken online provides an equal educational value to one taken in a classroom. By contrast, half of college presidents (51%) say online courses provide the same value.

• 77% of colleges now offer online courses
• 15% of college presidents say most of their current undergraduate students have taken a class online; 50% predict that 10 years from now most of their students will take classes online.
• 15% of college presidents say most of their current undergraduate students have taken a class online, and 50% predict that 10 years from now most of their students will take classes online.
• Nearly two-thirds of college presidents (62%) anticipate that 10 years from now, more than half of the textbooks used by their undergraduate students will be entirely digital.
• Most college presidents (55%) say that plagiarism in students’ papers has increased over the past 10 years. Among those who have seen an increase in plagiarism, 89% say computers and the internet have played a major role.
• The leaders of the nation’s colleges and universities are a tech-savvy group. Nearly nine-in-ten (87%) use a smartphone daily, 83% use a desktop computer and 65% use a laptop.
• College presidents are ahead of the curve on some of the newer digital technologies: half (49%) use a tablet computer such as an iPad at least occasionally, and 42% use an e-reader such as a Kindle or Nook.

Read or download the full report.

The Millennials are the latest generation to emerge in America. Currently defined as those between the ages of 18 and 29, Millennials’ characteristics include optimism, high technical comfort level, liberal leanings, and a solid educational background. Here’s an Infographic by Online Graduate Programs.

Almost 1 in 3 US TV households – 35.9 million – owns 4 or more televisions, according to a new report on media usage from Nielsen (@NielsenWire). Across the ever-changing US media landscape, TV maintains its stronghold as the most popular device, with 290 million Americans and 114.7 households owning at least one. Online Americans number 211, and 116 million (ages 13+) access the mobile Web.

See the charts of the State of the Media: Consumer Usage Report in full.

Changing Role of Christianity: Christian leaders are relatively unknown by the majority of Americans; half of Americans believe all people are eventually saved by God.

Downsized American Dreams: Americans’ are increasingly willing to accept limitations in life, including changing their spending and savings habits as well as distinguishing needs from wants. Many are also reducing their financial donations.

Millennials Rethink Christianity: The Christian community is struggling to remain connected with the next generation of teens and young adults. In particular, the church is “losing” many young creatives (like designers, artists, writers, musicians, and actors) as well as young science-minded students (such as medical students, engineers, biologists and mathematicians).

The Digital Family: Technology has become a part of modern life and is deeply embedded in today’s families. Yet, the challenges brought on by technology in the home are not all created by teens. Parents are becoming just as dependent on digital tools.

Maximizing Spiritual Change: Most Americans call themselves spiritual people and Christians. Yet, spiritual transformation is rare and fleeting.

Women Making it Alone: Teenage and young adult women are learning to prepare themselves for a changing social structure. For teens, this means focusing on career now. For young women, this means not expecting to be married until the late twenties, at least.

Read this in full.

Another way of determining trends is to see what terms people searched on Google for in 2011. Google Zeitgeist 2011 provides that info:

Video Year in Review

As for what people are watching, there were more than 1 trillion playbacks on YouTube in 2011. The highlight video is below. See the top ten individually.

1.) 50 million -- The big number from the Census everyone was talking about was the number of Hispanics, which crested this milestone for the first time. Later the Census and The New York Times found that even more people in the US (51 million) are at or near the poverty line.

2.) 50% +1 -- Some time in 2011 the children being born in the US tipped to majority-minority, according to Brookings Institute demographer William Frey. It'll take the population as a whole, decades before the white population is not the majority, but the newborns are there now. Diversity marketing is in for a makeover.

3.) Half of kids under 8 (and 40% of 2- to 4-year-olds) have access to a smartphone, iPad, or some other mobile media device.

4.) In October 2011 Facebookers in the US spent 136,000 aggregate years on the site, according to comScore.

5.) The US added just 11.2 million households between 2000 and 2010, the -- slowest household formation rate we've seen in a long time. This impacts industries like construction and any sort of household goods and services and is helping to keep the recovery slow.

6.) When asked all the reasons they subscribe to a local paper, 85% said local news, but nearly 4 in 10 said “habit,” according to the Ad Age/Ipsos Observer American Consumer Survey.

7.) Nuclear families account for just one-fifth of all households but more than one-third (34%) of total consumer spending. Nationwide there are 1.3 million fewer of them in 2010 than there were in 2000.

8.) One in three consumers can't afford your product: The 2011 Discretionary Spend Report from Experian Simmons finds 34.5% of households have less than $7,000 to spend on non-essential goods. Just over half have less than $10,000 to spend on entertainment, education, personal care, clothing, furniture and more.

9.) Don't count out old media. Fifty-seven percent of millennials indicated in a study from OMD that TV was the first way they hear about products and services.

10.) For the first time in American history there are now a million more female than male college graduates, according to the Census.

Read this in full.

Students were shown a picture of a QR code and then asked questions like: Can you identify what this is? Do you know how to use it? How likely are you to engage with these in the future?

Here are just a few of our findings:

·         81% of students owned a smartphone

·         80% of students had previously seen a QR code

·         21% of students successfully scanned our QR code example.

·         75% of students said they are “Not Likely” to scan a QR code in the future.

Read this in full.

MarketingVOX (@marketingvox) reports that a study by Ypulse (@ypulse) finds that fewer than 1 in 5 students have ever used QR codes, nearly 2/3 of students have no idea what that are, and 6% have seen them but can't figure out how to use them.

According to comScore (@comScore), "the people more likely to scan a QR code are male (61% of code scanning audience), skew toward ages 18-34 (53%), and have a household income of $100,000 or above (36%). They also are more likely to scan codes found in newspapers/magazines and on product packaging - and do so while at home or in a store."

Matthew Richtel (@mrichtel) and Julie Bosman (@julie_bosman) write in their New York Times article that print books “have a tenacious hold on a particular group: children and toddlers. Their parents are insisting this next generation of readers spend their early years with old-fashioned books.”

This is the case even with parents who themselves are die-hard downloaders of books onto Kindles, iPads, laptops, and phones. They freely acknowledge their digital double standard, saying they want their children to be surrounded by print books, to experience turning physical pages as they learn about shapes, colors, and animals.

Parents also say they like cuddling up with their child and a book, and fear that a shiny gadget might get all the attention. Also, if little Joey is going to spit up, a book may be easier to clean than a tablet computer.

Read this in full.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you identify and understand your consumers. And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard designed especially for publishing and marketing executives.

Barna research findings about young Christians abandoning church are included in a new book by David Kinnaman (@davidkinnaman) titled You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith.

The research project was comprised of 8 national studies, including interviews with teenagers, young adults, parents, youth pastors, and senior pastors. The study of young adults focused on those who were regular churchgoers Christian church during their teen years and explored their reasons for disconnection from church life after age 15.

No single reason dominated the break-up between church and young adults. Instead, a variety of reasons emerged. Overall, the research uncovered 6 significant themes why nearly 3 out of every 5 young Christians (59%) disconnect either permanently or for an extended period of time from church life after age 15:

·         Churches seem overprotective.

·         Teens’ and twentysomethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow.

·         Churches come across as antagonistic to science.

·         Young Christians’ church experiences related to sexuality are often simplistic, judgmental.

·         They wrestle with the exclusive nature of Christianity.

·         The church feels unfriendly to those who doubt.

Read this in full.