My friends at Resource Interacted developed a great report on technology and Gen Y called Decoding the Digital Millennials.

Key findings about the Connected Gen Y group include that they:

- are connected — online all the time. We have a tendency to think it just by Instant Messaging, but these guys live and breath with their mobile phone. And if you think they are increasingly using email, you are wrong. Email usage is flat

- like to make lots of decisions together. They are good collaborators and prefer not to work independently

- multitasks all the time, but is productive. The consume media like never before. 77% still watch TV, but 74% surf the Web, 71% listen to music, 54% listen to radio, 37% watch videos/DVDs, and 29% play video games (source: Harris Interactive)

- filter anything that is not relevant

- pride themselves on self-expression, as long as their identify is still tied to the group

- are optimistic

- feel entitled

The Resource Interactive survey reminds us to keep it real, be original, provide a dose of entertainment, and listen to what they have to say.

OK.. check out the survey. It is must for all marketers!

I was really surprised to see that Sugar Ray Carmelo Anthony only get a 15 day fine for his role in last weeks free for all at Madison Square Garden. Yes, I know the Knicks started ‘it’, but as a superstar, you have to be able to control yourself. Kind of like the same issue politicians have when their life is scrutinized by the press. I have to admit that I am also concerned that Carmelo has also been joined by Allen Iverson, who even though has cleaned up his act recently, doesn’t have the best history. So this am, one of my friends — who is also an old fuddy-duddy — told me that they do not make starts anymore like they used to. That these guys are not like the Jordans, the Magics, and the Birds. This made me wonder if today’s younger folks do IN FACT think of Wades (who from what I can tell is is a great person) and the James. (Who is just a great player, although I prefer Wade) as the best players of all time.

To tell you truth, I really only bring this up because it seems as if we often think ‘things were better when we were kids.’ I hear this over and over and I am of the school that if you hear something over and over, it might not be true. So, it would be interesting to pulse today’s youth and see how they think about today’s sports’ stars.

Oh yea. One more thing. I think these guys are the today’s true star athletes.. and how to really play hoops in Madison Square Garden.

Wilder

Met with some students at Columbia University recently and they shared with me their dissatisfaction with both MySpace and FaceBook. Note: This was not a statistically significant finding so, I can’t tell if it is permanent or just a temporary blemish). The students told me MySpace is ’scary” because you do not know what you will find and FaceBook was better when it was just for college kids. The problem now is that they have opened it up to everyone — high schoolers, alum, etc. My Columbia friends told me that they understand the need to make a buck, but are savvy enough to know that those sites already have plenty of page views to make millions and millions of dollars.

Scott