Growth Spurt?

If you have kids, you'll follow me on this.  If you don't, well, you'll have to trust the rest of us.  I myself have three children, two of which are little boys.  They are six and four to be exact.  Oh, and they eat like horses.  Hungry, near starving horses.  All. The. Time.  And every once in a while, they hit this plateau, where they gain a bit of weight, get the "chunky cheeks" look, and then they go through this massive growth spurt.

For instance, my 4 year old, who just turned so on Saint Patrick's Day, grew over 3 inches since his last birthday.  Seriously folks, they are like plants.  Just add water and some tender loving care, and they'll sprout up... all around you!  Why am I telling you this?  Because there is a connection to the next level of social media and where we go from here.  So today's question is, "Are we at a plateau in Social Media where we are about to go through a growth spurt?"

I know, it's an odd question.  Consider these statistics:

• Facebook has more than 800 million users with 200 million of them added in 2011
• 80% of Americans use a social network 
• ~23% of all online time is spent on a social network
• Every day there are more than 290 million tweets made
• over 50% of people (not users, but ACTUAL people on the earth) get their news from social media outlets rather than traditional news outlets

These numbers are staggering.  They are almost at a point where you think to yourself, "Can we really grow anymore?" or "Are there any final frontiers left to conquer?"

Where do we go?  Where can we go?  Simple.  When I look at my children, I know the answer.  The youth.  Facebook wasn't made popular because the local bridge club wanted to connect with other card players, no, it was made wildly popular on campuses and colleges nationwide by the youth.  The Twitter movement wasn't adopted by senior citizens looking to share information on discount prescriptions, no it was embraced by young celebrities and entrepreneurs as a way to grow mind-share.  Google Plus?  Well, some would argue it is still popularizing itself, but it too has been adopted by the younger, technical demographic first.

We've all felt this way if you are over 35.  You look at a younger person and know they have grown up developing a skill set through tools you never had access to.  They are competing against you in the workforce and they have been raised in a digital generation that gave them access to things we could barely dream of!  Now, take that a step, well, backwards.  Look at someone who is 10 today and think about how they see things.  How are they marketed to?  How do they develop habits?  What do they do in their daily lives, with technology and social media, that is going to differentiate them tomorrow?

The youth, under 10 in the world, will have a completely different perspective about it, their surroundings, and the all-mighty data that drives this eco-sphere.  It won't be long before they are the ones the businesses are marketing to, the social networks are adapting to, and it will be them shaping their surroundings based on their experiences.

If you want to get creative, think about how you can use social media today, to make a fan for life out of a child.  How could you engage, passively or directly, in ways that the younger generations see as unique and differentiating?  Those who can answer those questions, capture the digital imagination of the youth, and tap into the future, will be the one's that experience the rapid growth spurts and dramatic changes over the next few years!