Stephanie Azzarone

Moms, College Kids + Tech: New Study

Millennial Mom 101, a new study by Mr Youth and RepNation Media, compares moms' and college students' use of social media and finds that the two groups are similar in 4 key ways:

They multitask with multiple technologies. Both groups view technology as a way to easily integrate all the different aspects of their lives. Moms see technology as a solution for managing home life efficiently, and they welcome tech just as much as college students do.

They build communities to ease transitions. Those communities provide them with support systems, as students in one case and parents in the other. Interestingly, moms are more likely to be on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter than the general population, and the majority are likely to visit social networking sites several times a day.

They seek peer advice over experts'. According to the report, "Gone are the days when What to Expect When You're Expecting was the definitive bible. Today, social sites have blown open the doors to more personal parenting advice and niche ideas."

They overshare. Though they communicate very different types of information, neither group hesitates to convey very personal information to strangers. The report cites as an example moms' uproar in response to Facebook's  effort to ban breastfeeding photos.

Yet along with the similarities between moms and college students come some notable differences which should be of particular interest to marketers. While college students "hardly ever" post a review about products and services, moms are "most likely" to do so "once a week."

Moms, do these findings describe your experience? Marketers, what surprises you about these results?

For more on this insightful report, visit here.

Posted by Stephanie Azzarone on October 27, 2009 | Comments (0)