This morning I hurried over to the Doubletree Riverside for the Capital City Communicators spring seminar on “Using New Media to Engage Your Customers.”
I got there just in time to catch the tail end of Mark Danielson’s presentation on the new demographics of media consumption. (Full disclosure – IBR sponsored the event, and our publisher Rick Carpenter participated in a forum about how new media is changing the news business.)
Print isn’t dead. Neither is television or radio. But everything is shifting to the Web. People don’t want to sit down and watch a newscast or read a magazine cover to cover. They want the information that interests them to be easily available, and they don’t want to wait for it.
No news there. I’m part of the generation that’s shifting media consumption to the Internet.
That’s why I was discouraged when, during a break, I overheard a woman complaining to her colleague that if her employees are checking the Web ten times a day, then they’re not working hard enough.
Information workers don’t fit any traditional model for efficiency. There’s no measure for the number of widgets a knowledge worker can generate in an hour or a day. Today’s worker relies on shared information and collaboration to get the job done, or even just for some inspiration before returning to the task at hand.
Technology has also made it easier to process information. You don’t have to worry about missing that important e-mail when you step out of the office – your Blackberry will deliver it for you. Even a casual user of Google can use the search engine to instantaneously uncover public records relevant to a business, including competitor information.
Don’t assume employees who spend all day hunched over their laptop are idly surfing the Internet; it’s more than likely they’re just working smarter – which is good for your business.
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4 Comments
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For most people, like the woman you mentioned, that paradigm shift hasn't happened yet. Most people's jobs can be categorized as knowledge work. It's becoming less and less manual. It's a frustration I've had for quite some time, but most businesses do not understand the younger worker (those in their 20's and 30's). We've been able to leverage the technology tools available to get more done in less time. In addition we've figured out how to make the job less time and place centric. Call us slackers, but the people I've met who are in their 20's and 30's here in the Treasure Valley are quite intelligent, hard working and innovative. As long as we got a wireless connection and an ample supply of coffee we're good as gold. Comment By Justin Beller
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 @ 2:19 PM
I can learn more about something by searching for primary information about it and then going down secondary and tertiary paths to subsequent pages than a traditional worker sitting with a pile of "research" that was downloaded off a single site. What I lack in concentration on the task at hand, I more than make up for by having better context, competitive information and by associative ties that may come up later. While my techniques may look like wasting time on the Internet, my knowledge is often greater than my "efficient" teammates. Long live the slackers! Hopefully we will give the next generation more "slack" when it comes to their non-traditional work techniques. Comment By JB
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 @ 3:44 PM
I'm a boomer, and a slow adopter. But my teenage daughter pushes me to adopt new tech faster Therefore I greatly enjoyed Mark Danielson's presentation about "Millennials." I don't think slackers is an appropriate term. As in anything, it's about using the tools you are given, more effectively, and to think out of the box. Millennials multi-task better than the rest of us creating more efficiencies, becoming smarter, being creative, helping companies become more competitive. The internet is the doorway. Comment By Kent Laverty
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 @ 8:04 AM
Am in Austin this week, & heard about this coming up fast on the horizon: see http://www.safehaven.com/article-7538.htm "A most disruptive new technology" Comment By Bill Sellers Idaho Falls
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 @ 8:30 AM
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