Some of the key take-aways include:
- When it comes to content, Gen Z snacks and eats full meals. Yes, they like short form content to keep them occupied, but they also enjoy long form content as well. They just don't always have time for it, but that doesn't mean they don't want it. As Sydney said during the session, she's read two books in the last three days.
- William made some excellent points about paid vs free content. The most important is that if the experience of free is better than the experience of paid, then they won't be paying!
- As I wrote about here, they are creating their own social media. Neither really uses Facebook, although William has an account so he can log into other sites. The do use smaller social networks like Google Hangouts, but the key is being where their friends are.
- Both agreed that the actual technology that they used didn't matter, as long as it gave them access to the internet and everything else they wanted.
As you know, they put together a survey that they sent out to friends and posted on various newsgroups and talked about the results during the sessions. We're still looking to continue the survey as we update the presentation, so if you can share with people under 25, please send them to this link.
Some key points from their survey:
No surprises here!
It was surprising to see how their talk about privacy issues contrasted with with their actions.
While it was expected that they would say they didn't like ads, it was more surprising how few people paid attention to ads.
Very surprised to see how high their awareness was about their data being monetized.
And while they love to say they'd prefer to not have their data monetized, close to 80% said they wouldn't pay for things instead.
And here's their final list of the best ways to connect with them.
Over 200 people stayed through the entire presentation to hear William & Sydney talk about their views on technology, privacy, content and other topics. Of course, they ended with some key do's and don'ts, but you'll have to download the full presentation to see those! You can click here to download the full presentation.
In all, it was a great SXSW experience for Sydney & William and the audience and we were thrilled by the response we got -- you can see some of the feedback below. We'd like to thank everyone who attended and please let us know if you'd like to be updated on the survey as we get more responses. Email me to receive those updates.
Some of the great comments we received:
- I work in a Norwegian bank and had the pleasure of listening to you, your daughter and her classmate at SXSW. To be totally honest, this was without doubt the best, most interesting, insightful and fun presentation at SXSW. - Sven-Erik Bergman
- Anyone think these 13 year olds are better public speakers than some of the executive panelists? Nicole Emerick #sxsw #teentalk
- Loving this #Teentalk so many brilliant insights from two very smart kids and a fantastic facilitator. Sarah Stovold #sxsw.
- Great #TeenTalk panel with an utterly terrified audience of adult marketers. Simon Jones
- #TeenTalk= surprise hit of SXSW. Kristine Smith
- I was skeptical about this two-person teen panel. But these "kids" are terrific. Scott Hess #teentalk #SXSpark #SXSW #PostGeneration
- The line to hear Millennials talk is about a mile long. Erica Schuckies #teentalk #SXSW