Unfortunately for him, my son came into my room a few minutes ago, flopped on my bed and said he was bored. He quickly revised that statement when he saw the gleam in my eye. “Wait. No, I’m not bored! Mommmm!”
I gave him my list of things to do. He picked ‘write blog.’
Here’s the post he wrote for my blog. It’s entitled “Wassup, People of the World?” :
Yo! Watz up, Diggy Dogs? Elizabeth Craig is in the house. Who wants to chitty chat with moi? Cmon…somebody HAS to want to chit chat with me?!?!?!?!?!?! :) Cmon, ask me a question about my book….whatever it is called, anyway. Let’s make the roof explode with questions!
Okay, Elizabeth is back now. Yes, the texting culture has definitely affected the next generation, if anyone wondered. And, no, my son isn’t a gangsta: he’s a 12 year old blond suburbanite.
But still, there are some things that Generation Next knows instinctively that took some learning on my part:
Adapt quickly. Media and applications are changing all the time.
Short and to-the-point updates. I’m thinking that William Faulkner and Henry James would have a hard time editing for the length and attention spans of 2009. But Ernest Hemingway? Maybe not so much. The point is, it’s not a good idea to ramble these days—not with blogs. And you couldn’t ramble with Twitter or Facebook status updates, even if you wanted to.
Have an appealing heading. If you want your post to stand out on Twitter or Networked Blogs, practice writing your headlines. Teasers seem to work best on Twitter.
Encourage a response. Maybe not so much of an appeal for response as my son penned in his blog post for me, but it’s good to encourage dialogue and a sharing of ideas. That’s the best part of social media, after all.
Have fun. That’s one of the hardest things for me to remember. I tend to look at nearly everything in terms of work and minutes used to complete a task. But to Gen Next, this is fun….all they want to do is to network with other people. And they’re very good at it.
For us to compete in their world and stay relevant, we’re going to need to find the fun in social media. Because it’s going to be around, in some form or fashion, from here on out.
This is Elizabeth Diggy Dog, signing out, yo.
So true!
What a great lesson from your son. Thanks both of you. I’m still a bit afraid of social media.
Karen
I think I’d like to hire your son as my media consultant. Actually, he can team up with my 11-year-old. I smell a best-seller in short order.
Love this. Tell son he’s one bad dawg!
You are so right. This younger generation adapts quickly. I still worry about breaking something or messing it up to the point I can’t set it straight. The younger kids just do it.
Tell your son he’s not only smart and funny, he’s a very good teacher.
Helen
Straight From Hel
I think your twelve year old is brilliant.
My problem now seems to be brevity – on my blog at least, most of the comments seem longer than my original post. Wonder what that says about me?
I’m so not ready for 12….can I please just stick with 4?
Great post. Its quite scary how social media is taking over the world!
How cute is this. Love this post. Your son (name withheld to protect the innocent) Has inherited his mom’s writing skills: Pithy, tight, on-point, funny. Maybe he could critique or co-work with you on your next ms. Gonna have to Twitter this.
Best Regards, Galen
Imagineering Fiction Blog
I had to smile at your son’s post and then sigh, knowing I have a whole new language to master!
My Dad used to say, when one of us kids said we were bored, “People who say they are bored are boring people.” lol But I agree, kids these days seem to be born with an “e-gene” – they are natural virtual adepts.
The Old Silly
Adapt Quickly – yup a lot to be said for that and it is certainly more necessary these days.
Very good advice, not least ‘encourage a response.’
Oh to be twelve again:)) And loved this post especially with the last reminder– to have fun. When it gets to be a chore–I’m outta here!
Robin–Thanks for dropping by!
Angie–I told him. :) He thought that was great!
Helen–They are really amazing, the way they pick things up.
Carnimire–It’s hard to cut out perfectly good text, isn’t it? I have a hard time with that, too.
Marybeth–Oh, 4 was fun. I miss 4!
Karen–Me too. :) At least we’re both trying.
Alan–He’d be a whiz at media consulting, for sure. Except he’d be texting his friends the whole time he was advising us.
Galen–Thanks, Galen! Yes, he’s already asked me if he could co-author this blog. Ha! I have a feeling he’d completely take it over.
Jane–Me too. And just when I think I have it nailed, it changes…
Marvin–Yes, being bored seems to be an epidemic w/ this age group. But not at my house or you get assigned a vacuuming job. Or blogging.
Hagelrat–I guess it’s like evolution. If we don’t do it, we’re not going to survive.
Martin–True. It’s great to get comments.
Terri–Exactly! But it’s so easy to forget that we’re supposed to be enjoying ourselves.
I’m lovin’ this!
Nancy, from Realms of Thought…
This is just one great post. You should consider hiring your son out, I could use the help! Not only entertaining, your tips are good ones. Thanks Elizabeth!
This was scary-funny, because I swear, my daughter could have written your son’s post, word for word! :) I think you’re right – their generation does seem to know certain things instinctively that I’ve had to figure out for myself.
This was so fun to read … and I do think you hit some key points on making blogging work — having fun, being short and to the point (not my strength) and encouraging a conversation. : )