Launch Group

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

FAREWELL NOUGHTY, MAKE WAY FOR THE "TEENIES" - Community-minded Gen Z will stamp its identity on the next decade

Media Release

FAREWELL NOUGHTY, MAKE WAY FOR THE "TEENIES"

Community-minded Gen Z will stamp its identity on the next decade

5 January 2010: It's no surprise Australia's next generation of teenagers have given their imprimatur to names like "the Teenies" or the "Teenties" for the decade ahead. With Generation Z poised to vote,enter the workforce, and become the focus of consumer targeting, this will be their decade.

Other names for the new decade, suggested in a recent survey of more than 2,000 Australian teenagers aged between 12 and 18 years, included: "the uncertainties" and the "tormenting teens." The online research was conducted last week by the world's largest virtual world for teens, Habbo Hotel. A combination of virtual world, game and social media site, Habbo Hotel has more than 4.4 million registered characters in Australia and more than 155 million worldwide.

Indepth research by Habbo Hotel into the attitudes and behavior of Generation Z suggests a more cautious, conservative and community-minded group of young adults is emerging, in contrast to the fame and fortune seeking Generation Y.[1]

"Generation Z is certainly emerging as more of a 'we' generation than the 'me' generation,, said Jeff Brookes Regional Director Asia Pacific, Sulake (Sulake owns Habbo Hotel). "On the whole, they have a strong sense of community and social justice values, and they tend to see through the superficial fairly quickly. For example, they are more likely to see their parents as role models, rather than celebrities or sporting stars. They also regard fairness and the absence of discrimination in the workplace as more important than money or status.

"Despite a high level of concern around issues such as the sustainability of the environment, they are showing up as cautiously optimistic overall," he said.

Key research findings around Generation Z:

Generation Z's most popular goal for 2010 is "just being happy." Also on the New Year's list were resolutions around friendships, fitness and school performance. The classic New Year's resolutions around: weight, romance and money were much lower down the list.
Most teens summed up 2009 as "a year full of surprises." However, any doom and gloom outlook caused by the global financial crisis was absent from teens responses with only 6% calling it "a sad year." More teens claimed it was their "best year ever" (11%) than 4% classifying it as their "worst year ever" (4%). "a difficult year" (15%) as those who claimed it was "a fun year."
The majority of teens (31%) said they are excited about 2010 with 23% saying they will "just wait and see" what the year holds for them and 19% saying they weren't sure what to expect. 15% of teens surveyed said they were nervous about 2010.

Environmental issues:

81% of teens say they are concerned about the environment
Almost one third claim they're more worried about global warming than their parents
Only 11% are happy about the job world leaders are doing about global warming issues; 20% are happy with the job the Australian political leaders are doing
90% of teens believe Australia should be investing in renewable technologies
85% believe they could personally be doing more to help the environment.

If Australia lowers the voting age, will teens vote?

More than half (51%) of teens under 18 said they would be interested in voting and having their say, 6% were unsure and only 13% said no they would not be interested in voting. A further 27% said they wanted to vote - but only when they turn 18 years old.
Almost 66% of Australia's teens say they are interested in politics.
Half (50%) of Australia's teens say they will make independent choices about who they vote for - without the influence of their parents. 22% say they haven't decided whether they will follow their parents voting habits, and 10% say they don't know who their parents vote for.

Teenglish - Habbo's top 25 Buzz teenglish words for 2009:

1. diss - Disrespect
2. fail - Either to show disapproval for something or when someone does fail at something. Sometimes spelt with a "ph" and "epic fail" (or "epic phail") is the highest form of failing.
3. ftw - For the win, used to show enthusiasm for something i.e kittens FTW
4. hai - Hi
5. idc - I don’t care
6. idk - I don’t know
7. ily - love you
8. irl - In real life
9. jks - Jokes
10. k or kk - Ok
11. meh - Indifference, couldn’t care less
12. noob - A new person, newbie but often used to make fun of anyone they don't like
13. pwn, pwned, pwnage - To own someone, beat them at a game or when someone has been taught a lesson.
14. plz - Please
15. props - Proper respect
16. rents, rentz or rentals - Parents
17. rofl - Roll on the floor laughing
18. soz - Sorry
19. srs - Serious, seriously
20. sup - What's up? What's happening? (Normally used: "hey sup")
21. tbh - To be honest
22. totes - Totally
23. ty - Thank you
24. w.e - Whatever
25. zomg - Something even more amazing or shocking than omg

-ends-

Further information: Sally Robertson (02) 9492 1089 or mobile: 0400 927 003

About Habbo Hotel: www.habbo.com.au Habbo Hotel is the world's largest virtual world for teens. Users join by creating a fully customized online character called a Habbo. From there, they can explore many public spaces and thousands of rooms created by other users in the virtual world, play a variety of games, connect with friends, decorate their own rooms, and have fun through creativity and self expression. Currently there are Habbo communities in 31 countries on six continents. To date, over 155 million characters have been created and over 15 million unique users worldwide visit Habbo Hotel each month.

[1] Comprehensive online research on thousands of teens in Australia and around the world demonstrates there is a sub generation of youths with markedly different characteristics and value systems to that of their Gen Y predecessors. The findings are part of nine separate surveys, each of which included an average of 2,000 participants aged 12 to 18 years‐old undertaken by Habbo Hotel during 2009. The research was conducted by Habbo Hotel Australia and developed and analysed by Launch Group.

Labels: Just for Fun, Media Entertainment and Technology, Teen Trends

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Virtual Tour of Art Masterpieces

GETTING a close-up view of Las Meninas, an intriguing portrait by the 17th-century Spanish painter Diego Velazquez, used to require a trip to the Prado museum in Madrid. Not any more.

For the first time, the Google Earth mapping program has been adapted to allow armchair art lovers to "fly" to a world-famous museum, drop through the roof and examine the masterpieces on display in almost microscopic detail.

The system, unveiled in Madrid by Google and the Prado, allows users to examine 14 ultra-high-resolution images of work by artists including Velazquez, Goya, Hieronymus Bosch, Titian, El Greco and Rembrandt. Read the full article by Richard Jinman from the SMH here.

Labels: Just for Fun, Media Entertainment and Technology

Sunday, September 7, 2008

10 amazing Google Earth add-ons

Maps from centuries past, paths of satellites whizzing by, global warming brought to life: User-created Google Earth mashups present a dizzying array of information in a new and imaginative graphic. See the pictures from Computerworld here.

Labels: Just for Fun

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Social Networking Wars

Think social networking sites are fun and useful? See what happens when things get a little out of control for one social networker who might just be over the whole social network thing. Let the social networking wars begin!

Labels: Just for Fun, Media Entertainment and Technology

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Man offers face as advertising space

JASON Niebling wants to be a "human advertising billboard" and work for whichever company is permanently tattooed on his head. And the 37-year-old from Ipswich, west of Brisbane, doesn't care if people think he's an idiot – just as long as the crazy scheme pays off and he can better provide for his wife Amy and children Tre, Tanika, Candis and Finette.

Mr Niebling already has the left side of his face and his bald head covered in non-advertising tattoos, but the right half is up for sale to the highest bidder.

Labels: Just for Fun

Monday, July 16, 2007

Geek Pride Blooms Into a Real-World Subculture

NEW YORK - The nerds are in the hoouusse!

On a steaming Saturday, a horn-rimmed posse of software engineers, computer programmers and support technicians was grooving at a most unlikely spot -- a fierce underground music venue here. The act: MC Chris -- king of the burgeoning world of "nerdcore rap" -- who dropped rhymes like Jay-Z with a pocket protector, Eminem with complexion issues. See the full article from the Washington Post here.

Labels: Consumer Trends, Just for Fun

Monday, July 9, 2007

Two Minute Social Networking Primer

Social media marketing, social media optimization, social bookmarking, social networking, social, social, SOCIAL. It's everywhere and yet, many people are still having a hard time understanding exactly what the heck we're talking about. So, if you're still trying to figure out what the heck a social network is and why you might want to join one, here's a brilliant two minute video primer.
Click on this link to watch the video

Labels: Just for Fun, Media Entertainment and Technology