Twitter is not for teens: so says Morgan Stanley teenager and Twain says, “LOL, what are banks paying 30/40-something analysts for?!”
Morgan Stanley is the bank where the veteran Internet analyst, Mary Meeker, is in residence and communicates her insights on tech stocks and their performance.
The team has garnered a good reputation for calling it right over the years and I read a fair amount of Meeker’s reports from conferences on the developments and future of the Internet too. Nonetheless, her team’s not always spot on — as this competitive spat over GOOG stock valuations in 2007 with Henry Blodget, formerly the Internet analyst at Merrill Lynch (an RIP bank, acquired by Bank of America in Q4 2008) and now CEO, co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Silicon Alley Insider, shows:
· http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/08/24/henry-blodget-blasts-mary-meekers-google-goog-math/
· http://www.businessinsider.com/alleyinsider
Today’s FT informs us that Morgan Stanley has a new star Internet analyst: a 15 year-old intern called Matthew Robson. Apparently, his research note on social media says in no uncertain terms that, “Twitter is not for teenagers!” and CEOs and senior people are all abuzz about the report:
* http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/035e83fe-6f18-11de-9109-00144feabdc0.html
* http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/13/twitter-teenage-media-habits
* http://voices.allthingsd.com/20090713/note-by-teenage-scribbler-causes-sensation/
Now — whilst this is all fantastic for young Matthew Robson — Morgan Stanley and the various CEOs and media moguls who attended Sun Valley 2009 as well as institutional fund managers need to ask themselves, “How’s it possible our 30/40-something analysts’ eyes are off the radar?! What are we paying them for?! This is the type of blind-sidedness and incompetence that ends up contributing to global financial crisis which then affect economies and employment!”
Sorry, but anyone worth their salt as an analyst — even a novice one, fresh out of Harvard / Oxbridge / INSEAD / any other Ivy League business school — would have picked up on “Twitter is not for teenagers” and the non-40something Twitterati OVER THREE MONTHS AGO! Notably, if the analysts had any sense of humor and were actually ON THE BALL they’d have seen the twitter topix link syndicated on the brilliant Kosmix (http://www.kosmix.com) and gone to the Current TV site:
* http://current.com/items/89891774_twouble-with-twitters.htm
Here are the links to the YouTube videos too for good measure:
· www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w
· www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHAZt-Exuaw
[I can't embed the videos because of country restrictions. It's not available on YouTube UK site.]
Please note what the Current TV/Supernews comedy anarchists are saying: the young guy in the cartoon doesn’t get the hype about Twitter and is making a mockery out of the 40-something Twitterer. That’s a pretty good insight on whether it has teen appeal too.
Teens aren’t into tech hyped up by middle-aged celebrities or SEO spammers. They like to be the ones discovering it, populating it with their identity markers as their own identities take shape, breaking new grounds with it and they want to know that if they shell out monies to update their tweets via their mobile phone credits………..Robert Pattison (he of Twilight and a million schoolgirl daydreams), the Harry Potter kid stars and the Jonas Brothers / Miley Cyrus / the Obama girls or the coolest boy / girl in school they fancy are going to become their avid followers.
What the Morgan Stanley story about the teenage analyst shows is that senior management desperately need analysts and advisors who are on-the-ball, perspicacious and engage in a similar or like-for-like way the target market they’re writing about and trying to build business case models for do.
Moreover, this “Twitter is not for teens” is SERIOUSLY OLD NEWS to the viewers of Current TV and anyone with a genuine pulse on the socmedia sphere. The FT too will have to shape up and get more………current and informed.
LOL.
[Yes, I was the first person to flag the Current TV/Supernews hilarity about Twitter to my friends. No, I’m not a teenager but I can be child-like --- if not juvenile, immature or a novice --- about how I consume and explore media. Just because I have the adult tools to put socmedia players into a Porter matrix or McKinsey product life cycle graph or to calculate staggered revenue streams in a balance sheet doesn't mean I've lost my abilities to play with and test out digital media with the wonder (and mischief) of a child.
Hey and the YouTube videos aren’t even relayed in my country because of copyright restrictions! Still………….if a person really needs to know……….they can find anything in the socmedia sphere.]
LOOOOOOOOOOL.
Humor and wit can help our insights on business models in the most surprising ways!
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UPDATE
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I made my post early this morning, as soon as I read the original FT.com article and MS’ prognosis on twitter and other soc media for GenY (http://media.ft.com/cms/c3852b2e-6f9a-11de-bfc5-00144feabdc0.pdf).
During the course of the day, it seems to have captured the attentions of the blogosphere (ReadWriteWeb, HuffPost, Silicon Alley Insider, Crunchgear, etc.):
*http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/teens_not_into_twitter_tv_radio_newspapers.php
* http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/13/matthew-robson-15yearold-_n_230495.html
There’ve been hundreds of comments on the blogs. Notably, so many hours after my blog post……still NO ONE has referred to the Current TV/Supernews spoof.
I think I’m going to have to remind everyone of its comedic genius.
Clearly, the comedians are ahead of the curve compared with the analysts.
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UPDATE II
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Ah, yes, and real-life young intern Matthew Robson puts his age at “15 and 7 months” in the Morgan Stanley note. This is LOL because the fictitious character, Adrian Mole, was 13 and 3/4 when he shared his teenage insights with us:
Of course, the teenage Adrian’s singular musings were the creations of the mid-30’s FEMALE author, Sue Townsend……….
* http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=authC2D9C28A18dac23605uLr31DC862
Reading through the MS research note, it’s obvious that the 30-something analysts on the MS media team have contributed their input to the teenager Robson’s insights. Former bankers can spot this from a continent away.
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UPDATE NUMERO TRE
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I am ROTFLOL!!!
In tomorrow’s Times newspaper, there’s an interview with Matthew Robson and his mother in which they explain how he got his internship. She was walking the family dog in Greenwich Park and bumped into another dog-walker by accident. He happened to be Patrick Wellington, a senior financial analyst at MS. The Robson family dog is a whippet (as in smart / quick as) and it’s called….RUDOLPH, so someone’s obviously Santa Claus and everyone’s Christmases have come at once!
Matthew Robson gets his internship. Morgan Stanley gets buzz about a research note. Sun Valley media moguls get an insight into the teen market they themselves are (some of them with the exception of Zuckerberg) over three decades too old to qualify for membership in. Twitter gets information on which audience to focus their efforts (no strategic rationale to migrate towards tweens because the marketing efforts won’t work on them).
Synchronicity? Serendipity? The Super Being of SocMedia moving in mysterious ways?
LOOOOOOOOL, I love this story!
Oh and how does the Times entitle its article?
“TWITTER IS FOR OLD PEOPLE, WORK EXPERIENCE WHIZ-KID TELLS BANKERS” !!!!!!!!!!!!
* http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6703399.ece?Submitted=true
Ha! Now am I glad I never took to Twitter!
OLD people, indeed!!! LOOOOOOOOL! There go the hopes of the socmedia’s “I’m young and cool” hipponistas! LOOOOOOOOL!!!
July 13th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
I made my post early this morning, as soon as I read the original FT.com article and MS’ prognosis on twitter and other soc media for GenY (http://media.ft.com/cms/c3852b2e-6f9a-11de-bfc5-00144feabdc0.pdf).
During the course of the day, it seems to have captured the attentions of the blogosphere (ReadWriteWeb, HuffPost, Silicon Alley Insider, Crunchgear, etc.:
* http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/teens_not_into_twitter_tv_radio_newspapers.php
* http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/13/matthew-robson-15yearold-_n_230495.html
* http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-15-year-old-analyst-trashes-tv-newspapers-radio-andtwitter-2009-7
* http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/07/13/morgan-stanley-reports-shows-that-teens-dont-use-twitter-dont-buy-music-but-still-go-to-the-movies/
There’ve been hundreds of comments on the blogs. Notably, so many hours after my blog post……still NO ONE has referred to the Current TV/Supernews spoof.
I think I’m going to have to remind everyone of its comedic genius.
July 13th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
UPDATE II
Ah, yes, and real-life young intern Matthew Robson puts his age at “15 and 7 months” in the Morgan Stanley note. This is LOL because the fictitious character, Adrian Mole, was 13 and 3/4 when he shared his teenage insights with us:
* http://www.adrianmole.com/
Of course, the teenage Adrian’s singular musings were the creations of the mid-30’s FEMALE author, Sue Townsend……….
* http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=authC2D9C28A18dac23605uLr31DC862
Reading through the MS research note, it’s obvious that the 30/40-something analysts on the MS media team have contributed their input to the teenager Robson’s insights. Former bankers can spot this from a continent away.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
I am ROTFLOL!!! In tomorrow’s Times newspaper, there’s an interview with Matthew Robson and his mother in which they explain how he got his internship. She was walking the dog and bumped into another dog-walker by accident. He happened to be Patrick Wellington, a senior financial analyst at MS.
Synchronicity? Serendipity? The Super Being of SocMedia moving in mysterious ways?
LOOOOOOOOL, I love this story!
Oh and what does the Times entitle its article?
“TWITTER IS FOR OLD PEOPLE, WORK EXPERIENCE WHIZ-KID TELLS BANKERS” !!!!!!!!!!!!
* http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6703399.ece?Submitted=true
Ha! Boy am I glad I never took to Twitter now!
Old people, indeed!!! LOOOOOOOOL!
July 13th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Plus the dog’s name is…..RUDOLPH, so someone must be Santa Claus and everyone’s Christmas presents have all come at once!
Matthew Robson gets his internship. Morgan Stanley gets buzz about a research note. Sun Valley media moguls get an insight into the teen market they themselves are (some of them with the exception of Zuckerberg) over three decades too old to qualify for membership in.
S-E-R-E-N-D-I-P-I-T-Y for social media!
July 14th, 2009 at 5:13 am
For anyone interested in a more authoritative report on how teens consume media, please refer to Nielsen’s June 2009 research:
* http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/teens-more-normal-than-you-think-regarding-media-usage/
* http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/reports/nielsen_howteensusemedia_june09.pdf