Social Media, Information Seeking, and Generational Differences

AT autumn library conferences, I heard numerous presentations that focused on younger people's use-and perception-of technology (people, that is, who are younger than the presenters). Comparing expectations of digital natives with those of digital immigrants led to much angst on the part of immigrant presenters. Not born into a digital world, computers were not embedded in their upbringing. They not only remember when they were not connected 24/7, but they also remember those days fondly. They worry that digital natives' information-seeking behaviors, shaped by social media, will dilute rigorous research, yet they realize that new formats and sources greatly enrich available content.

One hallmark of new phenomena is the lack of standardized terminology to describe it. Digital natives go by other monikers: millennials, next generation, NetGen, screenagers, Bebo generation, Google generation, Facebookers, MySpace generation, and probably some others. The word "generation," attached to the product name of the week, is popular. Gen X and Gen Y have lost favor. Then, again, digital immigrants are also baby boomers, or possibly just old fogies.