http://www.mventur.com Facebook is targeting youth as key to maintaining its future relevance but it needs to go beyond its traditional structured approach to engagement (Hackathons) and invest more in unstructured everyday interactions.

1. MVENTUR MEMO Q1 2013: FACEBOOK
FACEBOOK: GO BEYOND HACKATHONS IF YOU WANT TO WIN
THE FUTURE YOUTH MARKET
Facebook is targeting youth as key to maintaining its future relevance
but it needs to go beyond its traditional structured approach to
engagement (Hackathon) and invest more in unstructured everyday
interactions.

2. FACEBOOK NEEDS TO WIN YOUNG CREATORS NOT YOUNG
USERS
There are over 1 billion potential young coders in the world today.
Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google need to focus on winning this
cognitive surplus of young creators.
This week, Bill Gates, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter co-
founder Jack Dorsey joined forces to support a new initiative, Code.org,
that encourages young people to code.
While it may make sense for any tech company to invest in the next
generation of engineers, the real challenge will be in winning the hearts
and minds of the amateur developers not just in attracting professional
talent to the company.
We’re shifting from a consumer economy to a creator economy. A lot of
the code creation is individual, outside of the company which tech
brands can’t control. Where previous IT battles were won and lost in the
drive to get people onto a specific platform, the new battleground will be
in getting 1 billion people to create for that platform.
The traditional view of young creators may need an upgrade. Where
tech companies would previously concentrate on student hackathons,
the focus needs to shift to an even younger market that is currently
underserved.
"We used to think that inviting students as young as 18 years old was
great," said Apple's marketing chief, Phil Schiller, in an interview last
week. But he said Apple's iPhone and iPad software, called iOS, has
lately attracted interest from an even younger group of developers.
"We would get emails after the developer conference from students, 16,
15, 14 years old, saying I already have X number of apps in the app
store. I'm a developer. Can I take part in this too?" he said.
Becoming part of the teen coding conversation isn’t necessarily about
hackathons and university milk rounds but in developing a better
understanding of their lives and the social drivers that shape the
creation of content.

3. WHY YOUNG CREATORS?
Youth are the most prolific creators online: 80% of youth aged 15-21
create original content online compared to only 34% of people aged 30
and above.
Technology that connects people is first evolved in the youth market.
SMS evolved within the youth market outside of telecoms industry
initiatives. Where adults saw only form factor limitations, youth saw a
platform to communicate through a shared language (i.e. txtpsk) that
defined their peer group identity and tightened their tribe. The texting
experience developed by youth has now spread to the wider adult
market.
Rather than wait for telecoms to come good on delivering a positive
experience, Facebook needs to tap into young creators to drive the
experience from the bottom-up.
Youth Influence the Adult Market.
What happens in the adult market tomorrow can be seen in the youth
market today. The real potential in involving young creators is not in
waiting for big innovation to happen. SMS, Facebook, file sharing were
all conceived in the youth market.
Today, tapping into young creators means running hackathons to source
this innovation. Tomorrow, it could mean curating different hackathons
that are organized and run by people you don’t know. The largest
hackathon today is already held in unlikely places, not Stanford or MIT
but in Penn State University that is better known for its medical program
than its technological department.
FACEBOOK NEEDS TO GET INTO THE 3H
Innovation happens in the homes, hangouts and hideouts (3H) of young
people. It’s not just the hackers lauded by the press that tech companies
need to focus on. In the new creation economy, innovation is happening
wherever youth get together to share their problems and collaborate to
find solutions.
Apps and services created by youth won’t necessarily be the next big
thing. Youth won’t create an out of box solution for the mass market,
moreover they will create small hacks that solve their personal

4. problems. Research needs to step inside the young creator’s natural
habitat not only to find out what they are creating but to understand the
‘why’ behind this behavior. Answering the why question will identify
these personal problems which in turn will help Facebook build solutions
to everyday pain points and need gaps.

5. About MVentur
MVentur is the world’s first youth mobile consultancy.
We have 2 roles:
1) Advisor to our clients
We oversee marketing plans, act on advisory panels and consult our
clients. Find out more about our consultancy work.
2) Commercial think tank for the mobile industry
We promote progressive marketing ideas that help mobile companies go
beyond advertising. Read more about our youth mobile opinion pieces.
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