Kids These Days: Meet Them Where They’re At

Paper : Slate as Digital : Print

Paper : Slate as

Typing : Handwriting as

Texting : Writing as

Digital : Print as

ATMs : Cash

Communication constantly evolves. It’s not something that needs to be beat or fixed. It’s a flow we can either resist or embrace. Kids are often the first adopters of things advanced generations stand back and judge with a decent amount of scorn.

Kids these days, etc.

But in the translation, Kids These Days are no different than they were centuries ago, or how we were back in the day.

For us it was telephones and MTV. For them it’s smart phones and YouTube.

Whatev I say.

Avoid labeling the messenger and embrace the message.

Kids These Days have just as much to say as we did. Just because they’ve adopted a new Slate sooner than us, doesn’t make their message less valid.

Kids: We need to Meet Them Where They’re At, rather than judging Where They Are. [click to tweet]

As a publisher of a magazine written entirely by kids, I face this music everyday. Just today, our Aug / September edition hit the streets. We offer a hyper-localized publishing solution for anyone to develop their own edition in their own community.

Yes, in print.

Analog as a piece of slate.

Surprisingly (some might say), it’s working.

Just like chalkboards (white boards) are still working in classrooms. And cash is working alongside our debit cards.

Our evolution in any area is an ebb and flow of new meeting old. And back and forth, again and again. [click to tweet]

To that end, as a publisher, we need to go with that flow.

Our publication is seen both in print and online.

Every time we hit the streets, we get more writers and more advertisers. I’ve yet to see a kid that doesn’t stop and take notice of our magazine. Let alone a writer that doesn’t squeal with excitement about being published in print. Or an advertiser that doesn’t grin at connecting to both these kids and their families.

Smart phone in hand or otherwise.

Abandoning print entirely really throws the baby out with the bath water. [click to tweet] The tactile thrill of a printed piece is hard to replicate in the digital world.

Embracing both worlds brings about a whole new level of yummy for everyone. It’s like a car with air conditioning. I remember a day when a/c was an option on a new car…

No matter what you’re publishing, print is not dead. Digital isn’t the only rage. The sun still rises and sets each day. Henny Penny, the sky did not fall. [click to tweet]

Kids these days. They’re more dimensional than we might think. Listen, watch and learn from them. [click to tweet]

. . . .

Photo Creds: BoSacks.com