It’s been awhile, but the next installment of Student Trends are in: Spring 2015 Edition. (Click here to see web version)
Since you’ve been gone, there have been loads and loads of new viral stories, music, apps, movies and more. So grab a drink (preferably of the caffeinated variety), kick your feet up and get into the student spirit. Enjoy!
Apps
Last year, apps like Snapchat and Instagram/Twitter add-ons like “Hyperlapse” and “Vine” took the cake for most popular apps. With time-limitations and timelapse sequencing, these apps provided the masses to curate more visually interesting and engaging content.
So what’s changed? The direction of the most popular apps this year leans in favor of increased instant gratification and anonymity. Check out these apps to find out more.
From groceries to take out to plane tickets—whatever you can think of (that’s legal), Magic can get it for you. It’s not actually an app, but a text message delivery service, though in this day and age, that’s putting it simply. So, how does it work? You simply text “Magic” to this phone number (83489) to get whatever you want on demand with no hassle. They’ll provide pricing, with a % markup for their services and delivery included, but what’s extra cost over convenience?
From their website:
How It Works: We have trained operators standing by 24/7 to answer every one of your requests. Send us a text message, and we’ll get you what you want. We’ll order what you need from the appropriate service (e.g. DoorDash, Instacart, Postmates, etc.), and deal with them so you just automatically get what you want, like magic…
Shipping on Demand: Pickup, Packaging and Delivery Tracking. Touted as the “easiest way to ship anything”, Shyp takes the thought out of really doing anything but tapping a button. (Think of it as your personal shipping assistant/elf.) Whether it’s returning an online purchase or sending a box of cookies, all you have to do is take a picture and request a pickup, and they’ll do the rest: wrap the package, provide a shipping label and send it on it’s way.
The cost: $5 flat rate for anything + the cost of postage, which they offer at the lowest retail rate. No more working around post office hours, waiting in lines, or trying to figure out how to wrap that funky shaped package—Shyp will do it for you. Sure, you could just as easily do it yourself with a little effort, but why bother when you can pay someone $5 bucks to do it for you?
This anonymous posting app aimed at High School students allows students uses location and Facebook data to determine what school the user attends, and shows a feed of posts from classmates. It’s meant for students to post “funny, anonymous school news for confessions and compliments”, similar to the Whisper app, but among your known peers (though still anonymous). Think of it as the “Burn Book” via Mean Girls.
It gained popularity quickly…but probably too quickly, as developers failed to include a filter that reported inappropriate content. It’s been pulled from the App Store at least twice, citing two violations of its guidelines: • 14.1 — Any App that is defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited, or likely to place the targeted individual or group in harm’s way will be rejected. • 16.1 — Apps that present excessively objectionable or crude content will be rejected. Bullying and threats of violence have occurred and developers are working to bring back the app with filters in place to prevent it from reoccurring.
Similar to After School, Yik Yak is an anonymous social app that allows users to post to a location based feed. Although it’s had its fair share of problems, similar to After School (bullying, threats of violence), Yik Yak has taken steps to report harmful posts, and the app even took steps to prevent its use on school campuses (since it uses physical location data versus Facebook information, like After School). It’s a good way to waste some time—I’ve found myself browsing the University of Notre Dame Yik Yak when I’m feeling nostalgic, or more recently, seeing what people are saying about the weather in the north east to get a real update on what things are like. As for students, they probably have more creative ways to use the app (i.e. Who’s going to the game tonight? How do I ask this girl out? Or general musings like “Bored as hell.”)
Elastic Heart | Sia Click to Listen If you’re not sure what Austrailian singer/songwriter Sia looks like, then you’re probably most people. The artist makes a point to disguise her face, choosing to put focus on a doppelganger (most notetably, Dance Mom’s star 12 year old Maddie Ziegler, seen in the video here.) Her reasoning? So people will focus more on her music than what she looks like.
FourFiveSeconds | Rihanna, Kanye, & Paul McCartney When this song, along with Kanye’s other collaboration with Paul McCartney, “Only One” came out, most kids’ responses were the same: “Whoever this Paul guy is, working with Kanye is gonna make him pretty famous.”
Lady Gaga’s Sound of Music If you have not see this, stop everything and watch this right now. (I mean it) Click here to watch.
“Stay Weird" This was one of the most talked about speeches from the Oscars. The message: It gets better. A powerful message for students and adults alike. Read it and then watch it.
"When I was 16 years old, I tried to kill myself because I felt weird and I felt different and I felt like I did not belong. And now I’m standing here and so I would like for this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she’s weird or she’s different or she doesn’t fit in anywhere. Yes, you do. I promise you do. You do. Stay weird, stay different. And then when it’s your turn and you’re standing on this stage, please pass the same message to the next person who comes along.”
Celebrity Jeopardy SNL 40th Saturday Night Live celebrated 40 years of its show in February, reviving classics like “Celebrity Jeopardy”. For students today, SNL is The Lonely Island and Stefon on Weekend Update. However, with a long list of celebrity hosts and classic sketches, oldies like Celebrity Jeopardy, Cowbell and Wayne’s World are ones only the cool kids would know. Watch it HERE.
Sergei Polunin Dances to “Take Me To Church" Impossibly beautiful.
Guys Read Each Other’s Texts To Their Girlfriends You should definitely watch this. Click here to watch.
100 Years of Beauty This time lapse video shows a model getting her hair and makeup done to match every decade from 1910 to 2010. An interesting look at the evolution of beauty over the years. Click here to watch.
Mentos & Coke Zero Bathtub This, my friends, is the internet in 2015. Unfortunatly, this is exactly what it sounds like. A Japanese viral YouTube star tapes Mentos to his body and jumps into a bathtub full of Coke Zero. I can’t tell you why this is news. Only that after posting this, I’m betting you can’t resist watching.
Disney’s Frozen Fever WHAT THERE’S A NEW FROZEN SHORT FEATURE FILM?! Yep, it’s true, and you can only see it in theaters with the new Cinderella live-feature film. It’s only a short, but people (obviously) are going nuts. Watch it here.
#DearMe This viral video movement is part of YouTube’s celebration of International Women’s Day. The gist? Post a #DearMe video answering "What advice would you give your younger self?
From its YouTube Page:
In celebration of International Women’s Day, take part in YouTube’s global #DearMe initiative to inspire and empower young girls everywhere. We all know that growing up is tough. But if you could go back in time, what wisdom would you share with your teenage self? It all starts with two words. Dear Me.
#LikeAGirl
What does it mean to do something like a girl? The Always campaign, whose ad premiered on Super Bowl Sunday asked just that. Aimed at empowering girls to redefine doing things "like a girl."
From their website:
Using #LikeAGirl as an insult is a hard knock against any adolescent girl. And since the rest of puberty’s really no picnic either, it’s easy to see what a huge impact it can have on a girl’s confidence. We’re kicking off an epic battle to make sure that girls everywhere keep their confidence throughout puberty and beyond, and making a start by showing them that doing it #LikeAGirl is an awesome thing.
Movies Check out the new movies that your students are watching with my one-line synopsis. Click the title to see the trailer!
Out Now
Big Hero 6 - DIY Super Hero kids beat bad guy robots with better robots. 50 Shades of Grey - Twilight fanfiction, but without vampires and with lots of sex instead. (Inappropriate for students, but that probably won’t keep them from seeing it if they want to.) Mockingjay - Third installment of the Hunger Games franchise where eventually, Katniss picks Gale or Peeta (and the world is saved, probably.) The Wedding Ringer - Cool best man for hire is hired by awkward groom with no friends. The Lazarus Effect - Modern take on Frankenstein, but instead they do a horrible job and Frankenstein ends up trying to kill them all. The Duff - The Designated Ugly Fat Friend (DUFF) decides to get a new title–one that’s particularly less offensive, with the help of her hott guy friend. Focus -Not as cool as Oceans 11, as clever as Catch Me If You Can or as good as Am Spongebob Movie - Sponge Bob Square Pants in a movie instead of television.
Coming Soon
Cinderella - You know, like the cartoon, but with real people. erican Hustle, but its got scam artists, hot girl and Will Smith in a movie that’s NOT Men in Black or Bad Boys. Insurgent - The second installment of the Divergent series where they now have to figure out how to intro the third movie. Pitch Perfect 2 - American acapella group goes international with Austrailian girl as their anchor. Unfinished Business - That funny "if conference calls were real life” YouTube video, but in movie form with Vince Vaughn.
Viral Trends That Are Worth A Read
#TheDress
The #dress that launched a thousand tweets. What color is it, you ask? It’s black and blue (IRL). But, to some, you may see white and gold. Wired wrote this explanation, that seems to help clear things up:
“What’s happening here is your visual system is looking at this thing, and you’re trying to discount the chromatic bias of the daylight axis,” says Bevil Conway, a neuroscientist who studies color and vision at Wellesley College. “So people either discount the blue side, in which case they end up seeing white and gold, or discount the gold side, in which case they end up with blue and black.” (Conway sees blue and orange, somehow.)
Sweetgreen, a healthy quick-serve restaurant that values local and organic ingredients, clarified disparity between American student lunches and those of other countries by photographing typical school lunches from around the world. The visuals are eye-opening.
Sweetgreen evaluated different government standards for school lunch programs and compared the data to real photos from students who had posted on several social media platforms. Because school lunches can vary by region, it’s important to note that the images below aren’t exact representations of a country’s school lunch, but offer a resemblance.
From Twitter, to Instagram, to Facebook and Tumblr (and every social media app that utilizes hashtags in between), you’ll find the ever-popular #relationshipgoals. Here, you’ll find several different interpretations of relationship goals that couples or singles aspire to have.
Here are a few:
The Nauseatingly Thoughtful
The Excessive Use of (Social) PDA
The “We Do Things Our Way"
Being Disgusting In Front of Each Other and It Not Mattering
And "just because I love you”
Diverse Emojis
Emoticons are going to start looking like all of us now, not just some of us. Starting in July 2015, developer Unicode announced a new range of skin tones that will be available in its Unicode Version 8.0. Woo!
Weasel-Woodpecker Meme
On the internet, a baby weasel riding a woodpecker is never JUST a baby weasel riding a woodpecker. Check out some more favorites here.
#oscarmoments
While the 2015 Oscars had its fair share of usual happenings–photobombing, awkward speeches, fashion dos and don'ts, this year’s Oscars (and Grammy’s for that matter) was used as a platform for voices to be heard and messages to be delivered, on women’s, civil and human rights. Messages like “stay weird” and that the “struggle for freedom and justice is real” were just some that were given, along with other great performances. Check out the best and worst moments here: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/lists/oscars-2015-s-20-best-worst-and-wtf-moments-20150223/best-everything-is-awesome-20150223
#Zendayagate
As you may or may not know, you should always think before you speak. One of the most recent Hollywood flubs comes from Fashion Police’s Giuliana Rancic, who commented that Disney star Zendaya’s dreadlocks smelled like “patchouli oil” and “weed” at the Oscars. Zendaya posted this response on Instagram:
She apologized, and it was accepted, but even when you’re on a show whose main purpose is to trash people’s looks, you gots to be careful.
Things We Can Learn From Tumblr And lastly, if you know me, then you know my reverence for Tumblr. It’s an ethereal social gateway into the minds of students, and at times, it’s gloriously genius if not just simply groundbreaking. I’ll share with you my recent favorites in hopes that you may glean some insight into student life through these posts.
Long gone are the teen days of waiting by the corded phone to find out what your weekend plans are. We all know teens today are different–they way they socialize, communicate, express themselves and how they expect to be engaged. In lots of ways, it’s like trying to tame individual blades of grass. There’s so many of them, and while they all look somewhat alike, they sprout and grow based on the conditions they’re in.
So what are those conditions? I’ve compiled a few articles that I’ve come across that provide a window, albeit small, to the things that are important to students, what engages them, or simply, someone’s best guess. Enjoy!
Fall is one of my favorite seasons. Even in Florida, it brings cooler weather, it smells like cinnamon and best of all, some great trends tend to emerge this time of year. A change in the seasons always sets the stage for new and different things, and this fall doesn’t let us down.
I’ve compiled the Top 10 Student Trends we’ve seen this Fall and they are definitely worth a look, read and listen. Enjoy!
“25 Most Influential Teens of 2014” This list is definitely worth a glance or two. Time Magazine compiled a list of the most influential teens of today, from the Kardashians to the First Daughters, this list has some definite clout. See my blog post on it here:
If you haven’t heard all to the T. Swift news this fall, go back to living under that rock. If anybody knows how to trend, it’s Taylor. From holding secret listening sessions with fans in her own home, killing it in the fashion department (including, but not limited to cat coats and crop tops), to making being “the cat lady” look awesome, Taylor Swift is definitely not only a top trend for the Fall, but let’s face it, the rest of human existence.
Read more about her just released pop album “1989” HERE.
Basic Girl
So what’s a Basic girl? This non-trend sprouted up early this fall as a way to describe, well, basic girls. It’s someone who, well, likes everything that basically everyone else likes or has liked.
I’ve put together a profile of a Basic Girl for you here:
Default Outfit: Ugg boots, leggings as pants, North Face jacket, Ray Ban sunglasses Phone: iPhone (DUH). Favorite Social Media: Snapchat Favorite Thing to Instagram: Food. And Selfies. Favorite Drink: Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes (or PSLs) Favorite TV Show: Pretty Little Liars Guilty Pleasure: Putting Nutella on everything Favorite Store: Forever 21 or Aeropostale. But mostly Forever 21. Favorite Movie: Pitch Perfect
For more information on the elusive Basic Girl, see:
This Fall brought tons of new and returning shows that our students can’t get enough of. Have you seen any of them?
Here’s a run down of some of the new shows this fall:
Jane the Virgin: Religious Latina girl vows to stay a virgin until marriage…and then gets accidentally artificially inseminated. (FOX)
Gotham: Show based on the origin story of Batman, focused on Detective Gordon’s early days in Gotham City. (CW)
The Flash: The super speedy super hero of DC comics. (CW).
Selfie: Basically the “Basic Girl” of television. The modern-day adaptation of “My Fair Lady”, only replace lack of social grace with self(ie)-obsession (oh wait, that’s also “lack of social grace”). (ABC)
Blackish: Upper middle-class African American family struggling to maintain their roots and culture. (ABC)
Red Band Society: Glee, only without singing, and everyone lives in a hospital. (FOX)
A to Z: Typical rom-com, only it sitcom form. Andrew meets Zelda, and the chronicle of everything that happens in between.
How To Get Away With Murder: Let’s call this “hands-on” law school.
7. Movies
Want to see the best and worst movies out this fall? Check them out HERE.
What should you see?
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Book of Life
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
What you should skip? (Or at least wait to Redbox or Netflix)
Ouiji The Best of Me Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
8. The Back-To-School-Articles You Should Read
Wonder what’s it like to be a student these days? Give these articles a once (or twice) over and learn a thing a two about what life is like for a student.
Check out this fall’s most viral videos here: http://bit.ly/1wOM8IE But disclaimer, there is offensive language that may, well, offend you. But that’s the internet, so yeah.
Thanks for stopping by and reading, listening and watching this Fall’s Student Trends!
TIME Magazine recently released the list of 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014. From Malala Yousafzai to Kylie & Kendall Jenner, this list includes individuals that may have had the largest impact on our students today.
Check it out! Share your thoughts in the comments.
The 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014
Teens today might have a mixed reputation, but there’s no denying their influence. They command millions of fans on Twitter and Vine, start companies with funds they raised on Kickstarter, steal scenes on TV’s most popular shows, lead protests with global ramifications, and even—as of Friday—win Nobel Peace Prizes. But which ones rise above the rest? We analyzed social-media followings, cultural accolades, business acumen and more to determine this year’s list (ordered from youngest to oldest).
Mo’ne Davis, 13
Rob Carr—Getty Images
It’s not every day that a black female athlete appears on the cover of Sports Illustrated—let alone one who’s 13. So Mo’ne Davis made quite a splash in August when she landed that spot (cover line: “Remember Her Name”) after pitching a shutout game in the Little League World Series. Her team, Philadelphia’s Taney Dragons, was eventually knocked out of the tournament, but not before Davis got accolades from Michelle Obama, Kevin Durant and Ellen DeGeneres, among others. Many hope she will be a role model for girls in sports, especially those that are typically male-dominated. —Sarah Begley
Sasha Obama, 13, and Malia Obama, 16
Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP
A lot of dads get squeamish about their daughter’s first prom, but only Malia Obama’s date status could be called “classified information,” as the President joked on Live! with Kelly and Michael last spring. Nonetheless, she has emerged as a figure of national interest: her appearance at Chicago’s Lollapalooza Music Festival caused almost as much of a stir as the musicians themselves, and her name has spiked in popularity after her father’s election. (It’s predictedto peak again in 2018.) Sasha, meanwhile, has become an icon in her own right: after being photographed in a unicorn sweatshirt, the style sold out at ASOS in a matter of days. —S.B.
Kiernan Shipka, 14
Phil McCarten—Reuters
Mad Men fans first met Sally Draper, eldest daughter of Don and Betty Draper, when she was just five years old. Since then, she’s transformed into a central, scene-stealing character that may well launch Shipka into superstardom. As Mad Men‘s final season looms, the actress has broadened her resume—landing a starring role in the Lifetime movie Flowers in the Attic—and consistently wowed on red carpets and magazine covers. —Samantha Grossman
Jazz Jennings, 14
Gregg DeGuire—WireImage
In a landmark year for transgender visibility in the media, Jennings stands out for how much she’s already accomplished. She’s been interviewed by Barbara Walters, met Bill Clinton and become the youngest person ever featured on the Out 100 and The Advocate‘s 40 Under 40 lists. She even co-wrote a children’s book, I Am Jazz, loosely based on her life (she started living as a girl at age 5), that aims to help other kids understand what transgender means. “I have a girl brain but a boy body,” Jazz says in the book. “This is called transgender. I was born this way!” —Nolan Feeney
Flynn McGarry, 15
NBC
At an age when many of his peers are still picking around the green stuff on their plates, McGarry has emerged as a chef du jour in the culinary industry. After helping to build a high-tech kitchen in his bedroom (modeled on Grant Achatz’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant Alinea), he started his own supper club, Eureka. It serves tasting menus—at $160 per person—at his mother’s home in Studio City, Calif. Since then, he has appeared on the cover of the New York Times Magazine, cooked on the Today show, and apprenticed at 11 Madison Park. His ultimate goal? To have, as he puts it, “the best restaurant in the world.” —S.B.
Erik Finman, 15
Courtesy of Erik Finman
The rural Idaho native is the founder of Botangle.com, which offers tutoring over video chat services for teens who, like him, wanted more than the limited education opportunities within physical reach. To fund the site, Finman two years ago invested a $1,000 gift in Bitcoin, then an unlikely digital currency; soon it spiked in value, and he had $100,000. It’s no wonder, then, that Finman says he struck a deal with his parents: if he makes $1 million before he turns 18, he won’t have to attend college. —Jack Linshi
Nash Grier, 16
David Livingston—Getty Images
The self-described “King of Vine”—the social media platform that loops 6-second videos—has more than 9.6 million followers and over 1.1 billion loops of his comedic videos, more than any other user. His meteoric rise to fame hasn’t been without scandal: Grier was slammed for using a homophobic slur on one of his since-deleted Vines. But he’s nonetheless parlayed his massive audience into endorsement deals, netting thousands to plug products such as Aquafina FlavorSplash. —J.L.
Rico Rodriguez, 16
Trae Patton/NBC/Getty Images
As scene-stealing Manny on ABC’s smash-hit Modern Family, Rodriguez isn’t just one of the most visible child actors on TV (the show’s sixth season premiere averaged more than 11 million viewers)—he’s also one of the richest. According to reports, he’ll earn a whopping $115,000 per episode if the show continues through season eight. —S.G.
Ciara Judge, 16, Émer Hickey, 17, and Sophie Healy-Thow, 17
Niall Carson—AP
The trio from County Cork, Ireland took home the grand prize at the Google Science Fair after wowing the judges with their discovery: Diazotroph, a bacteria that sucks nitrogen from the atmosphere into soil, speeding up the germination of cereal crops like barley and oats and—more importantly—increasing their yield. This advance could play a crucial role in solving the global food crisis, and Judge, Hickey and Healy-Thow are already planning to commercialize it.—S.B.
Shawn Mendes, 16
Drew Gurian—Invision/AP
After amassing millions of Vine followers by performing six-second micro-covers of hit songs, Mendes caught the attention of Island Records and scored a record deal. His first single, “Life of the Party,” was an instant smash, making Mendes the youngest-ever artist to debuted in the top 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. And the follow-up EP, titled—what else?—The Shawn Mendes EP, reached the No. 1 spot on iTunes earlier this year, a mere 37 minutes after its midnight release. —N.F.
Jaden Smith, 16
Dan Steinberg—Invision/AP
Smith rose to fame as the son of Will Smith, occasionally popping up in movies. But his real legacy may well be his Twitter musings, which are equal parts absurdist (“Anything You See In Any Magazine Ever Is Fake.”) and insightful (“Once You Witness A Cycle Enough Times You Step Out Of It.”), earning him more than 5 million followers and labels like, “Confucius for the Internet age.” One of Smith’s recent posts sums him up pretty well: “Hate Me Love Me Doesn’t Matter I’m Still Occupying Time Inside Of Your Psyche.” —S.G.
Mega-producer Dr. Luke (who’s worked with Britney Spears, Kesha and Katy Perry) signed Becky G to his label in 2011 after watching her YouTube covers. The investment paid off: Rebecca Marie Gomez, who began performing at age 9 to help out her cash-strapped parents, saw her irresistible ode to young love, “Shower,” chart in more than a dozen countries and become a top 20 hit in the U.S. this summer. When she’s not writing her own music, she represents Covergirl as one of its youngest-ever Latina spokeswomen and helps craft tunes for other pop acts, like Cher Lloyd and fellow teen Cody Simpson. It’s fitting that one of her first music videos was a Jennifer Lopez cover (retitled “Becky From the Block“); she’s well-positioned to follow in her footsteps. —N.F.
Salma Kakar, 17
Kakar is the lead rider on the co-ed Afghan National Cycling Team, which has drawn global praise for promoting female empowerment in a country where it has been rare to see women driving, let alone competing in a sport. Her dream is to wave the flag of Afghanistan at the Olympics one day, and to show the world how far Afghan women have come. —J.L.
Lorde, 17
Gabriel Olsen—Getty Images
The New Zealander, born Ella Yelich-O’Connor, started 2014 off strong by nabbing two Grammy Awards for her inescapable smash-hit “Royals.” Since then, the singer-songwriter has become a force in music and pop culture: her debut album, Pure Heroine, went platinum; she won an MTV Video Music Award; and she signed on to curate the Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 soundtrack, out Nov. 21. She has also established herself as a role model who promotes healthy body image. In March, she sharedtwo photos of herself, one Photoshopped and one unedited, to remind her more than 1.3 million Twitter followers (at the time) that “flaws are ok.” —S.G.
After going pro last year, Ko now ranks third among women golfers worldwide, sparking interest in the sport “not just in her native South Korea and adopted homeland of New Zealand but also among juniors across the globe,” as golf legend Annika Sorenstamwrote in this year’s Time 100. Thanks to her many tournament wins andendorsement deal with Callaway, she’s also theyoungest millionaire in LGPA history. “That’s big money,” she said in April. “But when I’m out there I’m thinking about making birdies and hitting good shots and making putts rather than, ‘OK, this putt is going to give me an extra thousand.‘” —S.G.
The Atlanta native has already built an impressive resume with roles in films like (500) Days of Summer,Kick-Ass, Hugo and Carrie, and this year was no exception. She was the lead in this summer’s If I Stay, based on the best-selling novel of the same name, which netted $47.6 million at the box office (despite a considerably low budget) and also starred opposite Denzel Washington in hit thriller The Equalizer. Next up: roles in Dark Places, the film adaptation of Gone Girlauthor Gillian Flynn’s gripping crime novel, and the sci-fi thrillerThe Fifth Wave. —S.G.
Kylie Jenner, 17, and Kendall Jenner, 18
Donna Svennevik—ABC/Getty Images
Together, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians co-stars hosted red-carpet events, released clothing andnail polish lines and evenpublished a dystopian young-adult novel this past summer (though yes, theyhad some help). But they’ve had solo success too—Kendall with modeling (she’s walked the runway for designers like Marc Jacobs) and Kylie with pseudo-entrepreneurship (she’s launching a line of hair extensions and hopes to get into acting). Next up: a multimillion-dollar mobile game? —N.F.
Malala Yousafzai, 17
Ida Mae Astute—ABC/Getty Images
Two years and one day after Taliban gunmen shot her in the head while she was riding to school, the Pakistani youth activist became the youngest-ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. The accolade caps an impressive—albeit early—career for Yousafzai, who has used her organization, the Malala Fund, as a platform to promote girls’ education, help Syrian refugee children and demand the return of the Nigerian girls kidnapped by Boko Haram, among other things. In April, she received an honorary doctorate in civil law from the University of King’s College in Canada. “Malala is a testament that women everywhere will not be intimidated into silence,” Gabrielle Giffords wrote of Yousafzai in this year’s Time100. “We will speak, no matter how hard it is to do so.” —S.G.
Rachel Fox, 18
Jason Merritt—Getty Images
Known to Desperate Housewives fans as Kayla Scavo, the teen actress somehow found enough time between TV and movie shoots to train herself in the art of day trading: she says her investments earn her a 64 percent annual return. Now she’s trying to pay it forward. In addition to running the blog Fox on Stocks, which offers financial literacy tips for teens, Fox has created the MyGenLoves index, which tracks 20 companies that are currently hot in the youth market (such as Chipotle and Urban Outfitters).—S.B.
Bethany Mota, 18
Imeh Akpanudosen—Getty Images
The fashion and beauty blogger has spent five years building her YouTube channel, Macbarbie07, into a bona-fide business—with 7.4 million subscribers, 565 million-plus views, and between $500,000 and $750,000 in annual ad revenue. Now she’s expanding her brand. This year, Mota appeared on Project Runway as a guest judge and Dancing with the Stars as a celebrity competitor, all while overseeing the clothing line she launched with Aéropostale. She also released her first single, “Need You Right Now.” —S.G.
Joshua Wong, 18
Philippe Lopez—AFP/Getty Images
Wong, who recently covered Time‘s international edition, has become the face of the Hong Kong protests, a civil disobedience movement demanding that China stages unfettered elections for Hong Kong’s top political position. To some, he’s a symbol of hope—a youth rallying his peers to fight for a cause they believe in. In mainland China, however, many argue Wong is an extremist and an emblem against China’s storied national order. —J.L.
Austin Mahone, 18
Matt Sayles—Invision/AP
Mahone’s social media following is modest compared to that of Justin Bieber—the pop star to whom he’s most often compared—but it’s still powerful: Mahone’s 7 million Twitter followers helped him became the first artist to hit No. 1 on Billboard‘s new Trending 140, a live-updated chart that tracks what songs have people buzzing online. It helps, of course, that he’s got a pretty sizable resume: in addition to touring with Taylor Swift and signing with Chase Records/Cash Money, Mahone released his first U.S. EP, The Secret, in May; it debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. —N.F.
Correction appended: Oct. 14, 2014, 5:18 p.m. E.T. An earlier version of this article misstated Mahone’s record label.
Tavi Gevinson, 18
Larry Busacca—Getty Images
Gevinson may bristle at being called the “voice of a generation,” but the label does fit: Rookie, her online magazine for teenage girls, gets roughly 3.5 million hits a month—thanks in part to her mix of personal essays (see: her poignant editor’s letter about graduating high school and mourning “forever”) and insightful pop culture coverage (see: her chat about feminism with Lorde, the Seth Rogan contribution to Rookie‘s “Ask a Grown Man” video advice column). Next up: the recent high school grad, currently starring in the Broadway play This Is Our Youth, plans to head to college after a gap year. —N.F.
Megan Grassell, 19
Courtesy of Megan Grassell
After taking her 13-year-old sister shopping for bras, Grassell was perturbed by how sexualized most of the available choices were for young girls; everything seemed to have padding and underwires. So she started her own company, Yellowberry, to offer an alternative: comfortable, colorful training bras with names like Junebug and Sugar Cookie. She initially raised $42,000 through Kickstarter—well above the $25,000 goal she set for herself—and now runs a full-fledged online retailer. —S.B.
Troye Sivan, 19
Kevin Winter—Getty Images
The South African-Australian may have initially broken through as an actor—he snagged a role in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine after a Hollywood producer found him on YouTube—but he’s found major success this year as a musician. Thanks in large part to the support from his 2.8 million YouTube subscribers, Sivan’s latest EP, TRXYE, which he recorded in secret, topped iTunes sales charts in more than 50 countries following its August release. —N.F.
So whether they are actors, activists, scientists or Kardashians, you can’t argue that each of these teens IS influential to our student generation. Who do you think is the most influential?
"There’s no such thing as millennials.” This bold proclamation by ad intelligence firm Exponential Interactive at Advertising Week yesterday will likely elicit scoffs and outrage from marketers who have made careers out of targeting Generation Y over the past decade. Of course millennials exist — just not in one neat, unified demographic.
In his presentation “Marketing to Millennials? You’re Doing It Wrong,” Bryan Melmed, vice president of insights services at Exponential, explained that most marketers fail to effectively target millennials by relying too heavily on stereotypes about this generation as a whole.
“People who want to target [millennials] have no idea how,” Melmed said. “They’re using preconceptions … and not getting at the underlying values of the millennial generation. Demographics are simplistic and patronizing, [especially] because millennials are more diverse and heterogeneous than any [generation] before. The millennial experience is so vastly different” from person to person.
To study these differences, Exponential analyzed data collected from 4 million millennial “poster children” to discover significant trends in behaviors, interests and lifestyles among members of Generation Y. The company’s research revealed that three major forces have shaped the millennial experience: the economy, globalization and social media. These forces define important millennial populations, and within each of these categories are several subgroups, each with its own specific needs and preferences. While there is some overlap across categories, it’s important that marketers know which groups they want to target, and how to appeal to each one individually. [How to Capture Gen Y Consumers]
Economy: A millennial’s economic status is perhaps the most important consideration for marketers, since the millennial individual’s career and income level sets the stage for the other subgroups he or she may fit into. Ambitious go-getters, which Melmed described as “boss babes” and “brogrammers,” have steady careers and relentlessly push themselves to get ahead. Women in this group are very aware of their self-brand: They are more likely to care about projecting a professional image with the right clothes and makeup, and to purchase home décor items and accessories to match their ideal lifestyle. Men tend to embody the “frat boy” culture, and are heavily invested in technology, gaming and sports.
Many Gen Y stereotypes are based on this subset of millennials, but Melmed noted that this is not the norm for most of the generation. Many of them are stuck in “economic purgatory,” and unable to secure jobs that allow them to use their full potential. Overeducated, underemployed millennials who haven’t achieved their career goals typically avoid risk and economize by living with multiple roommates and using coupons. Millennials who couldn’t afford to attend college often end up living with their parents, and don’t earn enough money to make the nonessential lifestyle purchases their peers make. The one exception is technology, which even low earners consider a necessity.
Globalization: As technology continues to shrink the world, the millennial generation has gained access to global, local and even temporal cultural experiences that shape their goals and aspirations. Nostalgia is a strong force among members of Generation Y, and many of them seek refuge from the harsh realities of modern life in either their own childhoods or past decades that they never could have experienced themselves. “Nostalgics” are interested in crafting and DIY projects, and enjoy using modern technology like photo-editing apps to mimic past aesthetics.
Many millennials also want to take in everything the world has to offer, but there are two very distinct ways of achieving these global experiences. Millennial “foodies” go out to restaurants that serve exotic cuisine like Korean, Japanese, Middle Eastern and Indian, and view dining out as an event. Other millennials prefer to actually travel to these locales and immerse themselves in foreign cultures to truly experience them. Surprisingly, Melmed said that underemployed millennials who are less invested in their careers are more likely to travel, while higher earners prefer the more vicarious foodie experience to avoid the career risks associated with taking time off.
Social media: Thanks to the rise of social media, Gen Y has essentially grown up under a microscope. With every tweet, photo and status update, millennials open themselves up to public observation, for better or for worse, and this has had a tremendous psychological and sociological impact on the way they live their lives, Melmed said.
Most millennials’ social media use falls into one of two categories: “Exuberants,” active users who take pictures of and blog about everything and are constantly projecting themselves and their experiences out into the world, and “collectors,” the 80-plus percent of social media users who passively take in the vicarious experiences of others. While collectors are the most receptive to marketing messages, their lack of engagement means they’re less likely to spread your brand message. A hybrid of these two groups, which Melmed called the “millennial Marthas” (i.e., YouTube star Bethany Mota) are the generational trendsetters who collect items, experiences, etc. and then tell others what to buy and do. These millennials have widespread influence among their peers, making them great targets for marketers.
One broader subgroup that ties all of these categories together is the millennial mom, which represents nearly half the women in the generation. Following the panel, Exponential released a whitepaper that detailed the specific interests and habits of this group, with further advice to help marketers understand the way parenthood changes millennial trends.
Thanks to everyone who came to our session, “Guide to the Student Brain” this last week at Momentum! We’re so excited to be able to share the work that we do with all of you.
For those of you who were unable to come to our break-out session, I’ve condensed it into a brief overview below, and included the slide deck at the end. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me! (Email at the end of the slide deck).
Guide(lines) to (understanding) the Student Brain
Our presentation focused on understanding who our audience is—the student. What do they like and why do they like it? And most useful for us—how do we use this information? Let’s break this down:
1. Why is it important?
Understanding your student audience will help you make better choices. Simple. When you make a purchase or even decide what to eat for lunch, there are at least a few factors you consider: Have I looked at reviews? Researched costs? When was the last time I ate Chinese? Is it healthy? Sure, there are times when we’re impulsive, but we often end up regretting those decisions. When you’re more informed, you make better decisions, whether it’s how often to call a student, when to give support or how to provide remediation.
2. Students today are different.
When we look at education today, much of it looks similar to how it did 50 years ago. The difference may be that content is now delivered on an iPad rather than a text book, but the experience of education is much different, simply because the world is different.
Take television for example. 50 years ago, watching TV was a different experience: families gathered together in the living room, turned on their favorite program, and watched—it was a communal event, accompanied by conversation and discourse. Today, TV happens riding on a train, ear phones in, streaming from Netflix on a smartphone. It occurs in between events, rather than being an event itself. The objectives are the same—watching a favorite program and being entertained, but the entire experience has changed. Education is the same—we can’t expect to repeat the same experience when everything around it has evolved.
3. Emojis
Let’s look at emojis.
Glass of wine. Silly smiley face. Pile of poo.
We know what they are, but do we really know how our students use them? While we might sprinkle them in our texts, students are using them as a complete form of communication. Emoji speak mimics characteristics of this student generation—shortened attention span, hyper-visual and a need for instant gratification. I’m not saying we should be teaching with emojis, but understanding the reason behind why they are so sticky will give us information we can use.
Try some of these Emoji fluency tests and see how you stack up.
The next generation of students, like art, is a reaction or a rejection to the previous genre. Quick art history lesson: Think about classical art, specifically Michelangelo’s David. He’s still, thoughtful, rational—a true renaissance man. Fast-forward 100 years to the Romantic era and you have Barouche art, characterized by everything opposite to Classicism. They wanted nothing to do with the static, straight-lined art that characterized Classical art. In comes Bernini, who also sculpts David, however he is twisted, dynamic and in-movement. When you look at the two side by side, you can begin to understand the influence one had on the other, and the reasons behind it.
The same goes for the millennial generation. Many have called them the Peter Pan generation—for never wanting to grow up, or the “entitled” generation. But have you ever thought why they are like this? The Boomer generation—their parents, raised them with the notion that “they will have a better life” and “more opportunity” than they did. They wanted to provide, to give them everything they didn’t have, and as a result, we have millennials.
Look at every trend, likes and dislikes or our student audience and ask yourself “What are they reacting to or rejecting?” There’s usually an answer, and figuring it out will get you that much closer to getting inside the student brain.
5. Reading In Between The Lines
When a student says, “I hate collaboration”, we tend to take that statement and try to find a solution. But what if we’re trying to find a solution to the wrong problem?
The thing to know about kids is that generally, they’ll say they hate or love something. They’re not often “super okay” with things—at least that’s not what they’ll say. They either love or hate Miley Cyrus. They either think a viral video is stupid or awesome. It’s great to know what they like or dislike (or what they say they like or dislike), but most of the time, it takes a little more effort to find out what they’re really thinking.
When a student says “I hate exercise”, they could really be saying, ”I hate running”. These two problems are different and thus, require different solutions. It’s much easier to tackle a more specific problem, so in many cases, we have to read in between the lines. How do we do this?
First, understand what the student generally likes and dislikes. Knowing basic background information like what they like to do in their spare time or what type of music they listen to can tell you more about the problem you’re trying to solve. (i.e. Are they a gamer or an athlete? Do they like country music or EDM?) Next, you’ll want to dig. Ask them questions. Is it really exercise that they hate, or is it just one type of exercise? Finding your real problem statement and building a solution is much more effective for you and your student.
6. Mythbusters
Often, when building courses, we run into tough concept areas. This is content that is either difficult to teach in a virtual environment, or where we know students have struggled in the past. Usually, the solution to these tough areas are reimagined in some common engagement mythbusters:
Themes
Choose Your Own Adventure
Pop Culture References
Video or Interactives
It’s not to say that these never work, but often we lean on these practices as templates to simply insert content without pulling out the sticky. You know—the part that makes them really interesting for students. Here’s an example.
Gamify My FLVS
Earlier in the year, the Reinvention Team decided to develop a prototype around gaming. We surveyed over 4,000 students and found that an overwhelming 98% play games and own a mobile device. We set out to develop a gaming dashboard that incorporated tons of gaming mechanics—points, badges, levels, newsfeed, social integration, a leaderboard, student profiles and trivia. Sounds awesome, right?
Not so much.
We ran a pilot with students and found that many lost interest. They weren’t motivated or intrigued by the gaming elements, but rather felt it was a mask for more work they needed to do. You see, what we did was create a solution for a problem we did not define.
Like our mythbusters, we assume difficult content needs to be put in a video or an interactive, or housed within a theme to make it interesting. The problem we run into with that is what we have dubbed The Basketball Room Effect.
Picture Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. He’s going to rebuild a family’s home and talks to Tommy, the 7 year old and it goes something like:
Ty: Tommy, what do you really like? Tommy: I love basketball! Ty: Okay!
And then Ty proceeds to build Tommy an extreme basketball room, ala:
Awesome, right? Yes…until a week passes and Tommy decides he doesn’t like basketball anymore, as kids do. But now he has this basketball room. When we focus too much on the engagement and forget about what really matters, we get the Basketball Room Effect.
On the flip side, we also find ourselves simply asking students what they want. We’ll survey them. Ask them questions. While this is extremely useful, we can’t forget to read in between the lines. A student will say what sounds best for them, but it may not actually be what is best for them. If you asked a kid what he wanted for dinner, he’d probably say “ice cream!” because ice cream is delicious. But we know that’s probably not the best thing for him, so likewise when you’re teaching or building courses, avoid the Ice Cream For Dinner Effect as well.
7. Connecting the Dots
So how do we make this work? We found a few examples of other people in other industries using this same approach: understanding their audience, reading in between the lines, defining a problem statement and building a solution around that. Check out these links and see if you can find the sticky:
To learn about some of the ways we’re using this approach to build prototypes of our own, (or if you are interested in helping us build prototypes), email me at mnguyen@flvs.net.
Thanks again for reading through my post, and enjoy the slide deck below!
The beauty of virtual school is that you don’t necessarily have to put away the beach chairs and pack away your bathing suits now that summer is coming to a close. (Especially if you live in Florida!) Back to school is just around the corner, meaning Summer is coming to an end, but not without bringing with it all the trends that made summer summer.
Take a look at this Summer’s trends and get to know your student audience a little bit better. New artists, some amazingly awesome Kickstarters and other viral worthy trends are here for your reading pleasure!
I’m going to post some of my favorite “bits’ from this Summer’s trends, but take some time and check out all the new music, viral videos and trends!
Word Crimes Weird Al makes the comeback of all comebacks with his 14th album "Mandatory Fun” and it hit #1. “Word Crimes” went viral as a surprisingly educational take on Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.” Totally worth a watch. And take note(s).
What Are Memes and Virality?
How Much Sleep Do You Actually Need?
Sadie Doesn’t Want Her Brother to Grow Up Goes to show that the most viral things on the internet usually have to do with adorable kids/babies. Or animals. (Baby animals are a given).
Things You Can’t Do When You’re Not A Toddler Ditto from above, except kind of opposite. In every way.
The NY Times just released a new quiz (and it’s super legit because it’s the NY Times and NOT Buzzfeed) that asks you to interpret a series of emojis and test your fluency. It’s quite possible that “Emoji” is the new slang of the millennial generation. If you want to know how kids communicate, well, it’s very simple. Try the quiz out for yourself: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/25/style/emoji-quiz.html
Check out some of the most popular reads this summer!
The Fault In Our Stars We Were Liars City of Heavenly Fire Since You’ve Been Gone The Tyrant’s Daughter The Here And Now The Strange And Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender Grasshopper Jungle If I Stay Noggin
Can you believe April is GONE? Yep, the year is coming to an end…well, the school year anyways. This can mean a lot of things, but importantly, prom, summer, lots of Netflix and oh yeah SUMMER. The end of the [school] year is a good time to reflect on all that has changed, past to present, so this month’s trends is dedicated to the old and the new–new technologies, new slang, new music, new videos…(okay, so it’s mostly new stuff, but we can’t have new stuff if it doesn’t eventually become old and make way for newer, better stuff…roast on that for a minute.) Enjoy!
The first part of my trends this month was inspired by a Mashable post I came across: 8 Obsolete School Supplies and the Tech that Replaced Them. I incorporated some of it, but then started to think–there’s a lot out there that’s not necessarily become obsolete, but definitely changed with new technology. Our student audience looks at phones, not as a tool for actually placing phone calls, but being generally “connected” to as many people as possible. If you want to stay in touch, you don’t look someone’s “contact” information…you “follow” them. Something isn’t something until you #hashtag it, and your relationship is a “status” first, and then a relationship. Don’t believe me? Check out this horrible break up via the hashtag #TransformationTuesday
Not sure what most of these words mean? Don’t beat yourself up too much. Teens tend to have a language of their own, and if you feel like being in the know, keep reading. Here are some of the more recent developments in the Teen Glossary:
1. Shelfie - The new “self portrait” of the digital teen generation. Rather than taking just a “selfie”, a shelfie, typically taken with a smartphone, and of a collection of “things” that represent yourself, or at least yourself in that moment. It could be a Starbucks coffee in a busy shop that you got for free. It could be your work station, artfully arranged in an interesting way. Basically, inanimate objects craftily arranged and filtered. Other definitions include a “sharable selfie” or a “selfie taken while on the toilet”.
2. Derp - The new word for “idiot” or an exclamation after doing something idiotic. Ex. Ugh, he lost my keys again, such a derp.“
3. Turn Up - Getting loose, getting wild and getting the party started. Ex: Turn up for what?! or This party is about to turn up.
4. I Just - Usually combined with "can’t” in “I just…can’t”. The expression itself is meant to communicate exasperation, with fewer words and with less description.
5. Emoji - The visual language of texting. <insert winky face> <insert piece of sushi> <insert thumbs up>
6. FOMO - Fear Of Missing Out. The idea that you always want to be present when something awesome happens, and fear that you’ll miss out when something does happen. Ex. I can’t leave now…I totally have FOMO.
7. Because ________. - The use of “because” as a preposition has happened because internet. This sort of “meme” language has become a more prevalent as a way to communicate, in shorter, more concise words. Literally, “It means something like ‘I’m so busy being totally absorbed by X that I don’t need to explain further, and you should know about this because its’ a completely valid incredibly important thing to be doing’”). Read more about it here: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/english-has-a-new-preposition-because-internet/281601/
8. Internet of Things - The internet of things is a an idea, scenario, universe where all objects on earth–people, things, animals…everything is connected to the internet. Each are provided with unique identifiers with the ability to transfer data over a network.
9. Merked - Anything from being drunk, high, tackled, knocked out or just general next day regret. Ex. Did you see the Raptors get marked last week? We suck.“
10. Rachet - Something totally annoying, rude or act of being ghetto. Also trashy. "She’s so rachet..who goes out on Mondays?”
11. Yute - Another word for “youth”. “All these yutes think they’re so cool.”
In the interest of time, I’m not going to embed videos this time around (I have every faith in every one of you in your ability to Google things). Do consider taking the time to watch the trending viral videos…In the interest of YOUR time, I’ve devised a 5-star asterisk rating to let you know which ones you should REALLY watch :)
1. La la la - Naughty Boy ft. Sam Smith****
2. She Ain’t You - New Hollow***
3. Classic - MKTO****
4. Empire - Shakira****
5. Fancy - Iggy Azalea*****
6. Sleeping With A Friend - Neon Trees***
7. She Looks So Perfect - 5 Seconds of Summer*****
8. The Big Bang - Katy Tiz**
9. Find You - Zedd ft. Matthew Koma & Miriam Bryant***
10. Sing - Ed Sheeran*****
Videos & Trends
Okay, I lied. Some of these videos I HAVE to post because they’re so stinkin’ good.
1. Do You Want to Build a Snowman - Live Kristen Bell
For those Frozen fanatics out there (don’t pretend you DON’T sing “Let It Go” in the shower), this live version of Kristen Bell singing is awesome.
2. Brian Williams Raps “Gin and Juice”
3. “Powerful” Apple Ad - “You’re more powerful than you think.”
4. SWA Flight Attendant Makes Safety Fun
5. #Promposals - Promposals are just what they sound like…only now they have a hashtag. Asking someone to prom nowadays isn’t just the most important thing to do come Springtime at your Highschool…it is now the most important thing EVERYWHERE. Like most #hashtags, students are constantly trying to outdo, outperform and out-prompose one another. Check out some pretty awesome ones below:
1. The History Buff Promposal
2. The Treasure Hunt Promposal
3. The Locker full of “Flowers” Promposal
4. “When Pigs Fly” Promposal
5. The “Ima Do This In Front Of Everybody So You Can’t So Nah” Promposal
For more promposals, check out these awesome lists:
After the school stabbing at Franklin Regional Senior High School in Pennsylvania, this picture went viral on Instagram and other social media of a victim. Nate Scimio posted this selfie after he was admitted with other wounded to let his followers know he was okay. “Chillin at Children’s Hospital”.
This is for sure my Buzzfeed list of the month. If I could take an entire online course via gifs, I probably would. And so would most students. Take note—how many teachable things can we “gif”?
This month’s student trends are in just in time for Spring, and there’s tons to know! There’s a new #whaling craze on Vine and 2048 is the “new” Flappy Bird. SXSW came and went, and there’s the best argument for cupcakes for dinner that anyone has ever made, in the history of the world. Check out this month’s trends below, and get engaged!
I’m kicking off this month’s trends with brand new apps that you should know about if you don’t already. There’s something for everyone, so please, no shoving.
Little Alchemy starts off pretty basic. You’ve got a few elements that you combine, easy enough. (Example: Drag Water over Fire and you get Steam. Add Earth, and you get a Geyser.
However, what’s starts as simple combinations get as complex as your imagination can stretch. Beginning with 8 simple elements, as you combine different elements, you create new ones. For example, Water + Air = Rain, and bam, now you have Rain. After several combinations, you create more and more “elements”.
Later combinations like Bird and Metal will give you a Plane, and a Star plus Pressure will give you a Black Hole. Try it out and see how many combinations you can make! Official Guide Here.
Developed by 19-year old Italian web developer, Gabriele Cirulli, the objective is simple: slide the tiles on a 4x4 grid to combine them and create a tile with the number 2048. In the first week, his game site got over 4 million hits, and what started out as a weekend project has turned quickly into the new “Flappy Bird”. The game runs on open-source code and is free. Crazy simple and addictive seem to be the the formula for wildly successful apps these days.
The practice of “gamifying” most everything we teach now is becoming common practice (check out this cool infographic for The Future of Games in Education), and that includes existing educational tools. Vocabulary.com released a new app recently that gamifies the experience of word-smithing.
Rather than just a “word look-up” resource, Vocabulary.com’s new app seeks to pull in users by creating an addictive game out of their content. Like most addictive app games, you complete a task, and get points. Here, you define words within 7 different questions types (fill in the blank, straight define, context, etc.). Something like virtual flashcards or reminiscent of FreeRice.com, the sleek interface and addictiveness of gaming creates an app that you won’t feel bad playing with at work, since it’s really teaching you. Complete with leaderboards and level achievements.
While still only available “by invitation only” (click the link above to sign up), the Read Rooster app may very well define what “reading” looks like in the millennial age. Touted as “The book club for busy people”, Read Rooster curate a recommended book list for you based on your interests or previously read books, and sends excerpts to your mobile app in timed installments. Responding to peoples’ excuse of “I wish I had time to read”, the digital publishing startup, Plympton, created Read Rooster to combat just that. Waiting in line at Starbucks? Have a little time to spare during your train commute to work? The app divides books into small, manageable chunks of text (15 minute segments), and users can schedule installments to be sent out to them throughout the day.
MUSIC
1. #Selfie - The Chainsmokers #Selfie is probably this month’s, if not this generation’s anthem. Mostly comprised of DJ mixed electronic house music overlaid with commentary by a bored sounded teen/twenty-something laboring over taking a #selfie. It’s both bad and good. You’ll hate it and love it at the same time. (Note: X-Pro and Valencia are Instagram filters.) #thatssorachet
2. Best Day of My Life - American Authors
3. G.U.Y. - Lady Gaga (Song only–Artpop film below in VIDEOS)
4. Not A Bad Thing - Justin Timberlake
5. Ain’t It Fun - Paramore
6. Birthday - Katy Perry
7. Wild Wild Love - Pitbull ft. G.R.L.
8. Headlights - Eminem ft. Nate Ruess (Explicit)
9. Turn Down For What - DJ Snake & Lil Jon (Explicit) For warning, this video may frighten the faint of heart. Lots of explicit twerking that will probably make you uncomfortable…fair warning. Click here for Audio Only.
10. This Is How We Roll - Florida Georgia Line ft. Luke Bryan
VIDEOS
First Kiss This short film by Tatia Pilieva went viral in March, asked 20 strangers to kiss for the first time. It went viral, starting on Style.com, then posted on YouTube and Vimeo, shared across social media with 600,000 views the first day, over 5 million views by the next morning, and now with over 74 million views and counting (just on YouTube). After it’s first day success, skeptics questioned the “realness” of the video, which turned out to be less “happenstance” and more “recruited beauty”. The short film’s objective was to promote WREN’s Fall 2014 Fashion collection, though it wasn’t explicit in the film. The caveat soured many viewers, but you can’t deny that it’s still a beautiful film. In a “behind the scenes” story on the film, the filmmaker talks about why she thought it was a viral success (read more here), saying “While one can’t be sure, it was probably the human vulnerability that touched people–watching the possibility of love play out in front of their eyes.” See for yourself.
I should also mention that this virility of this video was also supported by the many parodies that followed. Most of them are NSFW, but here are a couple that are:
Stranger Danger Cuteness overload. That’s all you need to know.
One Girl, 14 Genres Adaptability is key, people.
“Between Two Ferns” with President Obama Uploaded on March 13, 2014, just weeks before deadline to sign up Obamacare, President Obama used the internet and Zach Galifianakis to achieve exactly what we wanted. Funny or Die, who produces “Between Two Ferns”, a comedy/parody sketch with Zach Galifianakis as host landed the ultimate guest when President Obama decided to appear, but not without ulterior motives. This video, which went viral after it was uploaded, caused a spike in healthcare enrollments, and making FunnyorDie.com the top referral site to Healthcare.gov. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius says that the decision to have Obama appear on “Between Two Ferns” was a way to reach an audience in “the language they most understood.”
“Linda, Linda, listen! Linda listen! Linda, but listen to me!” Most of it is unintelligible garbled toddler-speak, but regardless, I’d give this kid a cupcake.
When the Dog Stays Home Alone Rules are meant to be broken, right? Ahhh, and it feels so good.
G.U.Y. - An Artpop Film This full length, 11 minute and 47 second ARTPOP film has raked in over 26 million views. But like most things Gaga, it’s chock full of cultural references that most of us really didn’t even notice until Buzzfeed made a list out of it, so here it is: http://www.buzzfeed.com/azafar/lady-gaga-guy-video-deconstruction
Kevin Bacon Explains the 80s to Millennials “You can’t swipe away the hurt.” Kevin Bacon creates “80’s Awareness” by addressing Millennials directly and telling them how life was in the 80s. Or, I mean, you could Wikipedia it.
What Does The World Eats For Breakfast Probably my favorite video of the month, this short, playful and extremely informative video gives you a visual of the weirdness of the world…and it’s actually pretty beautiful. I’m Vietnamese and I’VE never even had Pho for breakfast, but it’s cool to know that somewhere, they do.
TRENDS
Grandma with Cancer Rocks Instagram Meet Grandma Betty. She’s 80 and has terminal lung cancer. She’s too old and frail to undergo any sort of treatment, so her great grandson made her an Instagram account. The social media has worked like medicine, not healing her cancer, but lifting her spirits each day, as half a million followers give her words of love and support everyday. This is a viral story worth seeing. Betty, you rock!
SXSW
South By South West is one of the biggest conference around, held in Austin, Texas each year in the Spring. It’s Music, Film and Interactive components draw out the best of the best in start ups, innovators and seasoned professionals. Grumpy Cat was there, Lady Gaga gave a keynote, and Tyler the Creator incited a riot. See photos of the conference HERE and read more about it HERE!
Before you get too excited, this is really all we know. This month “Flappy Bird: New Season” was release, seemingly by the original creator, Dong Nguyen, but it seems to be another clone, albeit a pretty good one. New Season is at the top of the app charts, and while strikingly similar to the original, many are still calling flappy “foul”, wanting the ORIGINAL original version to come back.
Selllotape Selfies I will only indulge you with 2 photos, as this is pretty self-explanatory. #Sellotapeselfies became a thing this month. It’s good to see some peopling using the trend to do good!
#Whaling #Whaling is the new Vine meme, and literally everybody is doing it. The premise? Get behind something, like a desk, a couch, a wall…anything, and then breach like a whale. Don’t ask my why trends happen. I can only tell you what they are. My only guess: imitation is the highest form of flattery and whales are super awesome. See more #whaling HERE.
TMNT Movie I was a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan as a kid (I was always Donatello because I liked purple and thought I could wield a bo staff easier than daggers). Everyone’s pretty hyped for the TMNT movie, but it kinda looks like Transformers with turtles. (It’s a Michael Bay film AND it has Megan Fox..)
Kim Jong Un Haircuts Nothing loves a rumor like the internet. This month, a rumor was reported that Kim Jong Un passed an order that all male university students in the capital were to get a KJU buzz. It was later learned to be untrue, but this is what the internet did with that:
Crowdsourcing for MH370
From Time.com:
Around 2.9 million areas of interest have been tagged by internet users scouring satellite data as investigations continue into the crew of the missing Boeing 777-200. Three million Internet users have joined search teams from 26 nations hunting for the missing Malaysia Airlines airliner, in what could be the largest crowdsourcing project ever.
That’s all folks! Hope you’ve enjoyed this month’s trends as much as I have. This month marks a particularly happy milestone, as it now a full year that I’ve been collecting and sharing out Student Trends. Thanks for reading and staying engaged!
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