Here’s my presentation for anyone that’s interested.

The view from my hotel room

From the press release, “A group of the world’s most influential leaders will descend upon London on Feb. 8, 2010. Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sir Bob Geldof, former President of Peru Alejandro Toledo, HRM Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and U.S. Sen. John Kerry will all gather in service of several hundreds delegates representing the world’s youth.

“The One Young World Inaugural Summit is the event drawing the international spectrum of leaders, but, more important, say founders, the first-ever leadership summit for people age 25 and under is bringing together young leaders from the world’s 192 countries to confront today’s major global challenges.”

The announcement of the event coincides with a piece of research which is apparently one of the largest global youth studies ever undertaken which identified the top ten trends of 20-somethings. Findings below:

1. Real-time expectations

Anyone in his or her 20s living in an economically developed community has never known life without instant communication everywhere. Twenty-somethings communicate with friends on the go, in real time—no waiting for snail mail. They get the latest news as it happens, with a live feed from where it’s happening—no waiting for the scheduled news on TV or radio. Whenever they need to dig out information about virtually anything, it’s there, in abundance; there’s no need to dig around in books.

Twenty-somethings are riding the wave of real-time living. If it’s not real time, 20-somethings switch their focus to something that is.

2. Living more intense local lives

One of the great paradoxes of borderless, global real-time technology is the way it reinforces local connections.

As adept users of real-time technology, 20-somethings are able to live locally more intensely. With mobile devices they make social arrangements on the fly. With location-based services through Google and others, they can locate friends who happen to be nearby; they can also get alerts from whichever companies in the vicinity are offering interesting deals.

Facebook typifies the paradox. Now with 350 million users worldwide, it was started by 20-somethings at Harvard for local users. It grew by extending its services to other local groups (e.g. other Ivy League universities). Like many big cities, Facebook is just an amalgam of discrete localities.

3. Radically transparent

Twenty-somethings have grown up with reality TV and radical celebrity culture—media poking into every corner of people’s lives, from Hollywood A-listers right down to the lowliest got-lucky types who copped their 15 minutes of fame by accident. They’ve grown up in a culture of the highest-level confidential information “leaks,” a world where even the great and the good confess mistakes and show emotion to millions.

In their personal lives they are constantly using technologies with which they can bare all—sometimes literally—to their friends. They are more or less aware that online nothing can be considered confidential, but they go ahead anyway.

Right or wrong, this is a generation that’s on a clear trend toward being more transparent about its thoughts, feelings and actions than has any previous generation.

4. Expecting cheap or free everything

Globalization has made many essentials of life very cheap. Twenty-somethings are used to a world where value and discounted offerings are everywhere. They can fill their stomachs and clothe themselves at unbelievably low cost. Budget airline travel is normal for them. The Internet has accustomed them to getting music, software and services for free, either legally or illegally. After all, one of the biggest, most powerful brands on the planet (Google) offers a huge range of powerful services at no cost to the user.

The trend of cheap or free expectations among 20-somethings will increasingly shape business models.

5. Entertainment must be part of the deal

In some parts of the world—particularly the West—fun and entertainment have long become an essential part of education. Twenty-somethings have grown up with Sesame Street and animated, interactive, fun graphics in the classroom and in museums. Hence the notion of Edutainment.

All over the world, even in places where older, more dutiful approaches to education prevail, fun and games have become a staple activity of young people. These have been promoted by corporations and endorsed by researchers as beneficial.

In an extensive 38-country online survey of 15,844 young adults aged 23-28 fielded by SurveyShack in association with YouGovStone between July 2008 and December 2009, 59 percent of respondents said they regularly play video or computer games in their spare time; this makes gaming the second-most popular activity after socializing (61 percent).

6. Worrying about the planet

Twenty-somethings are certainly keen on play and entertainment, but there’s a more serious undertone affecting their lives. Every day they are exposed to more and more worrying reports about what’s going wrong with the planet: climate change, disappearing species, habitat destruction and water shortages have been daily fare for 20-somethings through all their adult life.

In the survey, 64 percent of respondents saw climate change affecting them seriously in their lifetime and 82 percent saw it affecting future generations seriously; 64 percent thought that only immediate radical changes can prevent the most serious impacts of climate change.

Going forward, assuming the planetary news doesn’t improve, the worrying trend of 20-somethings will become the norm.

7. Seeing luxuries as standard

Twenty-somethings now think nothing of paying significant amounts for key products and services that are actually luxuries by historical standards. Whether they’re paid for by parents or out of their own money, normal life for 20-somethings now includes:
· A mobile device of some sort (e.g. smart phone, iPod Touch) with a camera, costing well above $100, plus monthly fees
· A computer costing at least $300, with monthly broadband fees on top
· A wide-screen TV, costing at least $300, with cable and satellite fees on top
· Higher education as far as they can go—bachelor’s degree, postgraduate studies

8. Pro-business, anti-multinational

Today’s 20-somethings are far removed from the left-wing and countercultural ideologies that fired up young people in the late 1960s and early 1970s. All around the world they’ve been raised in an environment in which free markets were regarded as the solution to everything and which certainly delivered plenty of consumer goodies to make life more fun. Twenty-somethings aren’t anti-business. After all, some of their favorite brands were founded by 20-somethings. Their lives are filled with the things that business has produced.

However, they’re not so keen on multinational corporations. In the survey, two-thirds of respondents (66 percent) think global corporations have too much power, and 81 percent think global corporations must behave responsibly and ethically.

Multinational corporations have long been the object of concern for a few; now, as Generation Real-Time shares information fast, they’re becoming the concern of many young people. This time around, the young people don’t aspire to bring those big corporations down by force; instead, they aspire to out-business them.

9. Regulate the heck out of media bias

Media 2010 is a lot bigger field than it was in 2000 or 1990. Titles in traditional formats (TV, radio and print) are now available through the Internet, along with others that only exist on the Internet. Increasingly diverse media titles and news sources are available to anyone with the curiosity to click on a link. No wonder a substantial 70 percent of respondents in the survey get their news via the Internet.

The broader choice of media, plus increasing educational levels and media savvy, makes 20-somethings more aware than ever of media bias; they can compare versions of the same story and read commentary from different angles. This is probably why 70 percent of respondents think all news media should be regulated so that it’s clearly independent of state and corporate bias.

At the same time, they don’t want government to regulate social media. It’s called MySpace, after all.

10. Naturally Me but aspiring to We

Self, personal and personalized have been abiding themes throughout lives of today’s 20-somethings: self-expression, self-esteem, personal computers, personal profiles, personalized settings, personal development and personal branding—also known as A Brand Called Me. Whether the national culture is highly individualistic (e.g. United States) or more collectivist (e.g. China), technology and business have thrived by enabling people to express themselves: to be more Me.

Culturally and commercially, 20-somethings have been indulged and encouraged to be more selfish than were previous generations. Yet they are also now acutely aware that everyone pursuing selfish interests creates the planetary problems that are worrying them.

Hence the trend of 20-somethings caught between the impulse to do their own thing and the desire to do the right thing together. Or as the pithy observation has it, “Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help mom do the dishes.”

YouTube is becoming the communication channel of choice among senior executives during a time of crisis. CEOs, presidents and other important senior staff are using YouTube to go direct to their stakeholders while cutting out the (often negative) traditional media in the process.

The latest example is Toyota Motor Sales President & COO, Jim Lentz (see below) who is using YouTube to communicate with customers regarding the recent news of the the sticking pedals.

But Mr Lentz is not the first as you will see below.

Toyota Motor Sales President & COO, Jim Lentz

Founder and CEO of jetBlue Airways, David Neeleman. (No longer CEO)

After jetBlue customers suffered terrible conditions and waiting times at JFK Airport which was subsequently documented in the press, Neeleman used YouTube to make a public apology and to outline what the company intended to do.

President of Domino’s, Patrick Doyle

Basically: Two Domino’s Pizza staff uploaded a video to YouTube of themselves doing disgusting things to the fast food chain’s food. The video spread like wildfire and negative press ensued which caused president of Domino’s, Patrick Doyle, to upload his own video to YouTube to alert customers and other interested parties on the company’s reaction to the video and the steps it had taken.

CEO of Mattel, Bob Eckert

Mattel had to recall over 1 million Chinese-made toys because of potential hazards from parts of the toys which were colored using lead-based paint. It was found that the amount of lead in the paint exceeded US government limits. Bob Eckert looked to quash worries by posting this YouTube clip.

Notice one thing? They’re all American. Having spoke with many UK (and European) PR execs over the years about deploying such tactics I’ve found that the majority of PR people don’t think it would work as well in their respective countries. Personally, I think it depends.

• 1.7 billion irrelevant press release emails estimated to be received in total each year by UK and US Journalists alone

• 78% of press release emails are received by Recipients to whom they are irrelevant

• 55% of Recipients have taken action to block a sender of news

Disclosure: RealWire is a client and I was involved in this campaign

So, as we approach 2010 and the anticipation of The Economist’s latest ‘World in 2010’ (because I know, like me, you can’t wait either) I thought I’d have a stab at crystal ball gazing myself.

Nothing to do with social media

If you’re anything like me you’re probably sick of the end-of-year surplus supply of ‘what’s next in social media’ predictions being bandied about by the gurus. I prefer to use the social media that’s with us here and now in the real world. Navel gaze about that stuff all you like but it’s not going to help your clients much.

Recovery, recovery, recovery

It’s safe to say that the worst of the financial crisis is behind us. That’s not to say we don’t have a tough time ahead however. Government debt is rampant, deficits are high and unemployment is improving, but only in the sense that the rate of unemployment has plateaued. All that said, and despite the delicacy of the situation, we’ll begin to see an improvement in confidence as private companies begin to unbatten the hatches, make investments and begin to take on new staff. The public sector (in Britain at least) will be face cuts as governments try to repair their heavily damaged balance sheets.

Prediction:

A ‘V’ shaped recovery. The time it takes to get back where we were, though, will be long.

BRICs get a greater say

As world power continues to shift from West to East (it’s happening) emerging economies including the so called BRIC countries (the moniker given to the rise of Brazil, Russia, India and China by Goldman Sachs) will get a seat at the table and a greater say in world events. Some countries like China have already raised concerns of the unfair workings of the G20 system.

Prediction:

China begins to accept its world/super power status and stops thinking of itself as an emerging economy.

Britain and Russia seek to warm cold ties

Over the last few years the relationship between Britain and Russia has been, to put it mildly, somewhat cold. A number of controversial incidents in recent times have caused the two nations to do battle in political rhetoric and undiplomatic gestures. An alleged assassination by an ex-KGB operative, the war against Georgia and the deportation of British diplomats in Moscow are considered the three main catalysts for these sour relations.

Lately, however, both countries are engaging on friendlier terms as both share a common interest in preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear power. In a joint press conference at the beginning of November, both Britain’s Foreign Secretary and Russia’s Foreign Minister made a joint demand to Iran to respond to the United Nations on questions regarding its nuclear fuel.

Prediction:

Relations between the two countries continue to improve as both realise their joint vested interests.

Europe: not exactly water tight

At a time when it soon elects its first permanent President of the European Council, British opposition leader, David Cameron, concedes defeat on the Lisbon Treaty and the two of its wealthiest nations, Germany and France, show unity during the financial crisis, you could say the European Union is stronger than ever. And you’d be right. That’s not to say it’s in perfect harmony though.

There are still underlying issues as one might expect when trying to unify a group of nations with self interests. Britain perhaps the most maverick of member states has often been the least cooperative as it seeks to protect its interests in the financial industry. Nevertheless progress has been made and the announcement of the new president in January will only help solidify the European Union’s status as a superpower.

Prediction:

The President of the United States will have a single number to call when he wants to speak to Europe.

This is one I delivered in Newcastle at a NEPA (North East Publicity Association) event on Monday night. It contains one or two UK social media examples in. Enjoy!

RSS subscribers please click through to see the presentation if it isn’t visible from your reader.

For anyone who has me kindly linked to their blogroll I’d appreciate it if, for SEO purposes, you change it to the new URL. I’ll probably email a few people about it as well.

Onwards and upwards.

When I speak with regular PR folk about Twitter I often have a hard time convincing them of the benefits. It usually goes something like this, “Well you can talk to other people … and and … you follow them and, erm, sometimes other people add links to interesting things … and you can talk to someone directly using the @ icon.”

This conversation usually follows with me saying something along the lines of, “No, don’t leave. Wait, I haven’t explained myself properly. Wait! Honestly, it’s really good. I’m really sorry.”

Twitter isn’t something that immediately strikes you as anything good and explaining the benefits of it to someone who has never heard of it – particularly a pressed for time PR person – can be quite difficult.

Worry not my friends for there is a way around it. Show them something on Twitter that is related to them and their work and watch their eyebrows raise. What’s that you say? Well in my experience I often show them a ‘tweeting journalist’ (that’s a journalist who uses Twitter by the way) and immediately they begin asking questions.

(Note: I hope I don’t get in trouble for this like in I did here. Happy to remove anyone that doesn’t want to be on here.)

Add Me To Twitter

Freelance

Mike Hills – http://twitter.com/mikewhills
Roz Tappenden – http://twitter.com/roztappenden
Emma Williams – http://twitter.com/emmawilliams
Kelly Rose – http://twitter.com/kellyrose
Sally Whittle – http://twitter.com/swhittle
Lesley Smith – http://twitter.com/LesleySmith
Donald Strachan – http://twitter.com/hackneye
Gina Davies – http://twitter.com/ginadav
Siobhan O’Neill – http://twitter.com/SiobhanONeill
Michael Cross – http://twitter.com/michaelcross
Scott Colvey – http://twitter.com/scolvey
Paul Carr – http://twitter.com/paulcarr
Diane Shipley – http://twitter.com/whatdoyoudo
Neil Baker – http://twitter.com/neilbaker
Guy Clapperton – http://twitter.com/GuyClapperton
Louise Bolotin – http://twitter.com/louisebolotin
Linda Jones – http://twitter.com/Joner
Bill Thompson – http://twitter.com/billt
Chris Edwards – http://twitter.com/chrised
Paul Bradshaw – http://twitter.com/paulbradshaw
Simon Bisson – http://twitter.com/sbisson
Danny Bradbury – http://twitter.com/dannybradbury
Tim Anderson – http://twitter.com/timanderson
Mark Dye – http://twitter.com/markjdye
Simon Crisp – http://twitter.com/simoncrisp
Dominique Jackson – http://twitter.com/deejackson
Sarah Ewing – http://twitter.com/SarahEwing

E-consultancy

Chris Lake – http://twitter.com/lakey
Linus Gregoriadis – http://twitter.com/linusgreg
Graham Charlton – http://twitter.com/gcharlton

BBC

Tom van Aardt – http://twitter.com/tomVS
Richard Sambrook – http://twitter.com/sambrook
Tania Teixeira – http://twitter.com/taniateix
Jon Fildes – http://twitter.com/jonfildes
Declan Curry – http://twitter.com/declancurry
Daren – http://twitter.com/darenBBC
Dave Lee – http://twitter.com/davelee
Rory Cellan-Jones – http://twitter.com/ruskin147
Darren Waters - http://twitter.com/djwaters1

The Guardian

Neil McIntosh - http://twitter.com/nmcintosh
Charles Arthur – http://twitter.com/charlesarthur
Dave Hill – http://twitter.com/DaveHill
Stephen Brook – http://twitter.com/SDBrook
Cath Elliott – http://twitter.com/CathElliott
Bobbie Johnson – http://twitter.com/bobbiejohnson
Kevin Anderson – http://twitter.com/kevglobal
Jemima Kiss - http://twitter.com/jemimakiss
Kate Bevan - http://twitter.com/katebevan
James Anthony – http://twitter.com/jimboeth

Financial Times

Tim Bradshaw – http://twitter.com/tim
Chris Nuttall – http://twitter.com/ftchris
Peter Whitehead – http://twitter.com/peterwhitehead
Richard Waters – http://twitter.com/richardwaters
Kevin Allison – http://twitter.com/kevinallisonft
Kate Mackenzie – http://twitter.com/kmac
Stacy Marie Ishmael – http://twitter.com/s_m_i
Gideon Rachman – http://twitter.com/gideonrachman

The Telegraph

Marcus Warren - http://twitter.com/MarcusWa
Ian Douglas – http://twitter.com/IanDouglas
Shane Richmond – http://twitter.com/shanerichmond
Justin Williams - http://twitter.com/justin_williams
Catherine Gee – http://twitter.com/catherinegee
Claudia Beaumont – http://twitter.com/claudineb
Heidi Blake – http://twitter.com/HeidiBlake

Computing

Bryan Glick – http://twitter.com/bryanglick
Angelica Mari – http://twitter.com/angelicamari
Mark Kobayashi – Hillary http://twitter.com/markhillary

MSN UK

Peter Bale http://twitter.com/PeterBale
Katie King http://twitter.com/ktking
Jane Douglas http://twitter.com/msntechjane
Nik Taylor http://twitter.com/msntechnik
Monica Stylli http://twitter.com/msnstylemonica
Laura Snook http://twitter.com/LauraJSnook
Matt Ball – http://twitter.com/thisismattball

Birmingham Post

Joanna Geary – http://twitter.com/BhamPostJoanna
Marc Reeves – http://twitter.com/marcreeves
Richard Padgett – http://twitter.com/richardpadgett
Mike Hughes – http://twitter.com/mikehughes
Tom Scotney – http://twitter.com/TomScotney
Joanna Geary – http://twitter.com/joannageary

Manchester Evening News

Sarah Hartley – http://twitter.com/foodiesarah
Christina McDermott – http://twitter.com/MissCay

Middlesbrough Evening Gazette

Julie Martin – http://twitter.com/jules_27
David MacLean – http://twitter.com/davidmaclean

Journalism.co.uk

J Townend – http://twitter.com/JTownend
Laura Oliver – http://twitter.com/LauraOliver

Other

Azeem Ahmad – http://twitter.com/Azeem_A (Environmental News Online)
Paul Cockerton – http://twitter.com/paulcockerton (Lancashire Telegraph)
Jo Wadsworth – http://twitter.com/jowadsworth (Croydon Advertiser)
Chris Henwood – http://twitter.com/thisismattball – (Birmingham Mail)
Sam Shepherd – http://twitter.com/SamShepherd (Bournemouth Daily Echo)
Andy Walker - http://twitter.com/andywalker82 (Birmingham Sunday Mercury)
Alan Burkitt-Grey – http://twitter.com/alanburkittgray (Global Telecoms Business)
Jono Russell – http://twitter.com/Jono (SPIN World Cricket Monthly)
Mark Ogier – http://twitter.com/MarkOgier (Guernsey Press)
Charlie Elise – http://twitter.com/charlie_elise (The HR Director)
Katherine Hannaford – http://twitter.com/clashcityrocker (T3)
Kirsty W – http://twitter.com/zimjourno (unknown)
Andrew Lim – http://twitter.com/andylim (CNET UK)
Rachel Wilson – http://twitter.com/rachaelwilson (Environmental News Online)
Martin Stabe – http://twitter.com/martinstabe (Retail Week)
Chris Green – http://twitter.com/chrisgreen (IT PRO)
Patrick Smith – http://twitter.com/psmith (paidcontent)
Alison Gow – http://twitter.com/alisongow (Liverpool Daily Post)
George Hopkin – http://twitter.com/GeorgeHopkin (Johnston Press Plc)
Steve O’Hear – http://twitter.com/sohear (ZDNet)
Michael Moran – http://twitter.com/blockbusterbuzz (The Times)
Jack Marshall – http://twitter.com/JackMarshall
David Woodward – http://twitter.com/davidjwoodward (Director Magazine)

Backed by business secretary, Peter Mandelson, the Digital Britain report will address how to fund public-service broadcasting, super fast broadband and at its core an ambition to accelerate the rate of growth, and cement the UK’s position as a world leader in the knowledge and learning economy.

I’m sure funding won’t be a problem. A couple of billion here, a couple of billion there.

Now that the City has pretty much had its day is this the dawning of a new kind of era in Britain? According to the Telegraph, Mandelson’s plan is to introduce a new economic framework that relies less on the financial services industry and can take advantage of globalisation and the doubling in size of the future global economy.

In my opinion Britain is one of the best countries to be placed as a digital hub of innovation. Here’s why:

Size – The UK is a small but densely populated island. Building new technical infrastructure to harness innovation would be less of an issue compared with much larger countries. Super fast broadband would be relatively cheap to implement. (Relative to the money that we the taxpayer have had to pull out to bail out the greedy bankers)

Wealth – Although only a small island (which always punches above its weight, mind you) the UK is still one of the richest countries with the fifth biggest economy in the world (according to the Economist).

People – The UK’s economy is already service based with circa 70% of GDP generated by the service sector. Making the transition (if there is one to make) should be relatively smooth.

Western – This sounds terrible but being a Western country and due to our education the UK is *supposedly* one of the most intelligent – although you wouldn’t think it talking to some of the people I once knew.

Multicultural – No other country in the world welcomes other nationalities like the UK. No other capital city has as much ethnic and religious diversity as London. As the world becomes even smaller (as we know it is) this diversification will only stand the UK in good stead of being the innovation and technical powerhouse of the world.

Okay okay, hype and patriotism aside, I still think I make good case. Ten years from now we’ll look back at what went on in the financial markets with contempt, disgust and embarrassment.

And if we don’t then, well, we have learnt nothing.