Meet Generation C

You’ve met Generation X, Generation Y and even Generation Txt. But have you met Generation C? Yes, Generation C as in Content. For all you know, you may already be a member of this not-so-exclusive club. Fact is, anybody with even just a bit of "creative talent" can be a bona fide member.

Generation C is probably today’s fastest-rising niche. Great trend watcher trendwatching.com says it’s today’s biggest thing: "The Generation C phenomenon captures the tsunami of consumer-generated ‘content’ that is building on the web, adding tera-peta bytes of new text, images, audio and video on an ongoing basis."

There are two driving forces that fuel this trend:

1) The creative urge that each consumer (yes, you and I) naturally possesses. The truth is, there’s an artist hidden in each of us that didn’t have the guts and means to come out until now.

2) Of course, the manufacturers of these content-creating tools, who indefatigably push us to unleash our creativity using their gadgets and gizmos that get ever cheaper and more and more powerful.

But instead of this non-exclusive society merely playing a passive role – say, just listening and watching and consuming – they’re asked to create, produce and actively participate.

So, now, Canon is telling aspiring directors and photographers (or wannabes) that it’s perfectly okay to dream because professional digital photography is no longer just for the pros. And hear this: Vodafones, ATTs, t-Mobiles, Sprints, NTT, among others, are wooing consumers to go trigger-happy with their camera-phones, uploading photos to dedicated MMS websites. By 2008, conservative estimates have it that more than 380 million camera-phones will have been sold worldwide.

Yes, it’s all about "you." This is what an HP campaign is blowing a fortune (US$300 million) on to tell consumers. "You should be taking pictures, printing them, sharing them, forwarding them and posting photographic essays on an HP website.

And posting your thoughts on the web whenever you feel the creative urge. It’s instant communication power at your fingertips, anyone who’s into blogs will tell you.

Whether you’re tone deaf or not, Xingtone.com is telling consumers that now, you can compose your own ringtones while Sony PlayStation2’s Noiseupthesuburbs.com is inviting an emerging generation of DIY music pioneers – from bedroom DJs and producers to pirate radio and independent label founders – to make use of its music-making software.

This may sound like a lot of crap, but members of Generation C can actually turn what seems to be trash to some people to cash. Even Canon may not have seen the bigger picture when it said that its products "leave one difference between you and a professional. They get paid." Fact is, the more talented members of Generation C are getting paid for their pictures, songs, movies, stories, books, observations by "niche audiences, as well as increasingly by mass-media moguls on the lookout for original content (that word again). Imagine a mind-boggling number of bloggers building personal brands and raking in advertising revenues. Then there are the eBay-style marketplaces for content like redpaper.com, which describes itself as "a place on the Internet where any type of digital content, no matter how abstract, can be bought and sold by anyone interested in transacting it."

Now, let’s walk over to trekshare.com, where thousands of Gen C-ers have posted assorted travelogues and thousands and thousands of photos. Well, all ye members of Generation C, your efforts are about to pay off. Trendwatching.com is willing to pay good money for "exclusive, up-to-date, real-world travel tricks and tips, from real travelers."

Then there are the four other Cs: Creativity, Casual Collapse, Control and Celebrity.

• Creativity: We’re all creatives, if not artists.

• Casual collapse: The breakdown of beliefs, rituals, laws, etc. we have cherished – from women’s rights to same-sex marriage to going casual at the office on a Friday.

Following this collapse, Generation C is about to unleash its creativity full force. There’s a new generation of parents who are "slowly abandoning their obsession with their children becoming doctors, lawyers or business executives" as they begin to realize that a creative career does not necessarily lead to starvation and poverty.

• Control: Besides the need to be creative, there’s the need to be in control – or at least have the illusion of control. Consumers are happily finding they have control over what they buy and who they buy it from.

Linking this to Generation C, trendwatching.com points out the shift from straightforward consumption to customization, or even co-production. For instance, there’s a Google community named "What Should Google Do" that entices devotees to stretch their imagination and share their bright ideas, if not ready-to-use content contributions. Or visit www.ipodlounge.com, where Gen C-ers post iPod concepts they would like to see in stores one day.

• Celebrity: Everybody still dreams of his/her 15 minutes of fame. If anything has changed at all, it is that the implied waiting time is over. Gen C-ers can now produce, display and even distribute to countless others their own images and creations. Truth is, US book retailer Borders is making the Gen C-er’s dream come true via Xlibris, a print-on-demand company that offers writers US$500 starters kit, providing them everything they need to get a paperback to market.

Wait and C. To keep a close watch on emerging consumer trends around the world, log on to www.trendwatching.com.

* * *

E-mail the author at ching_alano@yahoo.com.