TrueParallel

10 year old: “Dad, what is TrueParallel?”

Me: “A company that helps other companies communicate on the Web, social media sites and mobile phones.”

10 year old: “Web sites?”

Me: “Yep, and iPhones and Blackberries and Facebook and Twitter and some other stuff too.”

10 year old: “What’s the other stuff? ”

Me: “Well, we also help big companies figure out the best things they can do online to make the biggest difference. We call it strategy and tactics. ”

10 year old: “Like what? What’s strategy?”

Me: “Well, we helped a big insurance company figure out what the Web should do for them exactly and beyond that, the best way for them to get it all done. Strategy is what you do to figure out how to win a war. A tactic is what you do to win a battle that will help you win the larger war.”

10 year old: “What else?”

Me: “We are now helping a big university in Raleigh figure out how to help them meet their goals by using the Web, mobile phones, games and social media.”

10 year old: “Do they pay you a lot to do this?”

Me: “No. We have figured out how to get stuff done pretty quickly so it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.”

10 year old: “How much do arms and legs really cost?”

Me: “Ask your mom.”

I was reading about online usage habits the other day and as they were giving percentages about various age groups, they got to the reality of our our teens and those in their early twenties.

The facts can’t even be expressed in percentages anymore.  Because there is a whole generation that is entering the workplace or on the cusp of doing so where every waking moment is spent in front of some kind of electronic device – be it a smart phone, computer, or video game.

While many of us did not grow up in a time where we had a cell phone tethered to our belts, a whole generation is growing up where texting, surfing the web on a mobile device, communicating through facebook and Youtube is the entertainment channel of choice.  It is a natural part of their lives and they are taking this behavior and expectation for how information moves and is shared into the workplace.

The bottom line – we have a generation that is growing up with all things digital being a way of life. That way of life will naturally influence the landscape of business even more so than it already is today.  Pretty amazing, exciting and incredible. We think this is an awesome time. For us it means we have to continue to pay careful attention to the information design process, integration of social channels and continue to grow our  mobile platforms capabilities — if we want to succeed at reaching them in ways they can appreciate.

We have so much passion for this business – the web and all digital communications. And this new generation is only fueling our passion as we see continued growth and prosperity online and through wireless platforms. And this passion is further fueled by our understanding of how to engage them, not just shift the way we market to them. Engagement and interactive (two-way) reciprocal communications is so much more meaningful for both sides.

In many ways, having a 15 year old daughter – and a pretty wired 0ne at that – is a great asset for being in this business. I get to see firsthand the proliferation of how the internet, mobile and social networks play such a large role in their lives and it is a continuous reminder of how we need to stay in tune with the realities of a digital generation.