Hello,
This article will aim to help anyone who doesn’t quite understand internet culture and how it drives millennial's and youths to such a great extent. This is merely my opinion and I welcome, with open arms, any criticisms.
Now lets begin.


Intro

The internet is, without a doubt, the most powerful form of information transmission in the world and with it, comes side effects and trends that no business can predict or even prepare for. That’s only if, you don’t understand the culture and closely observe it, for if you do that, you will be surprised at how predictable these outrageous trends can be and even be able to determine to an extent, when they will come about or how long they will last. What is internet culture? How does it drive millennial's and youths? What can a business do to capitalize on it without suffering massive backlash? All these questions will be answered in this article. Now lets dive in.

What Is Internet Culture?


This is the culture that has developed from the widespread use and reliance of the internet. Both publishers and viewers take part in it and can effect it in different ways. It is impossible for an individual or a group of people to control the culture of the internet at any time as it is extremely volatile. Around 93% of people aged 12 – 29 use the internet daily and these are the majority of the publishers and users who contribute to internet culture. Meme culture is an example of a sub culture born on the internet. It is mainly comprised of people posting humorous images and videos on different topics. A lot of businesses don’t realize how strong of an advertising tool this is. Being active in the many sub-cultures of internet culture will help you to understand it much better then other peoples opinions or statistics.

The internet is the quickest and cheapest form of information travel. Its reach is almost unlimited.


How It Drives Millennial's And Youths

The internet is where a lot of these younger demographics spend most of their time. The internet has given both introverts and extroverts a platform for expression and thus they browse the internet for hours on end daily. Having easy access to friends, distant or close, information of the needs of the youth and thus the youth trusts sources and information on the internet to a great extent. Technology usage also plays a big part in how often youths use the internet. The more time you spend on technology the more likely you are to spend it on the internet. 97% – 98% of people aged 18 – 49 use the internet daily compared to 66% - 87% of people aged 50 on wards use the internet daily.

The internet is the most powerful influence on youth today that no other media or source could ever do.

What can a business do to capitalize on it without suffering massive backlash?

Many businesses make mistakes when they try to capitalize on the usefulness of internet culture. One thing that happens is businesses hop on a trend that has a clear monopoly. An example of this is in the gaming industry with the rise of the “battle royal” genre that games Player Unknown Battlegrounds by Bluehole, and Fortnite by Epic Games monopolized. These games became immensely popular through word of mouth spread onto the internet. Memes, forums, tweets and even complaints all helped to spread and ultimately lead to the success of these games. Now the problem is that other gaming companies saw the success of these two and thought it would be wise to also try and capitalize on the trend. Companies Activision, Xaviant, Hi – Rez Studios, NetEase, Define Human Studios, Scavengers Studios and Game Spire Ltd have all made battle royal games that pale in comparison to the success of Fortnite and PUBG, suffering both monetary losses and reputation related losses, often being labelled “cash grabbers” and “desperate”. A business will need to closely see how open a market created by internet culture and trends will be. A good indicator of this is how many and what criticisms there are. If a lot of people complain about the demographic of a product or how unoriginal it is, a similar product will not sway those who are already against the general idea and the demographic that is already hooked will rarely leave a product that they know for sure they desire. The risk when changing between products like these is a loss of time. Microsoft and Apple both beat out IBM not by creating similar products and following trends that IBM created but by both developing the Personal Computer in a completely direction thus giving them a monopoly on it. This took years to do but with internet trends it can happen in a matter of weeks.

Now how to spot and utilize a rising trend on the internet requires you to constantly be on it. Even if your on a different part of the spectrum, information travels fast and it will always reach your ears with little effort. Once again you need to pay attention to the opinions of the many on the internet as they will give the best indicator if something positive or negative will arise. Forums like Reddit, 9gag, Tumblr and others often help give a broader perspective of a growing trend. Once you have acquired enough information to assert that a growing trend is mostly positive, you will have to find a way to sell a product that uses this trend in a way that is only slightly unique. If you are the first to capitalize on the trend you will have to spend less time creating a unique product as it is the only product that utilizes this trend, otherwise the more unique the product is the better it will do against other competitors who try and compete with you. YOU MUST ABSOLUTELY PAY ATTENTION TO THE ATMOSPHERE OF YOUR PRODUCT, if people are constantly complain about the same problems you must fix it immediately, this is the fastest way that you will lose customers in this environment, not because of the problem but the time it takes to fix the problem. The best form of “Uniqueness” is the ability of your product to adapt as quickly as it can to the complaints that it gets, this will improve the longevity and overall reputation of both your product and your business as a hole. This will also help word of mouth to spread rapidly about how great both the service and product of your business is. Backlash on the internet can end both a product and the company that made it in a matter of weeks.

How you steal a trend and maintain both your reputation and product will provide profitability that the analogue world could never achieve.

Outro

I hope that this has been somewhat helpful to anyone who has taken time to view this article and I with you all wellness in your business endeavors.

Thank you for reading.

References

http://www.pewresearch.org/millennia...t-use-graphic/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/...ups-in-the-us/