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The most annoying phrase I hear over and over is: "Social Media is changing everything, we've got to get involved." While it may be true that social media is changing things, it seems to be unclear exactly how and what it's changing. This is an observational blog, documenting the cultural and communicational shift of millennials (15-30 year-olds) to social networks and mobile devices.

Monday, October 3, 2011

OccupySTL Observations

Today I took some time and visited a group of protestors in the city. I’ve never really been to an official protest so I didn’t know what to expect, maybe a manic agenda and a guy in red and white striped pants shouting about ‘Viet-fuckin-nam’. For about two weeks Crystal and I had been following the Occupy Wallstreet protests in New York; it finally spread nationally, with a meeting place right here in St. Louis, MO.  Of course there are hundreds of social and political issues at hand here, I had a only few note-worthy observations.

Disclaimer: These are just some of the generational takeaways I had, great fodder for emerging ideas. It should also be noted that there was not a community manager on ‘staff’, so tweeting, hash-tagging, checking-in, all kinds of fun mobile social networking wasn’t on their radar. If you want more, check out Rodgers Townsend’s blog. If you want to join the protest, or help out stop by Kiener Plaza downtown…and for God’s sake bring them some food and water.   


First of all, Occupy Wallstreet, and its St. Louis cousin, OccupySTL, are not party driven protests. There were young peoples from the far left and the far right coming together to discuss a variety of topic, but most notably the distribution of wealth and power in the U.S. Many protestors didn’t claim a party at all, and were in fact repulsed by both parties. “Oh God, no. I’m not a Republican. No way,” one protestor told me, “but I was afraid there’d be some crazy Liberals at this protest.” He claimed to be moderate, saying he doesn’t feel his ideas are being represented in today’s government.

Second of all, and this is something that really struck me as generational, there was no social hierarchy in the entire protest group. No one claimed to be the group’s leader, though there were clearly leaders and people who spoke up at the general assembly. This seems to be a very clear trend with younger people—they don’t understand hierarchy, and they don’t like establishing one. Perhaps they prefer an organic growth of hierarchy, rather than one they are thrust into.

Third of all, many, not all, but many are really pissed off about the economy. Older millennials, Gen-Y-ers, and various college-aged individuals, aren’t happy with the way their futures are playing out. Either they’re tied to crippling loan debt, they’re unemployed or underemployed, or/and living at home—A protestor said, “I made all the ‘right choices’, and now I can’t pay rent.”

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