- The Economist gets death-defying (to attract a new generation of readers in the UK. Check out the magazine's new "Red Wires" ad featuring a tightrope walker) (YouTube)

- Shaping Youth's Sarah Grimes on data mining (teens' user-generated content and social networks. A must read. Plus more on race and social networks with a focus on college students) (Crooked Timber)

- Facebook introduces the Fan Box (for celebs looking for another way to connect with fans. Indie band Kings of Leon are already on board) (TechCrunch)

- JoBros jam again (in the sequel to "Camp Rock" set to debut on the Disney Channel in 2010. Plus for the first time Disney’s official fan community D23 will go to Comic-Con International toting Tron props) (Reuters) (Wired)

- 'Drink Responsibly' ads (may not be sending an effective message. According to a study from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth  at Georgetown University young people are exposed more to advertisements encouraging them to drink alcohol, than to drink responsibly) (TransWorld News)

- 'Biz in a Boxx' (an offline series of programs seeks to equip tweens and teens with entrepreneurial skills. Plus Business Coach Anne Loehr leads a seminar on how to speak to Gen Y co-workers. Appropriately The Onion's AV Club talks back) (Phoenix Business Journal) (Washington Post, reg. required)

- J. Crew catches flack (for capitalizing on the Obama girls sporting the brand. But with no explicit mention of the girls on the site or in any press releases [the inaugural outfits are referred to as "the famous coats"] I'm not buying it. Also on MediaPost, reg. required, Angelo Kotzamanis asks teen marketers to live up to the high standards of an "intelligent and inquisitive demographic") (MSNBC)

- Is it the best of times or worst of times (for young adults? A debate opens up on U.S. News &; World Report blog Alpha Consumer after financial pundit Suze Orman puts a positive spin on the downturn for Gen Y-ers. Plus Australian newspaper The Age asks if Gen Y relies too much on government aid. And a slightly more optimistic look at the teen job market) (Houston Business Journal)

What Makes Both Parents And Teens Tune In?

I love watching "The Mentalist" with my mom, but I get so irritated watching "The Closer" that I can't be in the same room when it's on. Even though they're both crime shows featuring charming, quirky, yet blunt detectives. Meanwhile, my mom and I love watching "30 Rock" together–a sit-com featuring a few prominent stars and their wacky antics at work–but my mom can't find the humor in "The Office"—a sit-com featuring a few prominent stars and their wacky antics at work.

So, what gives media intergenerational appeal? I have two theories and a handful of predictions…

Two Theories

A relatable protagonist. Call me sexist, but I have a theory: I think shows that feature middle-aged women protagonists ("The Closer," "Saving Grace," "Damages") are less likely to appeal to teens. Perhaps teenage boys may be more likely to watch shows like "The Closer" for the Lara Croft factor (attractive women with guns kicking butt), and teenage girls may be more likely to watch "The Mentalist" to see charmer Simon Baker and his beautiful blond 'do… but I don’t see adult women crime fighters drawing massive teen audiences.

Another reason why shows starring middle-aged female protagonists may be less appealing to teens could be because they don't rely on the slightly sexist comedy that makes shows with middle-aged dads and dudes as leads funny (like "Still Standing," "King of Queens," and "Everybody Loves Raymond"). However, I still can't completely explain why no young people I know watch "The Closer," but many watch "Psych" and "Monk."

A mild use of profanity/ obscenity. South Park, Judd Apatow films, and anything with the names of drugs (or White Castle) in the title probably won't be comfortable to watch with Mom and Dad. However, shows like "30 Rock," "Psych," and even "America’s Funniest Home Videos" have enough innuendo (or, in AFV’s case, enough videos of people getting hit in the crotch) to keep teens from feeling like their "Sesame Street" days are back.

Predictions for Teen/Parent Viewing in 2009…

I Love You, Beth Cooper: Based on the hysterically funny book of the same name, the movie stars Hayden Panettiere and newcomer Paul Rust who plays Dennis, a boy being chased around his hometown on high school graduation night by his crush’s maniacal boyfriend. Lucky for Dennis, his impulsive dream girl is with him, commandeering the evening. Even as a one-crazy-night teen film, it walks just the right line between edgy and harmless.

Despite its high school theme, the movie will likely appeal to both teens and parents given that the story comes from New Yorker humor writer Larry Doyle whose quality comedy writing is more sophisticated, and hilarious in a way that doesn’t just apply to one age group. I know more than a few adults who read the book and felt that it possessed a "Hey Arnold" or "Rocko’s Modern Life" kind of quality: media for kids/ teens that is simultaneously meant to entertain their parents.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: Opens July 15th. Parents and teens will go see it. Occasionally together. Naturally.

Glee: This is a charming and funny new TV show about dorky kids and their nervous soon-to-be-dad high school teacher who takes over the struggling  glee club at their high school. It's slyly funny and there's enough grown-up plot to keep parents interested, while "Spring Awakening" star Lea Michele and the high school setting are more than enough to reel teens in. The pilot is currently available on hulu.com and iTunes, and new episodes start September 16th on FOX at 9pm.

30 Rock: As you'd expect, Tina Fey’s show about being the lead writer at an NBC sketch comedy show is hysterical and usually family-appropriate. It won’t start up again this fall until October 15th, but it’s well worth the wait.

These are just some theories of mine. What do you think? What gives a show or movie good intergenerational appeal? Do you have predictions for summer or fall shows or movies that will be popular with both parents and teens?

About Liz Funk

Liz Funk is a freelance writer and college student. She has written for USA Today, Newsday, the Christian Science Monitor, the Huffington Post, Girls' Life, and CosmoGIRL!, among other publications. Liz' first book, Supergirls Speak Out, about the pressure on girls to be perfect, will be published by Simon and Schuster in March of 2009. She writes a blog for the Albany, N.Y. newspaper the Times Union and she edits the teen culture and politics blog GirlHeadQuarters.org. Liz is a senior at Pace University and lives in Manhattan. Her web-site is www.lizfunk.com.

The limited print copies officially sold out in 8 hours(!), but you can download the PDF now. We'll also have a review here on Ypulse next week. In the meantime, we sent Robin a few questions to pique your (and our) appetite…

Ypulse: Why do we need a new liberal arts?

Robin Sloan: The old liberal arts are ancient — and the fact that they've stood the test of time is part of their appeal. But, life in 2009 presents new challenges — and, more importantly, it presents new opportunities, new capabilities. We kept circling around this theme on our blog, Snarkmarket, and finally just decided to organize a more coherent examination, and print a book while we were at it.

I want to underscore it's very much a brainstorm — we're not saying, "a-ha, these are THE new liberal arts!" but rather, "if there were going to be some new liberal arts… what might they be?"

YP: What was the process of collecting ideas and narrowing them down to those that made the final cut?

RS: It was very collaborative, very "bloggy." We put a call out to all the people who read our blog, Snarkmarket and asked for short pitches: just a few sentences describing a prospective new liberal art.

We picked our favorites out of those and signed people up as contributors — basically they were agreeing to work with us to expand and polish their pitch into something we could include in the book.

YP: What is your personal favorite "new liberal art" and why?

RS: Personally, I like "video literacy," because I think it video is such a crucially important medium, but it's still approached with such fear and tentativeness by people who are otherwise incredibly fluent and well-educated. I think that today, with the tools at our disposal, not being able to make a short video ought to seem as strange as not being able to write a few paragraphs.

I also like "journalism" as a new liberal art. The entry in the book ends up defining it as "the art of the now" — it's a really fresh, lucid take on what journalism means, and who needs to know about it.

YP: Who should [download] this book?

RS: Anybody involved in education — either as a teacher or a learner. Anybody interested in the future. Anybody who feels an affinity to the old liberal arts. Anybody who hated the old liberal arts!

Really, the book casts a wide net, and I think there's something here for almost everybody, both in terms of content — the new liberal arts themselves — and style — some of the writing is really elegant and fun to read.

YP: Will there be a sequel to replace today's high school curriculum (please!)?

RS: There are definitely some interesting candidates for curriculum-building in this book. In particular, I think of the entry on "home economics," which reframes it in terms of ecology, sustainability, the politics of food, and so on — without losing some of the appealing practical angles, like being able to make your own food, mend your own clothes, etc. I'd love to see high school home ec reimagined along those lines.

There's an entry for "marketing" as well, and I think that's really important for students. School is such a strange environment: Someone is paid to pay attention to you and give you feedback, and you learn that work generally gets evaluated on its merits.

This isn't much like the real world, especially where the web is concerned. Before work can ever get evaluated on its merits, it has to get evaluated at all, and that means people have to see it. You can't take that step for granted. I'd make a rigorous, hands-on intro to the basics of marketing — marketing a product, marketing a brand, marketing yourself — part of every high school curriculum.

But overall, I'm really curious to hear from educators! Is this a set of ideas that's interesting and useful to them? Does it map to the kinds of things that are being talked about in high schools today, even if it's mostly hypothetical at this point? I'd love to get in on that conversation.

For more coverage of YA books and publishing, check out the Ypulse Books Channel sponsored by Pick a Poppy – the home of today's hottest fiction.

- The 'We' Generation at Work (wants to see social corporate responsibility in action. Plus the discussion around entitled Millennials continues on XX with a look at the recession-induced migration towards grad school) (Forbes)

- Virtual campus tours (made even easier on YOUniversityTV, with videos from over 400 schools. Also The New York Times' "The Choice" blog profiles  Student Union 34 a site for prospective students focused on the 34 colleges in the Philadelphia area. And New York Daily News asks if the NYC Prep stars' reality show  fame will hurt their chances of getting into college) (AP)

- DOE sees increased role for e-learning (in K-12 classrooms. Starting this fall the Education Department will finance a three-year study on "blended education." Also Microsoft's Kodu Game Lab makes programming accessible to kids) (SLJ) (MSNBC)

-  Publishing turns tween (with an influx of titles on heartthrobs and pop stars. Plus libraries enlist kid volunteers to promote the summer reading program)  (New York Post) (Baltimore Sun)

- Movie marketers target hipsters (with a crop of indie flicks and meet some challenges along the way. Plus critics applaud the new Harry Potter) (Yahoo! News) (Reuters)

- CNET challenges Facebook dropout rates (pointing out the numbers were based on university and high-school affiliations, not actual members. Also Nieman Journalism Lab reviews And Then There's This, and offers an interesting take on some of the book's arguments about viral culture)

- The Uniform Project (check out this very rad idea — styling one dress countless ways over the course of a year — from a twentysomething on a mission to raise funds for uniforms and other educational expenses for children in the slums in India. Also a teen feminist launches the blog fbomb) (via I Heart Daily)

- Interracial roommates (social scientists take a look at the effects of these random pairings on campus) (New York Times, reg. required)

- The trouble with self-service checkout and minors (leads some community groups to rally for supermarkets to route all alcohol purchases through cashiers. Plus a government initiative to curb teen pregnancy in Britain may have had the opposite effect) (Los Angeles Times) (The Guardian)

To get teens and tweens to spend online…you have to get to their parents. With tweens you have to get to parents directly. With teens, it can be more indirect. But in both cases parents still control the purse strings or the credit card. Yes, there are companies in this space attempting to make the teen buying experience more direct like Bill My Parents and rixty, but the reality is that most teens will still have to go ask mom or dad for a credit card to purchase something online. Any company that doesn't acknowledge the need for some kind of parental consent can get into trouble like a few mobile companies did back in 2005 when teens could just add ringtones and other paid services to their accounts without permission.

So…what won't they pay for?
The challenge with teens or anyone online is that once you've become used to getting certain content online for free, asking users to pay for that same content is a fairly Herculean task. Take music for example. The "Napster" generation has grown up being able to access and share most music online for free. Parents who don't download themselves and attempt to teach kids that music is worth paying for combined with the threat of being sued by the RIAA may have moved some young people to pay for digital music, but the numbers still aren't good (NPD Group: CD purchasing declined 26 percent and paid digital downloads fell 13 percent compared with the prior year). This definitely applies to video and most written content as well (newspapers, magazines and books) with the exception of college textbooks. Buying clothing online is a challenge for teens because it tends to usurp the social experience of going to the mall with a group of friends (never mind the sizing issues).

What will they pay for?
We just posted a study from WeeWord yesterday confirming that teens (and/or their parents) will pay for some virtual goods for their avatars or virtual spaces. We know parents of tweens will pay for ad-free environments like Club Penguin. Other nuggets from this study suggest that: "'anything fun' online is worth paying for (34 percent), followed by expressing themselves and their passions (22 percent), getting more access (13 percent), making them look good (13 percent), things that not everyone else can have (11 percent) or to send to friends (8 percent)." We know that dedicated gamers will pay to play certain games online or to buy stuff for their characters. I remember working with a teen Beatles fan who told me she would definitely pay for cool memorabilia online [things no one else can have]. And even though eBay is for users 18 and up, I know there are lots of teen [under 18] eBay entrepreneurs out there buying and selling on that site.

These are just my initial thoughts. I would love to hear yours — feel free to disagree and add any links to studies I can cite in the comments.

Who Michael Jackson Was To Today's Teens

If you were to ask my little sisters (age 11) what they knew about Michael Jackson other than the fact that he’s dead, their response would probably surprise you. Like most of my generation, to us Michael Jackson was something of a freak. He changed his skin color, rarely went out in public and when he did, MJ wore a mask or some sort of face covering.

We know Thriller from "13 going on 30," and may have heard Beat it, Billy Jean, or Bad on the radio or on an old CD, but to us Michael Jackson was a mystery. What caused this mega pop star to lead such a sheltered, yet disturbing life? To us he was in the same category as Marilyn Manson. Not in terms of music style, but just plain scary. All I ever heard on the news about him was stories like him holding baby “Blanket” over the rail of a four story balcony or his sexual abuse trial. I think people who were there when he was at his height were able to excuse or even ignore what he had become because of their fond memories of him, but his new image is all my generation was alive to see.

I was never exposed to the better part of Michael Jackson until after he died, when I watched numerous specials on TV including music videos, interviews, and photos. Even though in his death the darker side may live on with allegations of prescription drug abuse, I have been able to find a new respect for Michael Jackson, and what he once was, and I hope that the good side of his legacy is what will be remembered.

About Nina

Nina is a freshman in high school in Washington state. She plays the flute in the school band. Even though she's not as writing inclined as the other board members, Nina is the youngest of the group and may share an opinion with a younger audience. Nina is very interested in fashion, new technology and teen culture. Having three and a half sisters (an exchange sister for the year) she knows a lot about how teenage girls interact with each other and their parents. Nina ‘s biggest love is music, either classical or contemporary, it doesn’t matter. She cares about all of it.

-  Teens spend more money online (despite the economy, according to a recent survey of WeeWorld users. The two key factors in online spending? Fun and self-expression) (Virtual World News)

- Destroy Build Destroy (rocker host Andrew WK gets props for his Cartoon Network debut. Meanwhile parents and prep schools are still surveying the damage done by 'NYC Prep') (PopEater) (New York Times, reg. required)

- Online games and healthy eating (a new study shows games featuring healthy foods had a positive impact on kids' choices. Plus EA signs on as sponsor for the National Tween Girl Summit. Also movies outweigh team sports as an influence on teens' smoking habits) (Science Daily) (Forbes)

- Plastic vies to become Millennial material (with a $10 million social-media blitz aimed at the demo. Ad Age, reg. required, interviews the ad agency exec in charge of the decidedly uphill battle. Plus an update on the Millennial-targeted campaign for Ford Fiesta "movement")

- Rompers, playsuits, onesies (whatever you want to call them…XX's Jessica Grose takes a closer look at the toddler gear turned legit fashion trend for teens and twentysomethings. Sigh. Also the WSJ discovers skinny jeans for men)

- The graying of Facebook continues (in the past six months the site has lost 15% to 20% of high school and college students, while gaining more and more users over 55) (ReadWrite Web)

- 'Harry Potter' returns to PG territory (after dabbling in PG-13 with the last two films. Variety wonders if this is a good thing. Also another Disney star Mitchel Musso takes an edgier route with his music. And the New York Times' review, reg. required, for the TV version of "10 Things I Hate About You" — "it's not terrible; it is even at times fun. It’s just not very inventive.") (The Chicago Tribune)

- Teen hacker jailbreaks iPhone (as a summer project with some friends. Understandably, Apple execs aren't exactly thrilled with his success. Plus a poet for the iPod generation) (WSJ) (The Independent)

- Targeting Kids salutes PBS Kids (as an educational children's brand par excellence. Also National Geographic Kids Magazine launches a campaign with Subway. Plus get your hands on a limited copy of Snarkmarket's New Liberal Arts today!) (MediaPost, reg. required)

P.S. Since today is all about Michael, check out the Eternal Moonwalk, a clever mashup tribute to Michael Jackson.

Over the past five years, the kids' Web universe has swelled by 18 percent, compared to a 10 percent growth rate seen in the relatively mature general Web population, per Nielsen. As of May, the kids 2-11 audience had reached 16 million, or 9.5 percent of the active online universe….

But even more impressive is this group's heavy surge in usage when compared to the rest of the Web. Kids are all but living online. Time spent among kids has soared by 63 percent over the past five years, while overall time spent across all age groups is up 36 percent, per Nielsen.

According to Nielsen, kids 2-11 spent nearly seven hours online per month five years ago vs. 11 hours a month in 2009, with boys spending slightly more time on average than girls. That disparity is perhaps most evident in online video viewing, as boys accounted for 61 percent of video streams among kids on the Web.

This is good news for some of the 200+ new virtual worlds (many for tweens) that have been springing up over the past two years but will also shine an even greater spotlight on the business models behind these sites. Whether they are ad supported or subscription-based, they have to be COPPA compliant — and given these new numbers, I believe advocacy groups will be pressuring the FTC to watch this space even more closely for any abuse.

The other reality is that for the tween end of this age spectrum [kids ages 9-12,], many of these aspirational tweens will simply lie about their age and enter communities for teens and adults ages 13 and up. I would not be surprised if there is another move towards requiring age verification from attorneys general, especially if there are any high profile incidents involving tweens on teen/adult sites.

The reality these new numbers illustrate should also be a wake-up call for parents to really get involved in these kids' digital lives by discussing where their younger kids are spending time online as well as setting appropriate limits (too much of anything, even "parent approved" websites or games, is too much). I worry about the internet becoming the new "babysitter" in the same way television has been for previous generations of "latchkey" kids.

And just as the mass adoption of television spurred the need for educational programming, these numbers should spur similar standards for online programming [see also Targeting Kids post on this today].

We just launched a Campus subgroup on LinkedIn for members of the Ypulse community focused on reaching college bound high school students and college students. I would be happy to create a subgroup for Ypulsers in the under 13 space as well if someone would like to help moderate. I know many of you (including myself) are members of Kids Safety in the Digital Worlds Linked In group – and I don't want to recreate the wheel, but if we need another group with a focus on COPPA/marketing related discussions as well, just let me know.

P.S. Boys watching more video is also an interesting gender difference (nature or nurture?)….

For more coverage of the tween space, check out the Ypulse Tweens Channel, sponsored by the Tween Tribune.

…much as I hate to bust a cliche, the expression "trophy kids" misses a rather important point:  It sucks to get one of those participation trophies.

I hadn't expressed the sentiment in so many words, but I also never really felt like the phrase suited the ranks of Gen-Yers I knew who had spent considerable time and effort to find (or create) their own way onto the playing field. And the latest campus-based research from our friends at SurveyU [now available for sale on Ypulse Research] supported my anecdotal proof,  finding that contrary to the stereotypes: many college students expected to stay at the same company for five years or more, most had a realistic grasp on a typical entry-level salary (students were, in fact, twice as likely to want personal satisfaction than experience or money at a first job), and more than half of those surveyed expected to be in the work force for the next 40 plus years. Not exactly a portrait of job-hopping, entitled ne'er do wells set on rushing to the finish line.

Of course, the argument is now almost besides the point. Or, at least, put on hold. Because the latest batch of Millennials set to enter the job market, either temporarily for the summer or for the long haul, are being forced to forfeit the season.

The irony, of course, isn't lost on the Times. As with most of the related articles I've posted in Essentials these past few months, there is a clear undertone of  "how far the mighty Millennials have fallen." The paradigm in the Times' piece is Will Ehrenfeld:

Or Will Ehrenfeld, a political science major at Tufts, who worked at a think tank last year and this summer was aiming higher: a White House internship. When the White House didn't come through, and neither did the State Department or dozens of companies he applied to, Mr. Ehrenfeld, 20, moved back home to Vernon, Conn. Even the local Boston Market had no work.

To me, the real irony here is the attention that's only now being paid to the ambition and momentum so many of these students possessed before they were stopped in their tracks by the downturn. But maybe in the long run the perspective will benefit relations between future employees and employers alike.

For more campus coverage, visit the Ypulse Campus Channel, sponsored by Campus Media Group.

- Ad Age reviews Levi's 'Go Forth' campaign (and deems the ads too clever for their own good. Also Subway reintroduces Michael Phelps into the mix. Plus Brandweek interviews Coca-Cola's Annis Lyles on the launch of Nestea's webisodes, an extension of the brand's "Liquid Awesomeness" campaign) (Ad Age, reg. required)

- Campus visits replace summer vacations (for families of incoming and prospective students.  Meanwhile a lack of job and internship opportunities send currently enrolled college students back to their parents' doorsteps for a bittersweet homecoming) (New York Times, reg. required)

- The myth of the 'Google Generation' (contrary to Millennials' tech-savvy reputation, a new study in the U.K. shows a lack of critical and analytical skills as well as a general impatience with the process) (JISC via Derek Baird:: Barking Robot)

- Conan draws a younger crowd (to "The Tonight Show." In the new host's first month on the job the average age of the audience  has fallen by a decade) (New York Times, reg. required)

- 'Britney Spears Saved My Life' (The title of a new documentary on the positive impact of pop music. And an interview with the founders of Shameless a Canadian mag for the "girls who get it") (The Guardian) (blogTO)

- New York Times' 'Best Kids' Books Ever' (according to Nicholas D. Kristof. I'd say there are a few oversights. Also Forbes' lists the best-paid celebs under 30 with singer turned actress turned DS spokeswoman Beyoncé taking the top spot) (New York Times, reg. required)

P.S. Ypulse sponsor Campus Media Group is now accepting applications for their annual College Newspaper PSA program. For more info on the program and how to apply, check out the Campus Media site.