 |
||||
  
 
 |
Internet use to be measured in years, jobs for 'Generation Y,' speaker says
By Heather Wardle
Everything from
births to deaths, from students finding sites to plagiarize in their
term papers to professors using other sites to catch plagiarists, can
be found on the Internet, Brian Schaible tells a USU crowd Tuesday.
/ Photo by Michael Hamblin Most members of Generation "Y" -- the one after Generation X -- will have at least two jobs that haven't been invented yet, according to a USU alumnus who co-founded the top-rated internet site for public relations professionals. As part of the Media & Society Lecture Series sponsored by the communication department, Brian Schaible spoke Tuesday about what the internet will mean for 21st century users. Schaible, a 1966 grad, told students about The PR Network (http://www.theprnetwork.com), a vertical porthole company he and his partner created. He explained to students that unlike America Online, which targets large, public audiences, his company is set up vertically, meaning it targest a certain group of people. In this case Schaible and his partner target professional communicator and those studying to be. Schaible's company is said to be one of the top 1,000 Web sites for business communications, and is rated tops in PR by Alexa Internet, a subsidiary of Amazon.com. "Out of 9 million sites," Shaible says, "we're pretty proud." Schaible also spoke about the demographics of Web users. In 1998 statistics reported that of 198 million adults, 78 million were internet users. Originally most users were men, however Shaible noted that as of last Christmas, women have steadily made the incline over the top. Women now make up about 51 percent of users and men the other 49 percent. Youth is not to be overlooked either. According to Shiable 63 percent of today's youth prefer going online to watching television and chat rooms seem to be the new, "in thing." It is estimated that 5 million children from ages 2 to 12 are internet users and studies predict that by 2002 that number will be up to 21 million. Shiable spoke about the generation Y children who will have an important role in the internet industry as they will be a part of jobs, not yet created, and they will spend somewhere around 23 years on the internet, which will be a major form of communication for them. He warned students to not forget to be human and encouraged them to stay away from the "techno- stress," the internet tends to create. In closing he gave his advice, as a former student, telling students to make the most of their college time. "What you do here," he said, "will shape your life." |
Archived Months:
September
1998 |
||
