Statistics referring to Generation Y

Brand awareness

• 66% would look up a store after learning their friend had checked in. (Mr Y)
• 43% have liked more than 20 brands on Facebook. (Mr Y)
• 65% report researching the next model for their current product, immediately after making a purchase (Mr Y)
• 71% report having liked a brand on Facebook just to receive an offer (Mr Y)
• Social Media
• 91% make their Facebook Places and Foursquare check-ins public. (Mr Y)
• 52% have over 300 friends on Facebook. Top 10%, over 1,000. (Mr Y)
• 58% use Twitter “all the time” (Mr Y)
• 40% visit Facebook more than 10 times per day. (Mr Y)
• 73% only consider someone a “friend” if they have hung out in person. (Mr Y)
• 76% spend over an hour on Facebook every day (Mr Y)

Gadget Ownership

• 89% own a laptop (Mr Y)
• 96% of undergraduates owned a cell phone in 2010, vs. 82% of the adult population.
• The vast majority of undergrads possessed a laptop and an iPod or MP3 player, too, at 88% and 84%, respectively. (PI)
• Adults younger than age 30 are more likely than those age 30 and older to own a cell phone—93% of young adults own cell phones compared with 80% of their older counterparts. (PI)
• Nearly seven in ten (69%) teens ages 12-17 have a computer (PI)
• Nearly four in five teens (79%) have an iPod or other mp3 player (PI)
• 80% of teens between the ages of 12 and 17 have a game console like a Wii, an Xbox or a PlayStation. (PI)
• Over one-quarter of students listed their laptop as the most important item in their bag—almost three times the number of students who chose textbooks. (CS)
• Among student tablet owners, 86% believe tablets help them study more efficiently, and 76% said tablets help students perform better in class. (CS)
• 62.7% of US undergraduates surveyed had an internet-capable handheld device. (CS)

Technology usage

• 67% access Facebook from their smart phone (Mr Y)
• 59% visit Facebook during class (Mr Y)
• 40% use Pandora (Mr Y)
• 73% earn virtual currency (Facebook Credits (36%), Farmville Cash (25%) and Microsoft Points (17%) rank among the most popular.) (Mr Y)
• 75% upload photos via mobile (Mr Y)
• 80% use 2 or more devices simultaneously while watching TV (Mr Y)
• 93% of teens with a desktop or laptop computer use the device to go online (PI)
• 21% of teens who do not otherwise go online say they access the internet on their cell phone. 41% of teens from households earning less than $30,000 annually say they go online with their cell phone. Only 70% of teens in this income category have a computer in the home, compared with 92% of families from households that earn more. (PI)
• Only 5% plan on buying a PC, 1% use Gowalla, 12% use foursquare, and only 13% of incoming freshmen plan on getting a cable TV package.
• 38% of students surveyed said they could not go more than 10 minutes without checking their digital device—about the time it takes to walk to class. (CS)
• 62% of youth brand and technology decisions are influenced by friends and family (MY)

Mobile phone usage

• 75% of 12-17 year-olds now own cell phones. (PI)
• 75% send over 20 text messages per day (Mr Y)

While they are more likely to share photos of themselves (84%), their sexual orientation (69%), and relationship status (78%), they are still very unlikely to make their physical location, what products they have purchased, or their mailing address public. (Mr Y)