Gen Y Women Are Influential

A new study of 1,018 women ages 18-49 finds Gen Y or Millennial women are highly influential to women of other generations, especially when it comes to word of mouth recommendations:

Gen Y women are a major force in determining cultural trends and setting the pace for style. The survey found that 92% of Gen Y women consider themselves to be the trend leaders, while 67% of Gen X women identified Gen Y as trend leaders too. Gen X women cited reasons such as, “This age group tends to discover things first” and “They’re more creative in terms of selection in fashion, pop culture and cuisine.

“Gen Y women are also influential brand advocates. When they discover a brand they love, 61% said they “share it with as many friends as possible” and are likely to share it across a spectrum of platforms, including email, social networks, online reviews, blog comments, SMS/MMS, phone and face-to-face. In addition, the research found that Gen Y women are more brand loyal than many may assume.”

Now, part of me says, “well, older generations have always said younger people influence pop culture and style.” That doesn’t seem new. But the key difference here is how Gen Y uses social media and peer to peer networks to share their views.  When Millennials find what they like, “they ’share it with as many friends as possible,’ and they are likely to share it across a spectrum of platforms, including email, social networks, online reviews, blog comments, SMS/MMS, phone, and face-to-face. They are twice as likely to use online social networking sites to share their recommendations than Gen X women (28 percent vs. 15 percent).”

This report (you can download a white paper here) is brand and marketing focused, but it has implications for work as well. Older people read what Y-ers have to say, and their views are influenced as well. If Y-ers rule social media, and social media increasingly influences culture and news, how will the workplace change as more Millennials feel the tug of work family conflict? My bet: when more of these younger women start having children, they will want to influence work practices. And social media is a powerful way to do that, reaching “up” to the generations in charge of schedules and expectations.

FWI data finds women under 29 are career-focused, and having children doesn’t alter their career ambition. This is a first. However, parents under 29 are spending more time with their children: Younger mother’s time has increased from 4.5 hours to 5 hours  while younger father’s time has increased from 2.4 to 4.3 hours (1977 – 2008).

Thanks to Jen Nedeau for the link.