This morning I went running, hopped in the shower, and ran to the conference, hair still wet, because I didn't want to miss the Generation Google panel. I was excited to hear more about Harrison Gevirtz, a sixteen year old affiliate marketer, and Chloe Spencer, Stephan Spencer's daughter and a blogger who makes a good chunk of dough from AdSense earnings. Joining them were Evan Fishkin and Andrew Sutherland, with Danny at the podium. (Fun fact: Andrew wrote the democracy plugin for Wordpress, which currently ranks #7 in Google for the word "democracy." Can you say wow?)

Much to my surprise, the session didn't go how I thought it would. I was expecting that we'd hear more about how Harrison, Chloe, and Andrew got their start as marketers, get a general idea of the amount of work they put into their projects and jobs, and what got them interested in the field in the first place. Rather, instead of enlightening the audience about these young, savvy, and budding web professionals, we listened to them answer general questions about their search habits and opinions about the web in general.

Maybe the session was incredibly fascinating and enlightening if you were in your 40s and wanted to know what those crazy kids were up to these days, but seeing as how I'm all of 24 years old, these kids' responses about the Internet and search really didn't surprise me. I'll drill through some of the questions and provide my personal commentary:

Who taught you how to search?

Evan said that his mom (aka Gillian) taught him how to search. I don't really know why this question was asked, since it's not terribly novel. My oldest brother taught me how to search, and computer classes throughout middle and high school helped as well. I guess the only really interesting way to answer this would be to say something like "Phil Collins, actually. Funny story behind that..."

Do you click on paid search ads?

Harrison said that he always likes to click on his competitors and see what they have to offer, while Andrew thinks “Oh, I'm going to cost this person $.80 if I click on it,”  and thus is more conscious about clicking on those results. These answers are on par with what a typical search marketer would say, which is what most of the kids were on the panel--young search/Internet marketers (in some form or another). It's not like you went to the mall and polled some random kid, so I didn't really regard their answers as representative of their demographic. In fact, Harrison did mention that he has heard friends complain about paid search and their “scamming,” but he's not sure they know exactly what paid search is all about. His more "normal" friends would probably have provided more demographically accurate information than the panelists.

Do you ever look past the first page of search results?

Evan said that he goes past the first page of results all the time and is curious to see who's not there and who's working their way up. Again, this isn't what a typical teenager would say--this is an Internet marketer's response.

How often do you use search for your homework?

Evan said he only uses it for English homework, while Harrison said that he always uses search and that it gets most of his homework done. Chloe said that she'll search for information for projects if she needs to research something, but otherwise, she doesn't use it much for homework. Andrew said that he gets a lot of information off of Wikipedia, and while teachers say that students shouldn't use it, for the majority of assignments, it suffices. This question was fairly solid in that it elicited actual "teenage" responses versus "marketers who also happen to be teenagers" responses. However, except for the Wikipedia part, the response of "Yes, we use search often to help us with our homework" isn't really anything new. I used the Internet for various projects in school, starting a bit in junior high and getting more prevalent through high school and heavily in college. I just think that we've started an era where kids will use the Internet to help them with homework, projects, etc, plain and simple.  

Next, the kids were asked something along the lines of their teachers' understanding of search engines. Harrison said that he got in trouble at school for arguing with a library teacher who said that people pay to get on the first page of the SERPs. Again, I'd argue that this is what a more savvy search person would do. I doubt that a typical teenager would argue about ranking factors and algorithms to someone who mistakenly thought that all search results were paid results.

Do you use mobile search?

Harrison said yes, Andrew said no, and Chloe only uses it to download ringtones. I'd actually be more interested in finding out how many teenagers have phones with good web functionality (iPhones, Blackberries, etc) vs. those who have more basic phones like Razors and whatnot that also have web access but have worse functionality. I mean, Harrison has four phones, for crying out loud (an iPhone, a Sidekick, a Juke, and a Nextel). He did say, however, that he hasn't really seen many of his friends adopting mobile search or using it much. This didn't really surprise me that much, though, because mobile search is still in a relative infant phase, so I wouldn't expect many adopters (regardless of the demographic) yet at this point.

Do you search before buying something?

Evan said yes, Harrison said he looks at product websites, and Andrew looks at CNET, Amazon, and Ebay. Actually, of the panelists, I thought Chloe gave the most "typical teen" response. She said she doesn't really shop online because she prefers being able to try on clothes at the mall. Shopping with your girlfriends is definitely a popular teenage activity that you can't really do if you're buying stuff online. Also, I'd argue that (and this is just my opinion--no research behind it whatsoever) typical teens aren't likely to do much research before buying a project because most of the money they spend isn't theirs--it's their parents. We research products so we can determine whether we're getting good value for our money. I know that the older I get, the more I research products before making a purchase decision, and I am way more likely to do some extensive research the more expensive the product is. It makes sense for Harrison and Andrew to research before buying because they're making lots of money and are also pretty tech-savvy, so they'll want to see if a product's specs and features justify the cost. Whatever the argument, most of the panelists said that their friends don't shop online.

What do you search for the most?

Both Harrison and Evan search for homework-related stuff, while Andrew, being a programmer, searches for PHP functions and development-related information. Chloe searches for MySpace layouts. I felt that this question elicited more "typical teen" responses (aside from Andrew, though I went to high school with a number of young programmers, so there's always some at every school), but I could have guessed that teenagers search for homework-related stuff and MySpace stuff without having heard their responses.

Would you use a search engine specifically designed for/marketed to teenagers?

Andrew said that it was a stupid idea because no one wants their demographic to be targeted unless it's done silently. He said, "You don't go to a site because it's for 16 year olds, you go for the functionality." I'd rate his response as a hybrid. His mention of demographics and functionality is evocative of an Internet marketer's, but I think he's right because I don't really see many teens using one particular search engine for X years and then graduating to the "adult" search engine once they hit 18. It's a stupid idea.

Evan said he'd like to see a search engine dedicated to homework-related stuff. I'm willing to award this a "typical teen" checkmark, but at the same time isn't that kind of what Wikipedia is? Encyclopedias are good homework aides, and Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia (I know, I know, you don't have to start harping about its accuracy). Also, there are lots of homework forums and tutor sites on the web, so I'm not sure how a "homework" search engine would operate, considering the wide rang of homework subjects.

Evan also wants safer search features. He said that he's talked to people who are worried about the types of results they get, and he'd like to see a search engine for younger kids. Okay, what the hell. This is NOT a typical teen response. I doubt that teenagers give a crap about "safe search." All they want to do is grow up--I think that most of them can handle the occasional swear word or boob image search result. I just don't really see an average 15 or 16 year old clamoring for safe search and exclaiming "Won't someone think of the children?!"

What social media sites do you use?

The kids use Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Pretty standard stuff, though I was vaguely interested in hearing that MySpace and Facebook are pretty much equal now, and that most of the panelists' friends are on both sites. Way to catch up, Facebook!

Do you plan on sticking with Internet marketing?

I liked this question because I asked it. :D Harrison said that he will definitely stay in the Internet field, though maybe not necessarily as an affiliate marketer. Chloe said that she is actually more interested in film, and that this wasn't the field she was planning on being in, but she might stick with it because she's getting more into it and making more websites. Andrew said that he'll enjoy what he does as long as it keeps challenging him and there are new frontiers to develop on. He's not sure what will ultimately be his career, but he will stay on the Internet. Evan didn't answer, probably because he's not doing any Internet marketing.

I'm not trying to sip on haterade here, but I was confused with the juxtaposition of wanting to know what the typical teen is doing nowadays in regards to search and the Internet, yet asking said questions to a group of extremely web-savvy Internet marketers. It's like asking a doctor to sing the "Knee bone's connected to the...leg bone!" song and then wondering where the hell all of these extra body parts and jargon came from. I think that the panel would have been much better if it were structured in either of the following ways:

1. The same basic questions that were asked to our savvy panel were asked to a panel of NORMAL teens. Not kids who make 5 figures a month in affiliate marketing, make AdSense earnings from their blog, or develop Wordpress plugins. Normal kids who casually use the Internet. You wouldn't study my search habits to get an idea of how the typical American searches, right? You'd rather study my sister or other folks who aren't aware of the sort of things that I (and the panelists) are privy to.
   
2. Keep the existing panelists but reshape the questions to focus on how they got started in Internet marketing, how they've educated themselves, how much time they devote to their jobs, etc. Evan probably would have been nixed from this format because he's not a marketer, and the session would have focused on what the kids have been doing with their businesses/blogs/developments, etc.
   

Overall, I'd say that the panel had great potential but unfortunately mixed two different formats, resulting in a somewhat disappointing and, at least to me, unsurprising Q&A. I did wish that I could have heard more from Chloe--she seemed intelligent yet was pretty quiet. My favorite panelist was Andrew because he seemed like a good kid, was obviously smart, and had a good sense of humor. I have no doubt that great things are in store for this kid.

There you have it, a recap of the Generation Google panel from this "old" fogey. ;)  I hope you gleaned some insight from it. Again, I'm just reminding you that this post is very opinionated and I'm sure that many people in the audience enjoyed the panel--I just thought it could have been better (I'm not blaming the panelists at all--more so the focus of the session). I'm looking forward to hearing the opinions of others who saw the panel.