The real 11-18 social network

Now that parents are joining Facebook in droves, being friended by their kids and Twittering, they feel they have a sense of “I know what my kid is up to.” But, they are wrong. As more parents are joining Facebook, the kids are slipping away and creating their own networks out of reach.

Kids have learned that in order to be invisible, you need to know how to hide in plain sight. The more content they post on their MySpace or Facebook page, the more parents will feel they are a part of their kids lives. But the real network is the one that exists in their phones, as the network of text messaging. And these networks are incredibly closed.

When schools closed for snow and ice days earlier this year, my daughter (18) knew about it way before the television, radio or web site reported it. She had a phone and a text messaging network. When the power and Internet was out for over a week late last year, she was still plugged in and connected to her social group via text messaging. Out of reach, out of touch to everyone else.

While this might cause some grief for parents who want to monitor their kids, this causes even more grief for marketers who are counting on Social Media and Social Networking to take off. The only group that social networks will reach in the next few years are the “mommies” who all have Facebook accounts and consider themselves “connected to their kids lives.” They will be as wrong as the marketers who follow them.

Because the SMS networks are so tightly controlled by the end users, marketers will need to invest heavily in the offline world; again. Television, direct mail, event marketing, at-retail strategies will once again becomes important and determine the winners in the brand game. You won’t be able to get into the network unless you are invited in.

Eventually, the SMS networks will be opened to parents through log files and permission-based access via state laws. By then, the 11-18 group will have moved on, leaving the parents and marketers falsely content that they have once again regained control.

Round and round, the generational cat and mouse game continues.