Buzz Marketing and my generation

Periodically between classes I get to sit outside under the tent in the Oakland quad area and listen to music while I eat my lunch.  I've done this a few times and really enjoy getting some fresh air after sitting inside all morning.  On the past two occasions, there were two people walking around with shirts on that said the name of a social network.  They were college age students and hoping they wouldn't disrupt my lunch, I overheard them saying to groups of college age students - "...its just like facebook...".  After reviewing a list of popular social networking sites, I still couldn't find their name.  

I only mention this because in the last five years or so of the social networking phenomenon, I can never recall anyone walking up to me or viewing some communication material for that matter advertising social networking of any kind.  Every type of social networking I've come in contact with or learned about was through a friend or from buzz marketing.  In 2005 a buddy of mine told me about facebook and how it was going to change the way people communicate because all college students were using it.  Sure enough, a year later I joined then a few years after that I now have 418 people that call me a friend.  

I think buzz marketing began with my generation and the Internet.  The first week I arrived at college in the summer of 2000, I learned about Napster and how to download music on the Internet illegally.  During my senior year at college a person walked up to me on campus and told me that the Mercedes car company was having a demo day at the stadium and giving out free test drives of their vehicles and I went.  A few weeks before the end of every spring semester, Penn State has a free concert called Movin' On that stages some of the biggest bands in the country and I heard about it from a few roommates shortly before it happened.

I think for Generation Y and the Echo Boomers, buzz marketing might be more effective than putting up billboards or traditional marketing efforts.  The success of the most popular technologies of my generation were all communicated by word of mouth between peers and that seems to be the preference of choice.  This often poses a challenge to marketing departments that want to appeal to demographics that are very wide.  What I'm learning in the technology arena is that my parent's generation also is affected by buzz marketing, however its not from their peers but from their children or young adult friends.  I recall telling my father about facebook, digital music, and digital cameras.  My parents friends aren't on the cutting edge and they also aren't targets of buzz marketing campaigns.  Maybe that's because buzz marketing doesn't appeal to them.  As long as new technology continues to change and constantly evolve, the Generation Y and Echo Boomers will be on the receiving end of buzz marketing campaigns.