The Steve Rubel Stream

As a rule of thumb, as I age I try to spend some time with people who are younger than me when I can. Not only does it make me feel younger but it helps me keep my eye on the ball of what's next.
 
The generation growing up today feels more self-sufficient and entrepreneurial than any other. They use technology in ways that many of us can't fathom. Daniel Brusilovsky is one such teen. During my last few visits to Silicon Valley I have had the pleasure of spending time with Daniel and I learn something every time. We had coffee in Palo Alto the other night. I shot this photo of him at TechCrunch HQ.
 
Why is Daniel unique? Well, even though he is just a senior in high school Daniel: runs marketing for Qik (and was one of their first employees), writes for TechCrunch and also continues to build out Teens in Tech, a site he started a couple of years ago.
 
I don't know about you, but to me that's impressive. At age 16 all I had accomplished by then was delivering newspapers and working as a summer camp counselor.
 
Anyway the takeaway here for marketers is to seek out teens like Daniel (and others who are less tech savvy too). They are your future customers.

Here's something I have been thinking about - as illustrated by the above doodle I threw into my notebook tonight. Perhaps this is too simplistic, but I have a hunch that if you want to zero in on the up-and-coming social networks, there are really just two demographic groups to study: the young, the geeky and sometimes both.

Think about all of the social networks over the years that were at first dominated by young people and then later went mainstream. Now think about the communities that first developed an audience with geeks and then later when supernova. These aren't mutually exclusive either. YouTube in many ways was a crossover hit.

What's your take on this theory? Are there other demographics that make or break a social network the way these two do? I can't think of any. Most follow in the footsteps of the young and the geeky.

Image credits: Teen on Flickr by TCollinsPhoto and Scoble and His Gear by Thomas Hawk.