Coronavirus Confusion, Disappearing DM's, The Rise of Virtual Worlds, Toilet Seat Licking TikTok Morons, and More!

Welcome to our first issue of The Gen Z Frequency! Each week we’ll be aggregating the latest youth market news, social media trends, and the most important issues impacting the lives of young people during these times of innovation and uncertainty. 

All content is curated by the Engage Gen Z Creator Council, so you’re guaranteed a relevant combination of youth and expert marketing perspectives that we hope you’ll find both informative and actionable.

Political coronavirus messaging is leaving young people confused and disheartened

By Tracey Anne Duncan Source: Mic

TL;DR Brands and organizations seeking to capitalize on the fear and confusion of the pandemic are putting their brand at risk. Focus on being "useful" instead.

We're all struggling with coronavirus information overload. There is a constant influx of rapidly changing (and sometimes conflicting) news being delivered to us from the federal government, local governments, health officials, social media, and the press. In this tense and uncertain time, it’s hard to know who to trust. I spoke to young people from all over the country about why they can’t trust the information they’re getting about coronavirus.

“You turn on your TV and it’s coronavirus, you scroll through social media and it’s there, too,” Lupita Jimenez, a 20-year-old student in Queens, New York, tells Mic. “That’s scary for people because it makes it seem like if you step outside your house you could get infected. It’s overwhelming.” But the constant stream of messaging isn’t consistent, she says, and it makes her feel doubtful about what was happening at first. It wasn’t until more drastic actions were being taken instead of theorized about — such as Jiminez’s college campus being shut down — that she started to see the severity of the situation.

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Instagram will let you browse posts with friends over video chat to promote social distancing

By Nick Statt Source: The Verge

TL:DR Find ways to authentically weave your brand story into the streaming lives of young people through education, entertainment or other ways you can contribute to what they are already doing by providing an additional layer of support.

Instagram is ramping up its efforts to combat coronavirus-related misinformation on its platform while also giving people tools to promote healthy behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. These new measures are in addition to the company’s existing misinformation policy, which Instagram has been actively enforcing alongside parent company Facebook over the course of the virus’s worldwide spread over the last two months.

Part of this new effort includes a new feature Instagram is calling Co-Watching, which will let you browse posts with your friends over in-app video chat. The feature can be accessed by starting a video chat through the Instagram Direct messaging tab and tapping the photo icon in the bottom left of the video chat screen. It lets you look at saved, liked, and recommended posts together as a group.

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Sony and Microsoft Unveil More Details About Their New Consoles

By John Ballard Source: The Motley Fool

TL;DR The standard of this generation is speed and convenience. Co-create often with your target audience to ensure you're meeting their wants and needs for speed!

Sony (NYSE:SNE) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) recently unveiled additional details about the technology powering the new generation of consoles launching later this year. Despite rumors that the COVID-19 outbreak might delay the release of the new devices, neither company has updated the previously announced timeline as of this writing. The current expectation is that the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will be available in time for the holidays. 

What's interesting this time around is that neither Sony nor Microsoft are trying to sell their respective system's horsepower, instead focusing on user-friendliness to gamers and developers. On paper, Xbox Series X is slightly more powerful. The major difference is that the new Xbox has a central processing unit (CPU) that runs at a faster clock speed of 3.8Ghz and has more computing units. Plus, it features a graphics processing unit (GPU) that runs at 12 teraflops versus 10.3 teraflops for the PS5. 

But both consoles include the same technology from Advanced Micro Devices. The PS5 and Xbox Series X are powered by AMD's latest Zen 2 CPUs, and both systems will feature a custom GPU based on AMD's new 7-nanometer chip known as Navi 2x or RDNA 2. The RDNA 2 GPUs will allow both consoles to run games with ray tracing to enable more realistic lighting and shadow effects.

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Snapchat Begins Rolling Out Here for You Feature for Users Who May Be Struggling

By David Cohen. Source: Adweek

TL;DR Explore ways your brand can help young people cope during these challenging times. Looking for good examples of brands doing it right? Headspace, Bumble, 100 Thieves and Levis are great places to start.

Snapchat will begin rolling out a feature in the coming months, Here for You, which is aimed at providing proactive, in-application support to Snapchatters who may be experiencing a mental health or emotional crisis, or who just want to learn more about these types of issues.

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Russell Houghten’s 'Urban Isolation' Video Imagines Skateboarding During a Pandemic

By Keith Estiler Source: Hypebeast

TL;DR We can all find beauty, even when we appear to be on the verge of an apocalypse. How can your brand shift gears to create new ways for young people to experience the world in ways they never before imagined?

In 2014, filmmaker Russell Houghton was given a Red camera as part of The Berrics REDirect video series. In one original edit titled Urban Isolation, Houghton imagined Los Angeles completely devoid of life except for one, free-roaming skateboarder.

The eerie, three-minute clip features the lone skater cruising on highways and streets throughout the City of Angels. Houghton’s short film somewhat mirrors today’s emptied out public spaces following the coronavirus outbreak — with most of the world’s major cities in lockdown including New York City, Tokyo, and Venice.

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Covidiots don't rule. Introducing the corona challenge: TikTok star films herself licking airplane toilet seat

By Meaghan Wray Source: Global News

TL;DR Incorporate clear language in your creator/influencer content partnership agreements to ensure you are protecting yourself from the occasional talent that goes rogue!

The first rule of coronavirus is: you do not lick toilet seats during coronavirus. TikTok star and Instagram model Ava Louise was flying to Miami when she did the unthinkable in today’s climate.

In footage she first shared to her TikTok account on March 14, she generously licks the toilet seat, throwing up the peace sign before the footage ends. “Please [repost] this so people can know how to properly be sanitary on the airplane,” she wrote in the Twitter caption. The tweet has since garnered 1,600 comments, 1,300 likes and more than 450 retweets.

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About Engage Youth Co.

We are a full-service youth marketing agency. Guided by data. Driven by culture.

As an independent agency,  we work with clients to drive business growth; as a global family, we are your partner on the journey to create relevant brand engagement with youth culture. We develop insights-driven solutions, with every component customized to your goals. The youth and lifestyle marketing experience and successes that our staff has accrued over 20 years have been recognized by pioneering start-ups to Fortune 100 companies and leading industry organizations, including our being named Top Youth Marketer by Inc Magazine. 

Specialized Youth Marketing Services: Gen Z Advisory Councils (Brand and Category-Specific), Youth TrendTracker, Engage Lens Insights and Co-Creation Mobile App,  Brand Strategy, Youth Segment Marketing Strategy Playbooks, Curated Brand Collabs Program, Creative Production, Youth Media Activation, Data Analytics, and Dynamic KPI Performance Reporting

Visit: www.engagegyouth.com