I came across this article today that claims that "Mainstream Gen Y isn't Buying Into Web 2.0."

It struck me as kind of a strange claim that's completely at odds with everything I know about Generation Y. (Admittedly, in a recent office survey I discovered that I'm the least "youth" person in my office, but I don't think this is an area where it takes one to know one.) With a little digging around the numbers, I was fairly relieved to find out that I'm not quite as out of touch as the author.

Young adults 18-24 only make up 10.6% of the Twitter population in the US and are less likely than the average user to tweet. 45-54 year olds are actually 36 percent more likely than average to visit Twitter.

Why would Generation Y be in the Twitter population? With less than 7% of the online population using the site, it's still a long way from the mainstream, and with 68% of 12-17 year olds on MSN Messenger, don't they have better ways to communicate and ask what their friends are doing "right now"?

Unlike MySpace and Facebook, Twitter has grown from an older, tech-heavy audience. Not an audience that's terribly exciting to the Millenials.

Gen Y is not on LinkedIn. The average age of a LinkedIn user is 40-years old

Why would Generation Y be visiting LinkedIn? A site dedicated to creating networks of professionals to extend their networks, stay informed about their industry and opportunities. Don't they get enough of this at work to worry about it when they aren't working? Don't they get all this from their Facebook networks anyway? Aren't they worried enough that their bosses and parents are suddenly asking to be their friends?

Facebook is growing at an unparalleled speed, and the new adopters are older folks. The 35 to 54 Year old demographic grew at a rate of 276% over the last six months and the 55+ demographic grew more than 194% over the same time period, while 18-24 year olds only grew 20%.

"Growing" is a strange term to use when looking at what people are "buying in to." Perhaps the figures for the US are different to the UK where, although the 18-24 year old audience of 2.7 million is indeed dwarfed by the rapidly growing 35 to 54 year old audience of 6.8 million. But nevertheless, those 2.7 million Facebook-using 18-24 year olds make up 70% of the online 18-24 year old population.

If 70% are using it, then I think it's safe to say that it's something they are "buying into." However, it's much harder to show those big exciting numbers like 276% growth over six months.

For Gen X and Baby Boomers, Facebook is something big that's happening right now. For Gen Y- the ones who were using it back when it was "thefacebook" and only those with a college email address were allowed in, it's something that's already happened.

A recent Accenture survey concluded that Baby boomers, defined in Accenture's survey as those 45 years old or older, are embracing popular consumer technology applications nearly 20 times faster than younger generations. Compared to a year ago, Gen Y consumers between the ages of 18 and 24, are decelerating their use of consumer electronics and related services including social networking, blogging, listening to podcasts and posting video on the Internet.

Again, we've got those "big numbers." But what happens when you look at a like-for-like comparison from the same study? Such as the 45 percent of Gen Y who are engaged in reading blogs or listening to podcasts, while 26 percent of baby boomers have begun to do so.

Or, does Gen Y have an innate sense that too much connectivity and too much time online is unproductive and does nothing more than allow you to run in circles and chase something that you can never actually attain.

I think it's safe to say that the answer is no. Or at least, not in the way that us old folk are used to thinking about "time online." Because while we're still excited about wireless laptops that aren't tethered to our desks, Gen Y are happy with the kind of technology that they have grown up taking for granted, that doesn't leave them carrying around a couple of kilograms of technology just to connect to people.

From that same Accenture study cited earlier, "When asked about their preferred consumer services, 35 percent of Gen Y a year ago picked "home Internet access." Today, that number is only 25 percent. Instead, mobile phone service continues to rank number one, with 54 percent of Gen Y picking it as their preferred consumer service.

So what do you suppose they might be using those mobile phones for, if not to stay connected?

Given that this was a piece written by someone who "has appeared as a spokesperson for the new generation of workers -- Generation Y, on CBS's 60 Minutes, 20/20, and National Public Radio", I'm starting to wonder if Research might be the wrong line of work for me. Maybe I am "down with the hip kids" after all...