Students Check In To Cool Locales Online
Checking in on social media sites is just catching on with adults, but it’s becoming common for young users. Four in 10 students (40%) have ever checked in via social media, with high school students slightly (45%) more likely than their college elders to have done so, according to Ypulse, the leading authority on youth culture and marketing.
“It is a minority of young social media users who have done so, but the numbers are significant, particularly in comparison to the mere 4% of all adults who have checked in via social sites, according to Pew Research,” said Ypulse editor-in-chief Melanie Shreffler.
Among the students who have ever checked in online, they’ve done so at:
- Events other than concerts (67%);
- Movies (64%);
- Restaurants other than fast food places (63%);
- Concerts (62%);
- Retailers (52%);
- Friends? or families? homes (47%);
- Their own home (45%);
- Fast food restaurants (45%); and
- Online while watching TV, ie checking in to a show (32%).
What Millennials post online is their social currency, said Ypulse’s Shreffler,A check in at the sold-out concert, hot night spot, or cool store ups their social street cred and shows others they part of the latest trend. Checking in is yet another way to share what they’re into. Millennials don’t worry about privacy in the process they’re comfortable sharing their whereabouts and don’t mind marketers using that information to better understand them.
It takes more than a presence on social media for brands and retailers to take advantage of Millennials’ desire to broadcast their lives. Offering exclusive content or a discount, a free MP3 download for checking in at a concert or a free soda with purchase at a restaurant rewards users for checking in and sharing the brand with friends and encourages them to continue that behavior.
Methodology: The results of the Ypulse Report: Food & Beverages 2011 are drawn from 1,326 interviews conducted among members of the SurveyU panel between July 14 and July 25, 2011.
Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have registered to participate in surveys for SurveyU, a Ypulse-owned online research panel. Quotas were established based on gender, state, class year, and race. The data have been weighted using National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data to reflect the demographic composition of U.S. high school and college students.
Because the sample is based on those who initially self-selected for participation in the panel rather than a probability sample, no estimates of sampling error can be calculated. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to multiple sources of error, including, but not limited to sample error, coverage error, and measurement error.
ABOUT YPULSE
Youth Pulse Inc is the leading authority on teens, collegians and young adults for marketing, brand, and media professionals, providing news, commentary, events, research and strategy. Our integrated youth insights platform is comprised of our web site (www.ypulse.com), our daily newsletter (subscribe.ypulse.com), our annual conference (mashup.ypulse.com) and a proprietary online marketing research community (www.surveyu.com) of more than 80,000 13 to 30 year olds. Ypulse leverages these capabilities to offer insights, resources, and community to those who work with and market to youth and who wish to communicate with them in an authentic and effective manner.
They might seem too young for it but leading edge Millennials in their 20s are already getting nostalgic for the ?good old days.? 
Generation Z, also known as the Internet Generation and Digital Natives, represent the first one to grow up in a world where Internet access has always been available and plentiful. These hyper-connected and tech-savvy youngsters are changing how educators formulate lessons and interact with students. Many predict they could forever change how kids are taught at all levels by making technology an integral part of all classroom study. Whether you’re a teacher-in-training at a 
