AdFreak: Check your e-mail. Generation V says hello.

Check your e-mail. Generation V says hello.

The nerds at IT research firm Gartner have defined a whole new generation they're calling Generation V. Short for “Generation Virtual,” Gen V is a new type of generation that defies traditional demographics. It is not split by age, gender or race. So, it’s not a generation at all, basically. Gen V is instead “based on demonstrated achievement, accomplishments and an increasing preference for the use of digital media channels to discover information, build knowledge and share insights.” Gartner divides the generation into four categories by level of engagement with technology: the Creators (0-3 percent of the total), the Contributors (3-10 percent), the Opportunists (10-20 percent), and the Lurkers (80 percent). (They forgot Trolls, the 0.5 percent who actively seek to destroy). Their whole point is that separate marketing strategies need to be implemented for this generation—strategies that Gartner, of course, can help provide. Self-promotion aside, I like the concept of a generation defined more by technological influences than by birth years. The times they are a-changin’.