The Media Challenge: Millennials Need News -- But Also Opinion Leaders

By: Maegan Carberry Champions of civic engagement are particularly anxious this October, as the presidential election peaks and the anticipated boost in participation by otherwise aloof millennials will prove to be fact or fiction. Beyond the obvious implications of voter turnout, we?re all wondering: Will the enthusiasm we saw in campaign ?08 translate to a lasting investment in social consciousness, including engagement with the news?

I addressed this question Friday at Northwestern University, which announced the creation of its Center for Civic Engagement at a series of panel discussions on the role of new media and participation this election season.

The Washington Post?s Peter Slevin kicked off the conversation by handicapping the MSM-netroots divide from editorial and business perspectives. RealClearPolitics? Tom Bevans addressed the emergence and influence of niche blogs, which was further explored by HuffPost?s Chicago bureau editor, Ben Goldberger. Vivian Vahlberg of NU?s Media Management Center also contributed the results of their survey on millennial engagement, which I recently wrote about in a previous column.

We discussed many important topics, including whether consumers are overwhelmed by limitless choices and the blurring line between context, analysis and opinion, as well as the opportunity for print organizations to own from the outset deeper content that is traditionally thought of as second or third-story material. The most compelling imperative from my perspective, however, is the need to maximize the growing role of opinion leaders in the youth market.

Given the inevitable fragmentation of the MSM market and the inundation of ?breaking news? in our daily lives, the need for a reliable filter has never been more prevalent. In most social networks ? online and offline ? there is typically a handful of influencers who lead their peers in suggesting valuable news bits and facilitating activism. For better or worse, these individuals have become our default editors, aggregators and points of distribution.

Anyone who?s ever done most of the work in a group project can attest that not every person in a given scenario is going to give his full attention and commit to the endeavor.

Civically speaking, there are always varying degrees of engagement and output, and millennial opinion leaders are the zealous, concerned individuals who pull from their peers and inspire them to participate. For a casual citizen and light news consumer, this peer is the tantamount trusted source of substance: He opens the links to articles she recommends; absorbs the momentum when her status reads ?Voter registration deadlines today!?; learns about current events from his conversations with her, and so on.

In my personal experience over the last two years, I?ve seen this kind of interaction lead relatively disengaged friends to participate (albeit tentatively and in a limited capacity) for the first time in their lives. While this might not be a televised surge of impassioned young people marching on Washington that we saw in the 1960s, it is the beginning of what I like to think of as a culture of part-time activism.

The notion of part-time activism may seem disingenuous, but I believe it?s going to be the beginning of a wonderful revival of civic life among my peers, predominantly conducted in online realms but sometimes reinforced with offline interactions. Robert Putnam argued in ?Bowling Alone? that associations were dead and that self-interest and cynicism had undermined the core of the American social contract.

My generation was thought to represent the low-point on this scale of decline. However, what has really been lacking in recent history are the tools that the Netroots 2.0 movement has empowered us with: connectivity, a sense of shared momentum that builds the perception of common purpose and efficiency, ease of use.

In campaign ?08, millennial opinion leaders have tapped into this culture of part-time activism to engage their peers. It?s true that the presidential elections are sexier than saving the whales and cast a far wider net, but if civic enterprises like news organizations, non-profits, or government agencies can retain even 30 to 40 percent of these enthusiasts and redirect their energy to one or two of the specific sub-causes they care about, it will be significant progress toward reversing the troublesome trends that have characterized participation in recent decades.

Does an opinion leader replace a news outlet as a credible source in this culture? No. But a wise media outlet should deputize either younger staffers or recruit active local citizen journalists and members of their web communities to function as a street team in their markets. Beyond catchy headlines, big pictures and entertaining stories, a lasting bond with the new people on the civic engagement scene is about establishing sincere connections.

Now, tell me what YOU think, at maegan.carberry@gmail.com