Everyone Can Learn From Millennials' Use of Share Sites

Not every new site is worth creating a user profile for. However, sharing information isn’t a trend that is going to fade away anytime soon. For older generations, this is a perplexing new perspective. Older generations enjoy working in private, or in small groups of close colleagues, and don’t usually share work until it’s complete. The younger generations need to share work, post progress reports publically, and blog about their feelings, careers, and life events, is shocking to older colleagues. But, one thing is clear, if you’re resisting joining any social share site—news, gossip, or professional—because you’re thinking (or hoping) that this online craze will soon burn out, Matt Gallivan, a senior research analyst for NPR, says it best: “Sharing is not the ‘new black,’ it’s the new normal.”

The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently asked a large group of experts if they thought Millennials would outgrow their online sharing habit and their need to blog about their feelings—67% said that Generation Y would keep sharing as they aged. They feed off the openness and the opportunities for new personal connections, learning from other’s experiences, and potential job opportunities.

Millennials are more likely to talk publicly about the tasks and projects they’re working on, the progress they’re making, the resources they find helpful, and the questions and challenges that arise during the process. They find the isolation tactics of their older colleagues to be somewhere between dumb and quaint—viewing all projects from a team aspect, they don’t understand why anyone would want to work alone without feedback and/or support.

And, they might be onto something. Narrating your work is beneficial—collaboration is powerful. Those who openly communicate, either verbally or with the assistance of an online resource, are helpful to the rest of the organization because their digital trail can make others more efficient. Also, by airing their questions, they are open to feedback and creative solutions from others, making themselves more efficient. Millenials are clearly re-defining the standards of teamwork.

Gallivan says, “The Facebook generation understands these benefits, while others often do not. Older generations are more likely to see narration as a narcissistic waste of time. Generation Y, meanwhile, knows that narrating their work in the right way saves time, increases productivity, and knits the organization together more tightly. We should follow their lead and stop reflexively working in private.”