The internet bubble may have popped, but that doesn't mean that the digital arena is any less useful as a tool to mobilize - and profit from - young people. However, it seems that the over-35 crowd has forgotten that. In a recent PBS Frontline special, "Growing Up Online," they made an interesting comparison: that "It's been said that the internet represents the greatest generation gap since the advent of rock n' roll." Unsurprisingly, they're probably right. [Digital Music News]

The virtual society in which young people now grow up -- upwards of 90 percent of American teens are online, according to Frontline -- is largely a smoke-and-mirrors environment, largely unknown to parents and teachers. Even as a 21 year old, it is difficult for me to imagine growing up in an environment where the social web is a primary form of communication at such a young age.

But parents and teachers aren't the only ones in the dark. In the general population, the internet accounts for 20% of media consumption; and in the increasingly digital young demographic, that number is unquestionably (and exponentially) higher. Among recent college graduates, 70% to 80% of media is consumed via the internet. Yet according to the most recent data from the 2008 election push, an abysmal 3.5% of political advertising budgets will be spent online.

So while this coveted demographic spends its time glued to the computer screen, politicians (and their consultants) will continue to wait for the digital marketplace to "prove itself," unwilling to utilize the internet as the persuasion tool that it is. 

Sounds like a generation gap to me.