A fascinating chat with Canadian web guru Don Tapscott – author of Wikinomics – who was passing through London last week. His new book, Grown Up Digital – how the net generation is changing your world, is out later this year.

Mr Tapscott prefers the term “net generation” to “generation y”, as for him it helps signal that the under 30s are truly different, and not just the next cohort to come along.

“These kids have different brains,” he told me. “They have bathed in [computer] bits.”

I look forward to reading the new book, which promises to offer useful insights into these young multi-media heroes.

But the remark that really stayed with me was Mr Tapscott’s confident – very confident – assertion that “Obama will win”. “He has 13.4 million under 30s, all talking to each other on Facebook, and they are going to vote. This is unprecedented,” he told me.

“Obama will win.”

I merely report these words without further comment.

September 26, 2008 12:59pm in Innovation/tech, Managing others | Comment