Courting the Millennials: Enter .Mic

I confess that I knew nothing about the existence of .Mic until last week when one of my Columbia University students profiled it for his first assignment which consisted of studying a publication of their choice and analyze how the content is carried across platforms.

And so I have been taking a look at .Mic the last couple of days. After all, .Mic appears to know all about millennials, that most elusive and sought after members of our media audience. What interests these 20 somethings? What’s the best strategy to seduce them into reading, watching and staying with our brands? How can our products interrupt those millennials forever interrupted daily lives?

Most importantly, what content fits into their busy, forever-connected lives?

.Mic’s use of video and the stories in which it is incorporated provide us with great examples. In fact, video is big for .Mic and it recently hired three former Vox producers for its new video team.

What content are those millennials craving?

If we go by the .Mic model (interesting but not all that groundbreaking), there are seven “buckets” of information:

Policy, Arts, World, Music, Identities, News and Science.

This navigational system gives us a clue as to what the founders of .Mic were thinking when they created the new brand in 2011.

Here is how each of these segments led in a recent edition, which prompts the question: is this what those millennials are craving?

Policy:
One Startling GIF Shows How Much the US Spends on Imprisoning vs. Educating People

Arts:

The True Meaning of Love, as Told by the Most Beautiful Lines in Literature

Also: 20 Popcorn Flicks We Can't Wait to See in 2015

World:

Yemen's Government Just Completely Collapsed. Here's What You Need to Know

Music
Thanks to Taylor Swift, You Have to Ask Permission to Use These Five Phrases

Identities: (my favorite section)

Meet the Female Photographer Giving Fashion's Boys' Club a Run for Its Money

Also: Stunning photos of curvy women prove athleticism comes in every size

http://mic.com/articles/109430/stunning-photos-of-curvy-women-prove-athleticism-comes-in-every-size

News

You Can Earn $13,000 Selling Your Poop

Science
There's a Suicide Epidemic in Utah — And One Neuroscientist Thinks He Knows Why
Also: Scientists Have Discovered an Activity Just as Pleasurable as Sex, Drugs and Gambling

The view from a millennial

My student, who fits into the category of a millennial, had this observation about .Mic to include in his analysis:

“.Mic places emphasis on its content’s share-ability. Articles are ranged from short to medium size. After clicking on an article, a huge picture jumps straight into the reader’s face, while the headline, kickers, and articles bite off the mid-bottom part of the picture……..Interestingly, for a news media so dedicated to sharing, there are only Facebook and Twitter share icons on the page. No Google+, Pinterest, or email. Some may argue that this is limiting its audience. I believe using only two share icons is rather refreshing than seeing a laundry list of less popular social media. “

Obviously, interesting content and the good stories appeal to more than one specific audience. I am in my late 60s and I found myself enjoying a lot of what .Mic has to offer, although I was a bit taken with a reference to Lady Gaga, whom I have recently invited me into my iTunes collection because of her hit CD Cheek to Cheek, in which she performs duets with legendary Tony Bennett. So, what a surprise to read this reference in .Mic:

“… Lady Gaga's now thought to be an irrelevant aging pop star by many.”

Oh, no, tell me it isn’t so, .Mic.

Take a look at recent .Mic video

In this video, .Mic, explores how people react when a woman—in this case, Mic senior editor and frequent MSNBC guest Elizabeth Plank—spreads her legs on the subway in the same way that some men do. The video went viral and has already racked up more than a million views on Youtube.