Washington, D.C.
Steve Case just spoke about RevolutionHealth.com during a WaPo chat.
In response to a question about further engaging consumers, he said: “As I mentioned we just launched two months ago, and are in the building mode. Like AOL, we want to constantly improve the service, and also believe happy customers are the best marketing, so word of mouth is key. But we have gone from a site with no users a few months ago to several million monthly users today. And we’re just getting going.”
Washington, D.C.
It was pretty exciting when Netflix sent me “Walk the Line last May. Not having gotten a chance to see it in the theater — and reading rave reviews from all who did — I was pumped to see it right away. But something came up and “Walk the Line” stayed in its little red envelope that week. And the week after that. And the week after that.
My Netflix queue came to a halt and I was torn: do I send it back or hang onto it? I chose the latter. So, there it sat. When November rolled around and I moved to my new apartment, Reese and Joaquin still sat on my nightstand. After all this time though, I couldn’t just send it back. I had to watch it. So, I threw it in a box and brought it with me.
Fast forward to February of this year. I’ve now had “Walk the Line” for 9 months. And, believe it or not, I’m finally in the mood to watch it. And you know what? It was pretty good.
I was thinking about this whole incident last night and came across an old Newsweek article discussing the same “disorder.” In the story, it’s given a name: Severe Netflix Anxiety. And, it made me thankful: at least I’m not former Netflix employee, Crystal Trexel. Trexel received the indie flick “Maria Full of Grace” in December 2004.
She finally returned it 20 months later.
Washington, D.C.
With graduation season now behind us, there’s been an onslaught of stories recently about Gen Yers entering the workforce. Let’s take a quick look at a couple of them:
Fortune tackles the issue with its cover story, “Manage Us? Puh-leeze” about how we (that is, those born to Boomer parents between 1977 and 1995) are increasingly moving back home (read my, ahem, Hatch story here), asking employers for more money and perks, and, the biggie, expecting more from our jobs. And, when we don’t feel fulfilled, mentored or appreciated, we leave.
Perhaps it has something to do with the way in which the generation was raised – reporter Nadira Hira describes us as “self-absorbed, gregarious, multitasking, loud, optimistic, pierced” – but the attitude and sense of entitlement is increasingly presenting problems for companies who need to retain young workers (some 64 million skilled workers will retire by 2010). But how do they do this?
The New York Times explains. Google is a fantastic case study in how companies can attract Millennials through innovative and creative recruiting events, like cocktails parties, technology lectures and treasure hunts. It might be out of necessity (they’re hiring 500 workers a month in direct competition with Microsoft and, more often, other start-ups), but they’re obviously doing something right: they were considered the most desirable employer for both undergrads and M.B.A.’s this year.
Not everyone agrees with the Gen Y hoopla. Peter Carlson of the Wash Post takes the Fortune feature to town, calling it “mostly piffle” filled with “six pages of dubious generalizations written in whiz-bang biz-mag prose.” Most poignantly, he dissects why today’s young workers show little loyalty to the companies they work for. Is it because they’re too, well, “self-absorbed?”
Au contraire: “Given the performance of American corporations lately – the layoffs, the rip-offs, the accounting scandals, the outsourcing – what rational human would put loyalty to his company over loyalty to himself and his family?”
It’s a good question. I’m going to check Wikipedia for the answer.
Marc is the co-founder and CEO of AcceptU, an edtech company based in Boston. 
Marc Zawel 