“According to a recent Intel-sponsored survey on Generation Y workers, North American IT professionals view younger workers as having a positive effect on the company, while at the same time, they’re also seen as security concerns within the business as well.”

I guess my view on this is that this is not Gen Y that is the security threat but our systems. Baby Boomers and Gen X workers have also been slapped for violating our online securities, and looking at out baby boomer leaders in corporate America right now, we don’t have the best role models to carve our path…but would like to hear from a few Gen Ys on the topic.

Read the full article here and then leave your comments below.

Great article in Business Week about Twitter.

Some people are not sure if Twitter is the next wave.  I learned about Twitter from DK of MediaSnackers.com over a year ago.  DK taught me that Gen Y loves to “snack” on bits and bites of information.  Because Twitter only allows 140 characters, it is attractive to those of us who are time starved and is great for Gen Y who are multi-tasking masters.

TwitterSync is now available on Facebook, so when I Twitter, it now shows up on my Facebook page...so I get the benefit of two appearances for one quick post.  And…a lot of businesses are now using Twitter, so check it out!.

Listen in below to this great Y-Talk interview with Ryan Paugh, one of the founders of BrazenCareerist.com.

Ryan Paugh graduated from Penn State University in 2006 with a Bachelor’s in Journalism. He joined Merck & Co, Inc. in the corporate communications field, where he became interested in workplace issues facing Generation Y. He also took an interest in how social media can impact the way we approach our careers. He founded Employee Evolution with Ryan Healy, where he found an outlet for his curiosities.

Paugh currently lives in Madison, WI and is a co-founder of Brazen Careerist, Inc. His passion is making Brazen Careerist into a community for young professionals to make their voices heard.

Paugh has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press. He speaks to companies, organizations and students about issues affecting Generation Y and how to leverage social media to better your personal and professional lives.

During this interview, we discuss how to use social media to build a business and online network. Great stuff!

If you are between the ages of 20-29 and if you have something to say and blog about and would be interested in learning more about how to get involved in BrazenCareerist.com, just head on over to the site today to sign up!

Nice article in CIO recently about Gen Y’s use of web applications at work and the potential security risks involved.

I agree with what Penelope Trunk has to say: “People can pick up the phone and read corporate memos to competitors, but businesses certainly couldn’t survive without a phone,” she says. That same type of logic can be used to show the benefits of younger workers. Without them, businesses would have a harder time keeping up with the pace as technology changes around them, so the argument against Web 2.0 use is “ridiculous,” she says.

I believe that over the next few years, Gen Y is going to move our business networking online anyway. The article even stated that “When asked whether they feel entitled to use whatever application/device/technology they would like, regardless of source or corporate IT policies, 69 percent of Millennials said “yes” (only 31 percent of “other” workers’ fell into this category)”.

In my opinion, Millennials are going to be using the platforms anyway outside of work, and many work from home. Many organizations are actually forming an internal Gen Y task force to look at how to start using web apps in the most efficient and effective manner (many are using Facebook for networking and Second Life for training purposes). Those companies who embrace web apps as an opportunity to grow the business are going to come out ahead.

Everyone keeps talking about how Obama has leveraged Web 2.0 Technologies better than his opponents. But there’s something else going on. And that is how do people find these videos, podcasts, and blogs. It is not just by going to YouTube.com. Instead, it is based on online word of mouth. Younger folks are forwarding Web addresses in their emails, or leveraging ‘beacons’ on sites like FaceBook. Beacons basically let your friends know what you are doing, such as ‘listening to Podcast of Obama’s speeches. According to Gen Yers, I speak with, they are subscribing less and less to paper based newspapers and reading more online. And it is there friends and coworkers who are using the Web to let them know what to read online. This also impacts the type of info consumed by Gen Yers. Instead of reading what experts think about an event, users just go to a recording the event (after they receive an email from a friend).

Ah- a little tension in the IT department. The old school IT professionals are feeling challenged by the younger web savvy Gen Yers. The older folks are used to developing large enterprise systems and software applications where the development cycles last a lot longer. The Millennials are used to launching and learning and then quickly making changes. They are used to flexible development processes. They look at their creations as something ‘organic’ — something that does not to be perfect when it is out there on the market. They have given the word Beta a whole new meaning. It is now OK to launch with a beta product. In someways, this makes me think of their process as more experiential.

And then there’s the tools Gen Yers use when communicating to their co-workers. Before walking down the hall to talk to a fellow programmer, they would rather send an instant message and start the conversation that way.

I work for a software company, and we are constantly reminding ourselves the importance of technology, processes and people. Surprisingly, managers (IT and in other part of the organizations) forget to address the needs of their employees.

 Here’s a good article about bringing out the best in Gen Y

The article is from CIO magazine… It breaks down tips into the following areas:

1. Management: Share your strategy, but break it down into small comprehensible chunks of information.
2. Training: Spend more $$ upfront during the on-boarding process
3. Check-Ins: Establish frequent meetings with Yers
4. Communication: Don’t be afraid to provide training on h0w to give presentations, etc… especially cause these guys and gals grew up in a virtual world
5. Collaborative situations: Develop teams of people to work together
6. Schedules: Be flexible — have flex-time schedules
7. Technology: Support their interests and habits… allow them to use and pay for them to learn new web-based technologies…

Read the article for more…