Professionalism plus youth: an unbeatable mix

about-glennwolsey.png15-year-old New Zealander competes for U.S. Ad Dollars

Steve Rubel in Advertising Age sees this as proof that "the world is flat": in other words, with broadband, even a kid from the bottom of the planet can make waves in the U.S. media world.

But Glenn Wolsey is no ordinary 15-year-old. Take a look at his blog. He writes about using Mac products for work and play. The blog is totally professional, and also has the unmistakable smell of youth. What an unbeatable combination for success on the web. He gets "tens of thousands" of visitors each month.

What about Glenn's language? He can pick 'n'mix with the most sophisticated. In his interview on AdAge, he sounds like someone twice his age, a master of marketing lingo. He edits MacGuide like a pro, because of course he is a pro.

He describes his highly successful blog like so:

Here I post views on technology related matters, along with reviews, articles, experiences, and tutorials. This isn't your typical personal blog, I'm opinionated and proud.

Go Glen!

2 comments

Oct 19, 2007 • Posted by rachel

Fair cop, Julie! And others might read my post as being patronising to the young, considering that young I am not.

Oct 19, 2007 • Posted by Julie

Fantastic as it is to see youthful bloggers being successful,
Rachel’s comment that youth & professionalism is “an unbeatable
combination on the web” only perpetuates the idea that the web
is mainly for the young, and that older bloggers and users don’t
really count. In reality, internet use continues to increase
among ALL age groups, as is use of social networking sites by
people 35+.

Maybe it was just a casual comment, but it seems we should be
encouraging high quality web content, period, without using age
as a reference point. What does it really mean to say that
Glenn “sounds like someone twice his age”? Some people twice
his age are smart and articulate, some are idiotic and marble-
mouthed. I believe that age bias—on the part of young, old, or
in-between, will continue unless we become aware of in ourselves
and think twice about the language and images we use. Thanks for
listening.

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