A new survey shows college students choosing Time over Cosmo as their magazine of choice. Surprising? Not really. This election year Gen Y has made their priorities abundantly clear and the desire to stay well-informed has emerged at the top of the list. The fact that it comes at the cost of staying on top of the latest version of "10 ways to please your man?" Oh well. From the AdAge article (reg. required):

Certainly in a presidential-election year, the popularity of a news magazine and website seems to make sense. But overall, the tone of the survey seemed a lot weightier than in years past. There were other changes, such as the inclusion of world peace as the No. 4 answer to the question "I wish …"

So what accounts for the change? The answer's in the question: change. This buzzword and Obama, the man who imbued the word with such deep meaning, have obviously affected the way students across the country view the world around them, and their stake in it. Need more proof of this shift? Both Perez Hilton and College Humor disappeared from lists of students' top ten website and were replaced by CNN.com.

As for students themselves being more serious? I don't really think that's the case so much as they're simply finding entertainment that suits their newfound interests, i.e. "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report."

See also: SurveyU's presentation from the Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup East.

Categorized under: Collegians, Magazines

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