Learning from 15 Year-Old Girls

Rebecca Black taught us that Sunday comes after Saturday but there’s so much more we can learn from her (“her” being the metaphorical 15 year-old).

A few weeks ago Josh Miller shared a conversation with his 15-year-old sister about Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and other popular products.

As a product guy, this got me thinking: Am I too consumed in my mid-20’s, Silicon Valley bubble? What opportunities am I missing? How can I expand my product intuition?

Some thoughts:

Pay attention to how others use (or don’t use) services differently. A former coworker of mine uses Twitter as a way to group message friends (publicly, which is even more surprising). My younger brother doesn’t use email unless he has to. My father only text messages using Siri. New products or needs can be identified by observing user behavior of existing services.

Recognize trends through observation. I’ve recently paid closer attention to what my younger cousins share online. I often see posts asking for reciprocation - LMS, #rate Justin Bieber 1-10, which Disney character am I most similar to?, etc.

Nina summarizes this trend best in her post about Snapchat and the growing trend of ephemeral networks:

Most of us don’t really have anything interesting to say. But we all want to feel connected.

Explore services you wouldn’t normally use. There are several teen-centric products that us “mature, wise adults” never try. Snapchat is continually discounted as a fad, unappreciated by older audiences yet teens are flocking to it. There must be a reason. Be curious, my mid-20 year-old white male brethren, and play with Pinterest, Lockerz, Pose, Versagram, and other products you wouldn’t normally use.

You are not your typical customer. Your customers almost certainly don’t spend every day thinking about your product or the problem you’re trying to solve. They come from a different context. You’re more likely to be your #1 customer or not your customer at all, than your typical customer.


Don’t ignore teen behavior as immature or older audiences as unsophisticated. They very well may be but there’s a lot to learn from other generations. It’s important to empathize outside your generation. You may be surprised what you discover.