Presentation
The Manufacturer’s Guide to Gen Z Users: From TikTok to Chat GPT and Beyond
SessionMobile Applications (DH1)
DescriptionThrifting.
Straight-Leg Jeans.
TikTok Challenges.
Using Chat GPT for homework.
These are just 4 out of a rapidly growing list of trends that the (in)famous Generation Z, a.k.a “Gen Z” is credited for. When Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan (Sarah Perez, 2022), who runs Google’s Knowledge & Information organization, noted that according to their research almost 40% of young people go to, not Google but instead, TikTok or Instagram to search for places to eat, it becomes clear why these users are aptly nicknamed, “Digital Natives.” This new generation of internet users disrupt paradigms that we have grown accustomed to. They challenge the norm of entering keywords in a search engine by looking to discover content in new, more immersive ways.
The healthcare industry is no stranger to the abundance of health information that the internet brought to users’ fingertips (Conrad, Bandini, & Vasquez, 2016). And with the proliferation of social media sites, users, especially with chronic conditions, were quick to create support and information exchange communities using these new forums (Li, Wang, Lin, & Hajli, 2016). As Gen Z users enter the market share for medical products, manufacturers need to proactively strategize on how best to unlock value for the healthcare industry. From a patient-journey perspective, apps like TikTok provide high precision algorithms that are able to capitalize user’s attention spans for product or disease-related communication (Turner, Cologne, Carter, & Van Wymeersch, 2022).
As a human factors and user experience consulting firm with a hub in the Silicon Valley, we work with both startups and Fortune 500 companies, putting us in a favorable position to observe and identify emerging trends in medical product development. Despite decades of digital innovation, there seems to be a widespread inertia among manufacturers in being proactive with handling latest trends in information exchange. With new-age users flocking to social media apps such as TikTok or generative AI tools such as Chat GPT, medical product manufacturers are facing more pressure than ever to push beyond the traditional verbose and jargon-heavy user manuals being the sole source of information regarding the product’s use. This presentation is not a love letter to TikTok or Chat GPT but its aim is to investigate the burgeoning trends of usage to provide guidelines on future-proofing products as a healthcare or pharma company.
Based on professional experience interacting with users for various lay user products that include Gen Z users, the presenter will leverage insights to:
Highlight the impact of this new age of users that we are already witnessing via illuminating anecdotes from our usability studies with younger user populations.
Uncover the updates in online health information seeking behavior across product types with real life-based case studies ranging from the Ozempic Frenzy to Youtube’s Doctor Mike
Discuss key themes observed in emerging technologies and identify actionable insights for manufacturers
The presenter will use an Interactive presentation style to get manufacturers and human factors practitioners to start thinking about the consequences of Gen Z user behaviors on the entire product lifecycle.
References:
[1] Conrad, P., Bandini, J., & Vasquez, A. (2016). Illness and the Internet: From Private to Public Experience. Health, 20(1), 22–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459315611941
[2] Chen, Y., Li, C., Liang, J., & Tsai, C. (2018). Health information obtained from the internet and changes in medical decision making: Questionnaire Development and Cross-Sectional Survey. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 20(2), e47. https:// doi.org/10.2196/jmir.9370.
[3] Li, Y., Wang, X., Lin, X., & Hajli, M. (2016). Seeking and sharing health information on social media: A net valence model and cross-cultural comparison. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 126 (C), 28-40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2016.07.021
[4] Sarah Perez (July 12, 2022), “Google exec suggests Instagram and TikTok are eating into Google’s core products, Search and Maps”, Tech Crunch. Retrieved from: https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/12/google-exec-suggests-instagram-and-tiktok-are-eating-into-googles-core-products-search-and-maps/
[5] Turner C., Cologne, D., Carter, R., Van Wymeersch, V. (December 02, 2022), “Ever Heard of HealthTok?”, Ogilvy Health, Retrieved from: https://www.ogilvy.com/ideas/ever-heard-healthtok
Straight-Leg Jeans.
TikTok Challenges.
Using Chat GPT for homework.
These are just 4 out of a rapidly growing list of trends that the (in)famous Generation Z, a.k.a “Gen Z” is credited for. When Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan (Sarah Perez, 2022), who runs Google’s Knowledge & Information organization, noted that according to their research almost 40% of young people go to, not Google but instead, TikTok or Instagram to search for places to eat, it becomes clear why these users are aptly nicknamed, “Digital Natives.” This new generation of internet users disrupt paradigms that we have grown accustomed to. They challenge the norm of entering keywords in a search engine by looking to discover content in new, more immersive ways.
The healthcare industry is no stranger to the abundance of health information that the internet brought to users’ fingertips (Conrad, Bandini, & Vasquez, 2016). And with the proliferation of social media sites, users, especially with chronic conditions, were quick to create support and information exchange communities using these new forums (Li, Wang, Lin, & Hajli, 2016). As Gen Z users enter the market share for medical products, manufacturers need to proactively strategize on how best to unlock value for the healthcare industry. From a patient-journey perspective, apps like TikTok provide high precision algorithms that are able to capitalize user’s attention spans for product or disease-related communication (Turner, Cologne, Carter, & Van Wymeersch, 2022).
As a human factors and user experience consulting firm with a hub in the Silicon Valley, we work with both startups and Fortune 500 companies, putting us in a favorable position to observe and identify emerging trends in medical product development. Despite decades of digital innovation, there seems to be a widespread inertia among manufacturers in being proactive with handling latest trends in information exchange. With new-age users flocking to social media apps such as TikTok or generative AI tools such as Chat GPT, medical product manufacturers are facing more pressure than ever to push beyond the traditional verbose and jargon-heavy user manuals being the sole source of information regarding the product’s use. This presentation is not a love letter to TikTok or Chat GPT but its aim is to investigate the burgeoning trends of usage to provide guidelines on future-proofing products as a healthcare or pharma company.
Based on professional experience interacting with users for various lay user products that include Gen Z users, the presenter will leverage insights to:
Highlight the impact of this new age of users that we are already witnessing via illuminating anecdotes from our usability studies with younger user populations.
Uncover the updates in online health information seeking behavior across product types with real life-based case studies ranging from the Ozempic Frenzy to Youtube’s Doctor Mike
Discuss key themes observed in emerging technologies and identify actionable insights for manufacturers
The presenter will use an Interactive presentation style to get manufacturers and human factors practitioners to start thinking about the consequences of Gen Z user behaviors on the entire product lifecycle.
References:
[1] Conrad, P., Bandini, J., & Vasquez, A. (2016). Illness and the Internet: From Private to Public Experience. Health, 20(1), 22–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459315611941
[2] Chen, Y., Li, C., Liang, J., & Tsai, C. (2018). Health information obtained from the internet and changes in medical decision making: Questionnaire Development and Cross-Sectional Survey. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 20(2), e47. https:// doi.org/10.2196/jmir.9370.
[3] Li, Y., Wang, X., Lin, X., & Hajli, M. (2016). Seeking and sharing health information on social media: A net valence model and cross-cultural comparison. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 126 (C), 28-40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2016.07.021
[4] Sarah Perez (July 12, 2022), “Google exec suggests Instagram and TikTok are eating into Google’s core products, Search and Maps”, Tech Crunch. Retrieved from: https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/12/google-exec-suggests-instagram-and-tiktok-are-eating-into-googles-core-products-search-and-maps/
[5] Turner C., Cologne, D., Carter, R., Van Wymeersch, V. (December 02, 2022), “Ever Heard of HealthTok?”, Ogilvy Health, Retrieved from: https://www.ogilvy.com/ideas/ever-heard-healthtok
Event Type
Oral Presentations
Track Keynote
TimeMonday, March 2511:00am - 11:30am CDT
LocationSalon A-2
Digital Health