formspring
A Teenager’s Guide to Social Media
Feeling a need for a teenager’s guide to social media? In the last few months, several people have approached me about what to do about their teenage son/daughter/nephew/granddaughter online.
It’s troubling how private, impulsive messages are slapped up to a Facebook Wall without much thought or clue of how such impetuous actions will exist forever more. In fact, Google’s CEO himself suggested there will come a time when many teenagers will be applying for a name change … as this is the only hope they’ll have to escape years of embarrassing content.
A recent study shows 3/4 of kids in grades 7 – 12 have some kind of social media profile online. The study revealed the average teen spends 22 minutes a day – or 11 hours a month – on social networks. That’s part of the nearly 8 hours a day teens dedicate to consuming all kinds of media.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.. I’m so glad I didn’t have access to something like Facebook when I was 13. I was living from one self-absorbed moment to the next.. only ever in a single moment in time. Zero foresight. Perhaps that is the way of the teen.
So when you see a young adult publicly posting compromising content – what do you do?
Get them to stop, right?
But asking them to extract from Facebook, Twitter, FormSpring, etc… is like asking them to cut off an intimate connection with their friends; a now routine and expected form of engagement.
So if you can’t stop them – here are 3 simple changes that might help.
- Encourage the teen to create a private Facebook Group between friends. Facebook Groups have changed recently. Group founders can now tag friends, making them automatic members (speeds up adoption). What Groups can do is take potentially damaging conversations and photos from a public arena (a wall) to a private arena (a Group – which can have a “secret” setting).
- Furthermore, if the teen begins to use Facebook Places – which is Facebook’s location-based “check-in” tool (potentially scary consequences for young people) – this could be set up to only broadcast to the “Group”.
- In terms of other social networks, my suggestion: pseudonyms. This is 100% counter to what we tell our clients, but for a teen, I recommend it wherever it can be done.
What other ideas do people have? How do you suggest folk manage (or more accurately: influence) teenage conduct online?
Tags: facebook, Facebook Groups, Facebook Places, formspring, privacy, Social Media, Teenagers, Twitter
New Social Media Channel
I like Canadian twin-sister rock duo Tegan and Sara. I first heard them about 7 years ago when they were relatively unheard of. We featured them on a late-night arts & entertainment show I was producing for CBC TV. We did with them, what we did with all bands that came through the studio, we had them play a couple of songs and then we interviewed them.
There is no doubt in my mind, Tegan and Sara have been interviewed a bazillion times since – and likely have answered the exact same questions we asked them 7 years ago, a bazillion times over. Such is the nature of fame and fortune.
Even in our own less famous lives we encounter the same questions time and time again. What do you do? Where did you go to school? If you could be any animal, which one would you be? You know. The usual.
Every day that I explore social media, I discover new tools, new channels, new ideas – many that are great. But one thing I picked up on this week (thanks to some fine folks I follow on Twitter), strikes me as more visionary than the rest. It’s a website called FormSpring and its premise is simple: ask any question you want someone to answer. You pose a question to someone on FormSpring, that person answers it, and it lives on their profile forever – or until they choose to delete it. You can ask anonymously or as yourself.
FormSpring offers all kinds of widgets, one of them making it easy to add this tailored, user-generated FAQ to your personal or company blog.
The reasons I think this is brill:
- from a company standpoint, it means your customers/audience shape your FAQ’s; making your FAQ’s more relevant to those who are most relevant to your business
- by virtue of this previous point, it creates an opportunity for real transparency and accessibility – the hallmarks of social media done right
- a profile on FormSpring can provide a permanent (or as permanent as you like) list of answers to questions you get asked all the time. In the case of Tegan and Sara, this could be invaluable; not just for them but for their fans.
- it offers the respondent a way of controlling their messaging, while still being honest and open with those asking the questions
- and finally, it’s just fun. Asking anyone anything? Are you kidding me? That’s awesome.
It should be said, I have no affiliation whatsoever with FormSpring. But hey – I don’t want to steal your thunder. You can ask me that on my profile.
Or help Magnify Digital shape its FAQ section. We know you want to ask us about our dog.
Tags: FAQ, formspring, Social Media, strategy
