Got in from San Luis Obispo at around 12:30 a.m. last night after giving two Totally Wired talks to educators and parents and am now heading off to Orlando for a corporate presentation. So...No posts today, but look for lots bright and early tomorrow morning.

Thanks for your comments re: the radio show. I really want to do live call-in, but maybe that will just be a fantasy, like my desire to be in a Broadway musical (I settle for karaoke).

Before I go, I posted this on the new Ypulse Facebook page. It's my idea for creating a PSA campaign and widget for teens to be spread across all major social networking sites. I'm confident I can get the social networks on board to help promote the widget. What I need to make this happen is for a widget company to volunteer to help create it, a licensed psychologist to help vet the content, and some help from people who work on PSAs to develop the messaging and visuals around it. If you're interested, please get in touch.

"I've Got Your Back"
A powerful new PSA campaign & widget empowering teens to help other teens

The need: Social networking sites are virtual public spaces where teens are hanging out together and living out a big chunk of their lives. These teens' virtual lives reflect what’s happening in their real lives -- the same ups, downs and issues teens have always struggled with. Instead of writing in diaries hidden away, today's teens are sharing their deepest thoughts and feelings with the world. The feeling of distance technology adds between the writer or poster and the reader also makes it easier for teens to talk about issue they might not talk about in person. The challenge for social networks, teens and caring adults is being able to watch for "red flags" and do something about it before it’s too late.

The idea: Launch a PSA/education campaign along with a teen-centric widget that includes warning signs for high risk behaviors and resources/hotlines that correlate to those behaviors (this would be developed by a mental health professional). The widget should work on all of the major social networking sites. The goal is to further empower teens to look out for their friends, and even teens who aren’t their friends online. By sending the widget around virally, teens will learn what to look out for with other teens and be helping each other with hotlines and vetted resources instead of just giving each other advice, which may or may not be sound.

The resources: The widget would include risk factors and resources for the following issues…

- Depression/suicidal or homicidal behavior
- Eating disorders
- Rape/sexual abuse
- Teen dating violence
- Self harm/cutting
- Addiction/drug/alcohol
- Teen pregnancy
- STDs
- Positive outlets (after school programs, youth media .orgs, etc.) (developed by Ypulse)

Posted by anastasia