Yesterday I had the privilege to speak at the national Boys & Girls Clubs conference here in San Francisco. I gave my Totally Wired talk twice -- once in the morning and once in the afternoon. I had one hour for each session and quickly realized my talk ended up filling the entire hour -- it's like every time I give it there is more to talk about. One bit of information that surprised me and saddened me a bit was that many of the clubs block access to sites like MySpace and Facebook. In reality it shouldn't have surprised me. The fears and concerns were the same fears and concerns I've heard from parents and teachers across the country. I was told the challenge is that they are not staffed well enough to monitor each teen's computer use.
What bums me out about this is that these clubs often serve low income youth who may not have a laptop or PC at home. So it's essentially one less place they can go to experience the social media their middle class peers are using all the time. It's also a missed opportunity to offer these teens real guidance on using these sites. I was also told the Boys & Girls Clubs have an amazing internet safety program -- and I'm sure it is very comprehensive....in its coverage of safety. My guess is that it doesn't really cover ethics or information literacy. The other concern they have is that if something happens from one of their computers, they'll have angry parents to answer to.
I understand the need to limit access to these sites at school when teens are supposed to be focused on learning. Though I would argue that this, too, can happen without actually blocking. But Boys & Girls Clubs are spaces to hang out in, just as MySpace and Facebook are virtual spaces to hang out and connect in.
Hopefully, I was able to persuade at least some of the people listening (ok, not the guy who told me I talked too much, that he dozed off a few times and wished I would have taught them all how to create MySpace profiles), but some of the people there to think about unblocking these sites.
I don't think it's enough for me to just say, "unblock." So here is what I would propose after school programs like the Boys & Girls Clubs should do. Invite parents to a talk similar to what I do -- emphasizing the positives along with the challenges, and the reality that these kids need to have access to these sites to be competitive in the future. The idea is to get them more comfortable and less afraid. Develop a mandatory workshop for any Boys & Girls Club teens who want to log on from the Club -- BUT have it taught by teens aka their peers. The workshop should be fun, engaging and cover privacy, ethics and some information literacy. Youth workers can identify the teens who are really into the computers and train them to be peer educators. Then create a contract/agreement between the teens and the Club around using the internet. If they mess up, they lose access for a period of time. If this is all done in a way that treats these teens as if they won't mess up, they probably won't.
We have to educate, not legislate (the latest attempt) and block -- and not deny access to teens who will otherwise be left behind.
I'm giving a "Totally Wired" Webinar for the folks at the Discovery Educator Network next week. Has anyone given a Webinar before? I would love to hear any tips on how to make it compelling...I'll be working on it over the weekend. Anyhow, you can register to attend here.
Wow. Thanks to everyone who commented on yesterday's "cry for help." There were some great suggestions. I got in late after speaking in Palo Alto last night and had to catch up on "The Wire" finale of course after being in Austin all weekend. So...I decided to sleep in and get a full 8 hours. That coupled with some other stuff I need to do this morning means I'll be posting much later today (east coasters: That means night time for you!).
In the meantime, I thought you might be interested in what the Palo Alto parents were asking me after my preso. Some of it was familiar, like is there any decent block/filter software that doesn't block porn and stuff we actually need? (this was referring to the new parental controls in Windows Vista). I'm grateful to Henry Jenkins and his keynote for helping me attempt to answer the question around whether teens are technology addicts. I tried the whole addiction is a disease, addicts usually have underlying mental health issue approach, but I could tell it wasn't going over too well with a couple of parents. I tried to say the word addiction is a label with negative connotations -- maybe compulsion is a better word to describe the desire we all share when it comes to constantly checking our email/Twitter/Crackberries. That it's about setting limits and more importantly connected parents (there are lots in the Valley) modeling this for their teens. The other question, which I've had before is how set limits or manage kids' technology use (especially younger kids) when it is coming from an institution, i.e. schools. When your child says, "I have to do this for school" or has a school laptop. I don't really have an answer to this one -- do any of you?
The kind folks over at PBS sent me a screener of the new Frontline special "Growing Up Online," which will air on Tuesday. They also let me offer up my reaction to the doc in a blog post. I was interviewed via phone for the documentary when it was in pre-production, and we invited the film crew to the 2007 Ypulse Mashup in San Francisco. You can read my review of the program on PBS's "Remotely Connected" blog. Tune in or Tivo on Tuesday night, and let me know what you think of "Growing Up Online."
I've been noodling over yesterday's MySpace announcement since, well, yesterday. While I applaud any effort to make the site safer for teens, there is an aspect of all this that feels forced. Whenever industry reacts to the threat of legislation or regulation, vs. being proactive early on, the measures taken feel like they are meant to appease whoever was doing the threatening. Rebecca Scritchfield, a grad student at John Hopkins, made this point in an email to me about this happening in the context of regulating advertising of junk food to kids.
When the FCC explored regulation, the ad industry created the self-regulatory body "children's food and beverage advertising initiative". This include a dozen or so food and beverage companies that represent a bulk of the ad dollars. The problem is that there is no standard criteria so companies set their own guidelines that coincide with their products so little change is needed. For example, Kellogg set a limit of 15 grams of sugar to advertise to kids. Well, all their products (except pop tarts) already comply and they are creating a whole grain pop tart with (guess what) 15 grams of sugar per poptart, which they will count as one serving even though they come in packs of two and kids will likely eat two. It's very misleading.
In my opinion, MySpace could have been way more proactive about educating parents and teens (not just putting safety info in a footer link) much earlier on, forming a coalition with different constituencies, and even doing its own large-scale Be Safe On MySpace Tour. Instead, they ended up having to react to politicians and law enforcement threatening regulation and legislation generating a response that feels like it was meant to appease these constituents vs. a more thoughtful, holistic (i.e. non-fear based) approach to the issues raised by widespread youth participation on social networking sites that are open to anyone over the age of 13 or 14.
Here are what I see as some of the problems with the announcement:
By focusing solely on social networking sites, we miss the real picture of who is at risk and how victimization happens
The spirit and content of yesterday's announcement continues to perpetuate the culture of fear around children and the internet, making every child a potential victim and every adult a potential perpetrator. There is a growing body of research about who engages with sexual predators online -- and it's not your average teen. Most teens who receive unwanted attention ignore it and the very small percentage who don't tend to be engaged in risky behavior offline as well. There is new research (which will be published on Monday) that also asserts that it's over IM and in chat based environments where more of these solicitations are happening vs. on social networking sites.
The technical solutions are more symbolic than anything else
Creating an email registry blocking children from MySpace only gives misinformed parents a false sense of security since creating a new email address is pretty much "internet 101." MySpace's Zephyr software only notifies parents that a teen has logged in, and I wouldn't be surprised if teens haven't figured out how to disable it already. I'm doubtful that scanning for underage users and kicking them off, stops them from coming back and learning to lie even better. And why shouldn't they? Tom lied about his age. Some parents encourage it as a way to avoid creepy contact. It seems like it's partly the culture of the internet itself that encourages creating a fake persona or even multiple identities. Many teens and adults reinvent themselves on MySpace as a way to experiment with identity or promote different aspects of themselves. I'm not sure this is always a bad thing.
They've successfully fended off legislation...for now
Maybe this announcement was enough to appease lawmakers...but maybe not. "Connecticut lawmakers this year introduced legislation supported by state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal that would require parental consent for teens using social networking sites." And what about the AGs who refused to sign on to the announcement, like Texas?
They've created unrealistic practices for smaller sites
I'm utterly amazed that MySpace has an army of contractors scanning millions of images daily for porn. But if smaller social networking sites have to live up to this standard, well, I'm not sure they can. I'm not saying sites shouldn't do as much as they can, but if this becomes the industry standard, it will hurt smaller players.
Protecting teens from all adult stranger contact also means denying them some positive adult contact
Finally, by putting all adult strangers in the bucket of potential predator, we make it harder for well-meaning adults, outreach workers, librarians, etc. to be able to reach teens on the site as well.
Instead of Band-Aid solutions, we need a paradigm shift -- away from fear and towards teaching safe and appropriate internet use, cyber ethics, internet citizenship, whatever you want to call it, as well as comprehensive parent/teacher/school administrator education on what sites teens love (their history, positives and negatives), why teens love them, and most importantly, how they work, privacy settings, loopholes, etc. I guarantee you that if we can make this happen, parents will be armed with the knowledge they need not only to keep kids safe, but to help them to appropriately manage their online identity(ies).
Ypulse reader Hillary sent me this local piece about high school students mobilizing on Facebook to protest being busted by their school for photos of themselves drinking they posted on Facebook. From the article:
When the school's investigation concluded Wednesday, 42 students had been questioned and 13 disciplined after Internet photos revealed the students partying with alcohol in violation of school rules, administrators said.
Punishments include suspensions from sports and other activities, angering students who think administrators went too far. Some students are planning a walkout after first period this morning, and they're promoting the protest where the controversy began: on Facebook.com.
It reminded me of "the lacrosse incident" at one of the schools I spoke at while on the book tour. Basically the same thing happened, girls on the school lacrosse team posted drinking photos on Facebook (actually the girls were doing keg stands), and the school would not let them play in the championship game. There was a huge outcry...from the parents. Not over the drinking, but over the team missing its big game.
This issue will continue to play itself out in schools, whether it's repercussions (I'm never using that puritanical word consequences again ;-) for photos posted of teens doing something illegal or cyberbullying -- both often happen off of school property. Parents, administrators, teens and ultimately lawyers will begin determining policy for dealing with what is posted from home but can be seen and felt at school.
P.S. My latest piece, "When to turn it off," is up on Beinggirl.com -- for any folks working with tweens/teens, feel free to link to it!
Just wanted to remind Ypulse readers of two upcoming speaking gigs in January I'm really excited about. I'll be speaking on a panel at The Sandbox Summit at CES January 8th at noon called "The Digital Family: Are We Speaking the Same Language?" Here's the description:
Just because we can put a chip in a doll or give a voice to a truck does that mean we should? Hear from industry leaders about what's working, what isn't, and what's driving their next generation of techno-products.
Moderator: Andrea Smith, News/Technology Producer, ABC News Radio
The entire day's agenda actually looks really worthwhile, especially the morning keynote from Gary E. Knell, President and CEO, Sesame Workshop and Elmo. Robin Raskin, who blogs at Yahoo! Tech, was instrumental in creating this very cool event. If you're attending, find me and say hi.
On Wednesday, January 23rd, I'll be speaking here in San Francisco on a panel at the 2008 Sex:Tech Conference, which is focusing on youth. Here's the conference description:
First Conference on HIV Prevention, Reproductive Health, Technology and Youth: Together with San Francisco State's National Sexuality Resource Center, ISIS is hosting this conference with over 400 public health professionals, technology whizzes, youth, youth advocates, and researchers expected to attend. Keynotes include winners of the Fresh Focus Sex Ed Digital Video Contest, CEO of Intercasting, Founder of YPulse.com, cast and crew of podcasters' MidwestTeenSexShow.
I'll be speaking with Derrick Oien, CEO and Founder, Intercasting Corp., Creators of Anthem and Rabble.com, Mobile Networking for Urban Youth in a session moderated by USA Today's Janet Kornblum.
I've also been asked to select and moderate a panel at this year's Youth Marketing Mega Event -- it's supposed to focus on what everyone will be buzzing about at that moment or the next big thing...What do you think I should focus on? Mobile social networking? The new kids' on the virtual world block? Most popular social networking widgets and apps for teens? Send me your ideas and panelist suggestions. I won't begin working on this until late January....but welcome your ideas...
"Creepy" is Gawker's snarky description. I actually love Michelle Slatalla's Cyberfamilias column in the New York Times about her adventures online and run-ins with her teenage daughter. So I'm super excited to be on a panel with her at this year's CES Sandbox Summit event in Vegas. I also get to share the stage with Ypulse Tween Mashup sponsor Privo (yay Denise!). Here is our panel description:
11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Panel #2:The Digital Family: Are We Speaking the Same Language?
Just because we can put a chip in a doll or give a voice to a truck does that mean we should? Hear from industry leaders about what’s working, what isn’t, and what’s driving their next generation of techno-products.
Moderator: Andrea Smith, News/Technology Producer, ABC News Radio
I officially posted my last blog entry on Totallywiredbook.com Friday. After over 10 months of actively promoting the book, it was time to close that chapter. Thanks to every Ypulse reader who bought the book!
A special thanks to the folks at P&G's Beinggirl.com for supporting the Totally Wired Parent/Educator tour, which is officially ending this week (I have three more school presentations Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before heading off for my much needed vacation). They just posted my latest article for girls about online privacy here. I will be writing at least three more pieces for the site.
I'm actually beginning to think about my next book -- I know I mentioned I was contemplating attempting to write YA fiction on this blog before, and at some point I might, but the reality is that I'm much more at home researching and reporting. Given my personal background growing up with an evangelical parent, I'm very interested in teens' religious beliefs and spirituality, and am contemplating working on a non-fiction book that attempts to give us a snapshot of where teens are at with both right now. I would love to interview teens from all different faiths as well as teens who are agnostic or atheist and synthesize these interviews into a coherent portrait. My agent tells me I need a research hook or thesis for this proposal. Part of me feels like the thesis will be revealed in the interviews. I may reach out to my friends at The Princeton Theological Seminary (they volunteered at the Ypulse Tween Mashup) to see if they might be interested in working on some original research. Just thought I'd share for those of you who might be wondering, "What will your next book be?" What do you think?
I'm getting close to wrapping up almost nine months of promoting Totally Wired in early December -- I've sold close to 10,000 copies of the book and done lots and lots of press. I'll leave the Totally Wired book blog up as a resource but will no longer be updating the site as of December 7th. For any aspiring authors out there, I figured I would post the highlights of what I've learned about book promotion -- feel free to add your own tips in the comments.
- Tap into your network. Granted, I have a bigger network than most people, but everyone has someone who may be able to help them get the word out in ways you haven't thought of. Go through your address book, Facebook, Linked-In, wherever your network is....if you're speaking to parents, someone is a parent of a child at a school and can arrange for you to speak and sell books.
- Know that after 30 days, you will become your own publicist. Be ready to pick up where they leave off, and keep sending personal notes to magazines, reporters, bloggers, etc. Put out your own press release -- you can do it for around $100 on sites like PRWeb.
- The long tail works. If you can, do every blog interview, podcast request or newsletter article you can write. Even if the audiences are small, as long as they're targeted, you will sell a book or two here or there. The more you do, the more you sell. It adds up.
- Skip the bookstores. I've said this before, but unless you're already a big name, it's not worth it to do bookstore appearances. Do one when your book launches and invite all your friends so it's crowded. Other than that, plan more targeted appearances. Nothing worked better for me than appearing at a PTO meeting as the main agenda item (after the administrative business, which is why parents came in the first place).
- Stand by your sound bytes. First, come up with them, then stick to them, even when the media wants to fit you into their predetermined angle or story. You have to come up with your own narrative for who you are and your book's message and get good at repeating it. The book validates you as an expert, so even if you don't sell a ton, if you "give good press," they'll come back to you as a source in the future.
- Whenever you speak at events, try to get them to sell your book. I haven't been super consistent with this one, but most events I've spoken at where they did sell my book, it sold well. People see you speak, then want to buy the book.
- Blog. Blog. Blog. It's hard work but maintaining a book blog on your book's site and on Amazon just keeps pushing out more searchable content about your book -- again the long tail.
- Even if one person shows up to a book event, give them your all. You never know how many people they know or who they will tell about you. Everyone is a connector. Unless it's the weird guy who comes to every single book event.
- Unless you're really good at doing your own make-up, ask for hair and make-up whenever possible for TV appearances. Having seen myself on TV after doing my own make-up vs. when the pros do it, it makes a huge difference. I also want to just learn how to do my own TV make-up for those times when you're on your own. On a similar note, pay someone to take high res photos you can use for publicity. I'm actually getting my friend and fave photog Andrea to do new shots of me today since the ones I've been using are now almost three years old!
- If you're driving on tour, purchase the GPS from the rental car agency. Not only will she keep you company during those long stretches of solo time, but you'll actually get where you need to go -- at least most of the time. When she messes up, you just yell at her, pull over and ask.
That's pretty much what I've learned. Totally Wired has been an amazing two-year odyssey for me. Oh, and if anyone who works for Oprah is reading...
The kind folks over at PBS sent me a screener of the new Frontline special 
On Wednesday, January 23rd, I'll be speaking here in San Francisco on a panel at the 
