Just in case you need to be reminded that teens are indeed creating copious amounts of content online as well as pursuing other entrepreneurial ventures, I'm rounding up several links sent to me over the weekend.
First up, the folks at Flip.com (CondeNet) sent me a bunch of links to contests they've been running with various organizations to give away scholarship money. Each promotion has links to the winning Flip book and staff picks. It's fun to see what girls are creating using this tool.
Speaking of contests, the American Film Institute just launched its site for middle and high school students called Screen Nation, "an online video posting-and-sharing community." Check out their first Claim to Fame Challenge.
And while we're talking about creating videos, the folks at Animoto have been trying to get me to mention them for awhile. This user submitted prom video finally did the trick. It made me want to go to prom again or at least wish I had something like this to document it.
On to teen entrepreneurs. Check out these teens at 1308 Productions (Plum TV profile), a south Florida company that "sponsors all ages live music shows show featuring great young bands and bringing teens together for community service involvement." Finally, who better to promote teen events...than teens? Exactly. That's what inspired these Connecticut teens to create their own agency.
- In spite of recession fears (teens still positive about spending according to the NPD Group [until they ask their parents for cash]. Plus it's time for another youth media blog-a-thon -- the issue is "money." If you're between the ages of 14-26, get blogging!)
- Japan grapples with cyberbullying ("Japan has over 38,000 unofficial middle and high school Web sites that are not overseen by the schools" where bullying is happening....so these are sites about the schools created by students? Wild.)
Bindi Wear (oh my. I worry about Bindi -- she's becoming a Martha Stewart-like brand before hitting puberty) (Jezebel)
- Nickelodeon launching three mobile sites (one for kids, one for teens [The N] and one for parents that will "include a selection of kids' games, pictures, and flipbooks; teen-oriented quizzes and blogs; and daily parenting tips as well as access to information on local city family activities." Plus Slate reviews MTV's latest dating show [thumbs down])
- UK social networking study (I mentioned this study before, the one that said socnets are taking time away from homework, but ReadWriteWeb has a nice post about it complete with charts! And LastFM launches a radio widget for "Sophia's Diary" on Bebo) (Media Post, reg. required)
- Trend lecture (on generational differences from scenarioDNA's Tim Stock who is teaching a course at Parsons) (BrandNoise)
- Britney goes anime (in her latest video. Oh yeah, she makes music...) (Jossip)
- NIN (on YouTube...evidently Trent Reznor passed the $1 million mark in download sales as well. Plus YouTube on Tivo and on your own site -- for non-commercial use only) (New York Times, reg. required) (News.com)
- AOL buys Bebo (if they can integrate it with AIM, Bebo could be bigger in the U.S.) (Ad Age, reg. required)
- Nick's 'Big Green' initiative ("Designed to empower kids to take action on the environment through gaming and grassroots activity...") (Mediabistro)
- Obama ad contest (MoveOn solicits user generated ads to air on TV) (TechCrunch)
P.S. YouthOutlook just launched its second youth blog-a-thon -- this time around the theme is violence. You need to be between the ages of 14-26 to participate. Get blogging!)
SXSW is winding down for me -- we had a fun party last night at Cafe Mundi. The teens from The Cypher performed their hearts out as did Blues Mafia, impressing all the adults in the audience. I think we infused SXSW with a little teen spirit this year for sure. The kind folks from Blastbeat took a bunch of photos, which I'll post on Flickr as soon as I have them. Instead of attempting to reconstruct my handwritten notes from the Steven Johnson/Henry Jenkins discussion, I'll link to Ian Schafer's summary. You can also watch the Henry Jenkins/danah boyd keynote from last summer's Ypulse Mashup here.
Henry also talked about the importance of not lumping all "screen time" together and decried the negative connotations of using the word addiction to talk about spending too much time with technology. He instead suggested examining what is compelling about kids' games or online time and figuring out how to apply them offline and in education. He believes that depression may be driving compulsive users more than the technology itself and asserted that China is attempting to control its youth by using the label of addiction.
'Friday Night Lights' saved! (for a third season. You mean I'll have to watch "Riggins" every week again?) (Deadline Hollywood Daily)
- 'Buffy' beds a woman (and there's debate over whether this comic book storyline was just a marketing ploy. Plus fans want more [gay] kissing on "As The World Turns") (ABC News) (Media Life Magazine)
- Life after 'Rent' (the latest Broadway productions designed to keep attracting younger audiences) (TIME.com)
- Abbey Dawn (Avril launches a new juniors lifestyle brand at Kohl's inspiring this funny letter. And the Olsens also launch a new line in the UK.) (MediaPost, reg. required) (Idolator) (Telegraph UK)
- Disney to be big in Japan (launching an animation channel. Plus Raven-Symone: "the perfect model for the channel's strategy for its talent roster") (USA Today) (L.A. Times, reg. required)
- Indie teen angels (Salon.com reviews teen themed indies "Paranoid Park" and "Snow Angels" both opening this weekend. Plus remaking "The Breakfast Club"? Why mess with a classic?) (Entertainment Weekly)
'quarterlife' premieres tonight (L.A. Times, reg. required, says "meh" - let me know what you think after the show - post a comment here or send an email. Plus MySpace launches "Special Delivery," a new online hidden camera show)
- Perez Hilton, youth tastemaker (is being might be paid big bucks by Warner Music Group to promote discover artists for WMG) (New York Times, reg. required)
The other weekend I was speaking to parents at The Menlo School, an independent school here in Silicon Valley. One dad approached me afterwards and voiced his concern about how much time his kids were spending gaming. We discussed the whole passive learning aspect of gaming -- and he got that but wanted to know of a site or social network that was focused on creativity. I suggested the long list of youth media programs in the Ypulse Directory, but I couldn't think of any sites that would be like "A YouTube for artists"....until I saw this CNET article about DeviantArt. Have you heard of other similar sites? If so, leave them in the comments.
The other week I had my makeup done for my "Attack of the Show" appearance at my neighborhood salon. The young seemingly bi-racial woman who did it must have been around 19 or 20. She asked me if I minded listening to some hip hop and then raved about Lupe Fiasco, telling me how his brand of hip hop was much smarter than most of what's out there. Since my musical tastes are still stuck in the 70s, I hadn't really listened to Lupe before this, and admit that I dug it. Today, when I was doing my regular scan of what teens are writing about in their high school newspapers, I spotted this article about how skateboarding, and longboarding in particular, is becoming popular again (beyond hard core skaters and influencing fashion as well). From the article:
Although skateboards have been around for nearly sixty years, in the past two years, they have become bigger than ever before, with everyone wanting to skate. Ever since rap star, Lupe Fiasco came out with his song 'Kick, Push,' a song about skating which came out in 2006, skateboards and longboards have become popular to teenagers everywhere. This new movement has changed even the look of our generation. No longer are teenage boys wearing extra large, bold colored t-shirts that go down to their knees, or jeans that fall down with every step. Now, with this new fashion soaking in, teenage boys are wearing tighter, fit designer shirts and jeans, that sometimes even match their boards. The skating fashion is on a rise, and clothing brands have also become big, and easily noticeable.
Just in case you need to be reminded that teens are indeed creating copious amounts of content online as well as pursuing other entrepreneurial ventures, I'm rounding up several links sent to me over the weekend. 
