Why You Shouldn’t Use Social Media With Young People

September 3rd, 2008 by mas | Filed under Innovation & Technology, Resources.

Well of course you probably should! But before you do, here are some things to think about first….

  1. You haven’t bothered to think about why you’re using it
  2. You don’t know how to use it
  3. You haven’t thought about how you’re going to manage it
  4. You don’t have your own website
  5. Your website is crap!
  6. Because you think it makes you look cool
  7. You haven’t considered what to do if things go wrong

You haven’t bothered to think about why you’re using it

There’s a vast range of options now from social networking sites like Bebo, Myspace, Facebook to video sharing like YouTube, Vimeo, Jumpcut & photo sharing like Flickr & Picasa, then there’s a whole load more things like Twitter and all sorts of stuff designed to encourage people to share, exchange & network.

  • So which of these are you using and why?
  • What are you hoping to achieve?

Is it that you need a place for young people to share their photos for a media project or to exchange views about their local area? Are you trying to campaign or lobby for a change? Do you need a way for people to get in touch when they can’t make it to meetings?

You don’t know how to use it

So you just asked one of the young people to set up a Myspace page - after all, they know how to do it and you’re just not into all this technology?! Well there’s no excuse for that - all of the sites have help and support sections and you can just about always get an answer by typing  “how do I……” into a search engine.

Of course by far the best way to learn is to get stuck in and try the stuff out yourself (see this film for inspiration on that!). Don’t do this by setting up a big page for your youth project though - set up your own account to mess about first.

Also keep in mind there’s often a whole lot to do before you actually get online. Do you know how to transfer photos onto your PC? Thankfully most sites now will deal with things like compressing your photos for you (although this sort of thing is still useful to know), but again its about playing with the technology and getting familiar with it so you don;t end up frustrated by not knowing why something isn’t working when you want it to.

You haven’t thought about how you’re going to manage it

There are loads of sites and pages set up by people with good intentions but who never considered that they would have to actually manage them after they were set up. Facebook groups with unanswered questions, blogs with no updates (or explanations why), or perhaps even worse, sites where there are conversations going on but not from the people who set it up.

Social media is about conversation & dialogue and that needs management. So make sure you know how to use whatever it is you choose to use, and that you’re prepared to manage it - both by encouraging comments and by ensuring questions get answered and anything inappropriate is swiftly dealt with.

You don’t have your own website

Well you don’t need one do you? after all a Bebo page will do! Myspace & Bebo pages are not a replacement for your own website - anyone can set up these, whereas your own site will give you credibility and young people (and their parents) reassurance about who you really are. Think of them instead of ways to reach out to young people and your own site as a central base - either where they can get more information or where they can check your credentials (depending on the setup and purpose of your own site).

Your website is crap!

So you do have a website - but when people get to it they can’t find what they want. Maybe it looks ugly, doesn’t work in some browsers or is hard to navigate. Wherever you link people to back to your own site they should be able to easily see how to find out more about you, how to contact you and anything relevant to what they’re likely to be looking for depending on why you set up a page on a social media site in the first place. Put simply - get your own house in order first, and then set about promoting it on other sites.

Because you think it makes you look cool

Well if you haven’t considered the previous points first it won’t! Its also not a good reason for doing it in the first place - if this is your only motivation go back to point no.1 and start all over.

You haven’t considered what to do if things go wrong

So you’ve got your site/s set up and you’re lucky enough that people are actually using them. Then…..

  • Somebody leaves an offensive comment on your blog
  • Somebody posts an inappropriate photo
  • A young person complains that they are getting offensive messages from another user

What do you do about it? What have you set in place to limit the chances of these things happening in the first place? For more scenarios see this post. Incidentally this alone is not a reason not to use social media - its a simple risk assessment that you should do before you do use it.

Overall the point is that you need to have a plan. Just like any project with young people you need aims (against which you can measure success), and you need a plan and its sensible to undertake a risk assessment. Also like most youth projects there are plenty of opportunities to involve young people in the process - but that doesn’t mean leaving them to it because of your ignorance or lack of understanding. Instead get stuck in and give things a go with them (but give it some thought first!)

No doubt other people have their own thoughts & experiences - so please do share them (and you will get a reply! ;-) )

Just in case this is useful to anyone I’ve put it into a pdf too….

Why Not To Use Social Media for Youth Organisations


Related posts

« Youth Workers that can be Replaced by Machines Should Be!
Social Networking for Children and Teachers »

Viewing 8 Comments

    • ^
    • v
    nice one mas - we were just having the same conversation with a couple of people here yesterday so this is a perfectly timed blog:)
    • ^
    • v
    very welcome ;-)

    I'm halfway through putting something together for different ways of using social media and I might get round to doing one for strategies, plus Tim Davies has stuff coming out along similar lines (I'm guessing to coincide with the launch of the social networking report he's been working on)
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    • v
    Hey Mas

    I'm not sure I would agree with all of these. Yes - you need to get your own web presence in order - but it's not about your own website much of the time... and if your own site isn't great and is tricky to change - then head out and engage in the social media space anyway without waiting for the main site to sort out.

    Conversation (where people are), and publishing (on your rather nifty own 'corporate website') are different things....

    I also think (mainly for sake of making this a more lively comment...) it's worth emphasising the distinction between 'knowing exactly what to do when something goes wrong' - and 'knowing that there is a way in place of dealing with and responding to things that look like they might be going wrong'. The second is arguably easier, and arguably the root to go - rather than a pre-empting problems approach which could be how your last point may get read...
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    Hi Tim - I agree 'web presence' is a better term than website. However I still think you should get your own house in order before promoting yourself elsewhere - I don't mean by having a really flashy state of the art site - just a tidy place where people can get the information they need to understand who you are, what you do and why you are 'reaching out' - obviously this applies to organisations not individuals - but then if you're 'reaching out' on a professional basis as an individual I think you should be linking back to your organisations 'web presence' and therefore when people do visit that place it should be tidy and appropriate for the audience. For example if you're a local authority youth service you shouldn't be linking to the Council Homepage which may be a bit overwhelming and full of corporate language - but you could put up a simple page that says this is who we are etc. and this is how to contact us if you have concerns/want more info.

    There are some other reasons I think having your own site/presence is important:
    1. Good practice - I think it should be good practice for all youth organisations (particularly using social networks) to have a page that explains their purpose for doing so and explaining any guidelines they have in place for using social media
    2. Setting up a page on a social network shouldn't be regarded as a way to set up a cheap website - partly because that network may be closed off to some people (although this of course can be an advantage in some cases), but also because it may be the case that the information you put up on others sites may mean you no longer have full control over that data - so if your whole strategy is about a place on an external site its possible that for some reason you may no longer be able to use that service and then theres no place for people to go to find out whats happening or how to contact you etc.

    I agree with your last point which is in fact the point I was trying to make (perhaps badly) - that before setting up profiles etc. you need to give consideration to how you might deal with things if they do go wrong - the points listed were to provoke thought, I didn't mean you should have a list of 'X happens if Y happens' (although thats not a bad method for considering how to design policies).
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    • v
    Hi Mas

    As one of the other comments said, very timely. In working out how we are aiming to use SNS in our authority I've been coming across sites that our youth workers have set up. Some of them have been maintained and are obviously working (to some degree) and others have just been left. I'm now in the process of getting a list together to see just what we have out there as well as linking this into how we develop policies and guidelines for our staff.

    For us managing this process across such a large area it's always a delicate balance between trying to encourage staff to consider and use this medium (developing and exploring their skills as they go) and ensuring that there are the appropriate safeguards and strategies in using it.
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    Hi Hilary - I can imagine how difficult it is especially with clubs and organisations that maybe operate 'semi independently' (or workers that do!). Also its inevitable that people get stuck in and try things out, and then also in some cases give up, and getting stuck in is by far the best way for people to learn to understand social media - but not so good if you're looking around for information and come across 'dead' or poorly maintained sites.

    I think 'strategy' is very much the word to emphasise now - its time for organisations & local authorities to give thought to what their strategy is to be and for what purpose they're having a strategy - and its time to provide guidance for staff looking to make use of social media and thats what I was trying to provoke with this post.

    At the same time its still important that people feel able to experiment - but I think this should be done discretely - rather than setting up "The Funky Youth Club Bebo Profile" which then lies dormant with only comments from spammers! Better instead that an individual plays with the site, gets to know it and then thinks about how that site could feature in a strategy - is it for promotion of membership, raising issues about awareness, fundraising, collaboration? etc. etc.

    I know its early days but arguably not so early that these can't now be properly considered so hopefully more will follow in your footsteps (and no doubt you and others will be sharing what they come up with for others to adopt) - but its important I think that with the consideration to policies and keeping things safe etc. theres also consideration to strategy, purpose, and making things effective.
    • ^
    • v
    I am in the early days of considering how this would work for us myself. There is always the issue that one worker will bring a set of skills to a position that will create a demand that the next worker cannot meet. I remember wondering what on earth I was going to do with the complete archery set that a previous worker had purchased and I had no opportunity to use! The same issue applies to online presence.

    The difficulty lies in encouraging workers to develop opportunities with young people for which they have the appropriate skills - and then knowing what to do when that worker moves on.

    For an authority, this may perhaps require some kind of quality check. Perhaps submitting details of created SNS with username and password for administrative authority so that if an issue arises then action can be taken. People with suitable skills should be appointed internally to review submitted sites on a regular basis - feeding back any comments to the site's author. If a site ceases to operate or develop then the authority should be able to remove the site.

    The quality check needs to be as simple as possible and the review conducted with the idea that "we're all in this together".
    • ^
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    Hi Chris - thanks for the comment and thats a really useful consideration - how open should the use of SNS be? I'm guessing it should be completely open. All employers 'own' emails and I imagine the use of SNS within professional employment should be the same. Fairly simple to write into policies and once in place it would be easy enough either to maintain a database of usernames & passwords or (less securely) to use a common password for ID's (probably not a good idea though if you then part company with a staff member who knows that password!).

    The archery example is a good point too - again its about having a strategy and regarding time invested into SNS/social media as for the benefit of the organisation and something that needs to be easily picked up by other staff members if the situation requires.

    Also to pick up your point about an authority having the power to remove a site, that links nicely to the openness and again I'd have thought it would be regarded as intellectual property owned by the employer (although there is something to consider here about ensuring any external sites that are used do give you the control to remove data should you need to - and knowing how to go about it).

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