From Phones to Facebook: How to Engage Youth on the Front Lines of Social Media Jason Shim Shub Sengupta

Credit: Flickr/Aidan_Jones

Credit: Flickr/jurvetson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZnztwiWZo4

10%

90%

Youth

What you see

What you discover

Takeaways

1. A youth perspective of Facebook, Twitter, and mobile usage

2. An understanding of youth trends

3. Case study

Due to subject matter,

viewer discretion is advised

600

3000

minutes

50

hours

300

hours

3600

hours

Shub's life pre-Facebook

Shub's life pre-Facebook

Shub's life pre-Facebook

Photo credit: Flickr user, susanvg

Photo credit: Flickr user, pigstyave

Google Grants

Screenshot

E-newsletter

screenshot

Pathways demographics • 50% under 30

• The generational divide:

• Gen Y: 31 %

• Gen X: 54%

• Babyboomers: 8%

• Did not respond: 7%

• Attitudes towards technology:

• Tweet all the time: 48%

• Shut it off when go home: 44%

• Barely remember to charge phone: 6%

The

Shopping

Mall

Approach

What if

______

happened

in a

shopping

mall?

Bawhadiffs

Implementing social media

• Executive buy-in

• Find a champion

• Form the committee

• Set goals

• Develop a vision statement

• Develop Policy – www.policytool.net

• Implement

• Evaluate

Staff Training

http://on.fb.me/limitedprofile

The Results

- Staff time savings

- Many unintended benefits

- Increased student engagement

- Increased volunteer engagement

- Increased staff engagement

- $10,000 grant

The key? Experimentation.

Why?

Facebook is the public

presentation of self.

Twitter details mental process.

OMG WTF who steals clothes

from a dryer? Srsly?

Subtweets

Twitter can reveal the 90% that

you don’t see.

Pull out your cell phone

347.688.7446

Generation Y and Z consider email

passé

How did we get here?

Email – 1972, mid 90s

ICQ, MSN – mid 90s

Instant messaging – mid 90s

Google – 1996

Blogger – 1999

Text messaging – 1999

Facebook – 2004

iPhone – 2005

Modern Blackberry – 2006

Twitter – 2006

What’s the connection?

What are teenagers using?

Smartphone usage

23% of youth 12-17

31% of youth 14-17

How many texts a month?

Facebook Usage Among Teens

On Facebook

Not on Facebook

How often teens check Facebook

Once a day

A few times a week

A few times a month

Less than once a month

Facebook Demographics

• 50% of online 12-year-olds

• 65% of online 13-year-olds

• 83% of online 14-year-olds

• 65% of teens with smartphones are

continuous users

If you want to know what

teens are using, ask them.

If you want to know how

they’re using it, watch them.

Six Trends You Need To Know

1) Facebook is now the primary

online communication medium

for the majority of youth in high

school.

Six Trends You Need To Know

2) The majority of youth who

have email accounts do not

regularly check their inboxes.

Six Trends You Need To Know

3) Some youth do not use email

at all, preferring to use only

Facebook for online

communication, since Facebook

allows students to authenticate

accounts with mobile phones.

Six Trends You Need To Know

Students with cell phones

typically average between 1,200

– 1,500 sent messages per

month.

Six Trends You Need To Know

5) The number of text

messages sent is lower for

students who use smartphones.

Instead, they are using BBM,

iMessage, Facebook

Messenger, and Twitter.

Six Trends You Need To Know

6) SMS broadcasting is a

particularly effective tool to

remind and engage students of

upcoming events or tasks that

need to be completed.

Do you understand Facebook?

Facebook messages are ideal for

communicating basic information to

youth.

Facebook groups are ideal for

small group communication.

Facebook chat is good for

maintaining regular contact.

Facebook creeping. Be aware.

Facebook boundaries.

Feedback from the front lines

Go to where the youth are.

Youth Council

Focus on the relationship.

Don’t sell. Engage.

What does this mean for

organizations?

• School board policies and firewalls

• Can students get what they need?

• Balancing student needs with limited

resources.

• Ontario College of Teachers

Photo credit: Flickr user,

americanvirus

Resources

Remind101.com for texting

FrontlineSMS for texting

Animoto.com for photos / videos

The digital divide

Startups and Nonprofits

• What is your time worth?

• Are you leaving time to innovate?

Don’t try to predict the future.

Photo credit: Flickr user, csb13

Photo credit: Flickr user,

jphilipson

If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have

a love affair. We'd never have a friendship.

We'd never go into business, because we'd be

too cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got

to jump off cliffs all the time and build your

wings on the way down. – Annie Dillard

Jason Shim

jshim@mosaiconline.ca

FB/Twitter/LinkedIn: JasonShim

Shub Sengupta

shub.sengupta@gmail.com

FB/Twitter/LinkedIn: ShubSengupta

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