Social Networking’s Ripple Effect
Posted by anastasia on 02-19-2008
I’ve been working on a funding proposal and plan for that widget-now-application I blogged about on Ypulse with some amazing non-profit and corporate partners — we will make this happen. Reading some of the recent coverage of the “Bebo suicides” makes me realize how much this type of viral outreach is needed. Does social networking cause teens to commit suicide? Does it cause teens to start or stay in eating disorders or to cut themselves? No — it’s not the underlying cause, but it is unwittingly playing a role in amplifying and spreading these ideas to many more teens much faster than without these sites.
When I speak on these issues, I’m often asked whether sites should censor or ban these pages and groups. I think it’s a tough call — they’ll just pop up somewhere else and many therapists actually use these communities to gain insight into what teens with eating disorders or other mental health issues are thinking and feeling. At the same time, there is real research that shows pro-ana and mia sites increase the rate of relapse and we’ve seen that pro-suicide sites or pages can inspire others to take their lives. I think we need to think of these sites as a place for outreach. They are a virtual public place, and if teens are posting publicly about these issues, we should approach them in the same spirit an outreach worker would reach out to homeless youth or any youth at-risk.
This is what we’re trying to build into an application — if you are a company or foundation interested in helping us by funding or promoting this application, please get in touch.
Here are some interesting articles/perspectives inspired by the “Bebo suicides.”
Is MySpace Good for Society? A Freakonomics Quorum
Teen suicide on Bebo reaching tipping point? (Mad.co.uk, subscription required)
And a new study validating what many of us in this space have been saying about online predators (they’re not posing as teens, are up front about wanting sex, and are viewed as romances by at-risk teens who talk back to them).
Categorized under: Web
February 20th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Well…I completely agree to you that stopping these kind of communities is immensely difficult. I would rather say, it is impossible. There are numerous ways that these communities will crop up somewhere else and it is beyond human capability to keep record of each one of them. Ok…we can however report abuse if we stumble upon any of them. But that is a rare case.
I feel rather than running after banning these communities we should try to educate our generation.We can help them to realize their priorities and understand their responsibilities towards themselves, their families and the society. I feel something is wrong with our upbringing which results in frustration and thus leads one to get influenced by these silly ideas promoted on numerous online communities.
Teenage is the phase where humans tend to divert from their original self and get into bizzare activities. Parents should be very supportive and befriend their children to prevent them from getting into anything of this kind.
Social communities provide platforms for sharing knowledge and wisdom…but we humans as always tend to divert from the original good cause of creating something and take it to an deadly end.
For more information on social communties visit-
http://maketicklive.com/blogs/
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Would love to hear more about this A., do let me know if there’s any way we can help at Shaping Youth, we’ll certainly promote the widget any way we can. Positive uses of media…bravo!