 | Ypulse Daily Update 07.01.09
Directory and more at Ypulse.com | |  | Quick Links Ypulse Essentials: Smokey Turns 65, 'Vibe' Folds, UK Kids Chide iBores Posted by meredith  'Get Your Smokey On' (just in time for 4th of July weekend, a new multi-platform campaign celebrates the wildfire prevention spokesbear's 65th birthday. Plus, an "edgy" PSA about seat belt safety debuts in Iowa) (Cynopsis Kids) (The Des Moines Register)
- 'Vibe' folds (after 16 years, the mainstream hip-hop/R&B magazine and site shutters, leaving a gap in the urban market and on newsstands) (MTV News)
- Turner sells ads for specific shows (versus networks, in order to target the young, male demo during guy faves like "Family Guy" and "The Office." Also a study on "dudes" ages 18 to 34 links recession-era optimism with bravado and a willingness to adapt, i.e. move back home. Meanwhile one Millennial male hopes the downturn will knock some sense into his generation) (Ad Age, reg. required) (MediaPost, reg. required)
- Camp CEO (WSJ's Market Watch spotlights a Girl Scout camp for career-driven teens. Plus A Curious Summer, a series of exploratory summer workshops for kids from the San Francisco based Studio for Urban Projects) (PSFK)
- Army games (critics protest the army's controversial high-tech efforts to reach new recruits after lawmakers voice official support ) (National Journal Online)
- The year of no drop-outs (marks a notable accomplishment for the experimental high school for at-risk teens in New Jersey. Also USA Today profiles the non-profit org behind the nationwide program) (CBS)
- Sasha Fierce for Dereon (Beyonce and her designer mom launch a junior apparel line for back-to-school. Plus HSM star Ashley Tisdale hopes to graduate from the tween market with her new album. Former Disney queen Hillary Duff will guest star on "Gossip Girl." And the rise of fellow Disney tween queen Demi Lovato) (WWD) (Reuters) (E!)
- Logging on to stop lighting up (The University of Illinois at Chicago leads a $2.9 million National Cancer Institute project to increase demand for internet-based treatment for young adults. Also a study shows that both good and bad characters who smoke on-screen are an influence on teens) (EurekAlert) (Science Daily)
- Walmart vs. Gen Y (as a Boomer-based brand, Seeking Alpha asks if the superstore has a chance to win over Millennials. And Nike launches "Back Your Block" a grant program to support schools and communities with inspirational youth sports programs) (AdRants)
- Are you an iBore? (more than half of young adults in the UK claim to know someone "obsessed" with their iPhone. Nick's Addicting Games to launch on the iPhone in July. Plus PULSE, "a software engine" that reads and delivers unedited teen content from IMs, blogs, social networks and chat rooms launches to track the latest trends. Um, feels a tad Big Brother, no?)
P.S. If you're in the action sports space or just curious, check out this cool conference from our friends at Group Y at the end of July.
Posted in: Ypulse Essentials The Challenge Of Educating Teens (And Parents) About Online Reputation Management Posted by anastasia In today's Cynopsis Kids we learned that:
In an effort to combat the rise of "sexting" and other digitally lascivious trends, AT&T, iKeepSafe, and the American School Counselor Association launched "Project Pro", a suite of interactive resources to help educate teens and parents about the potential consequences of sullying their online reputations. The resources, stressing the importance of privacy and online reputation, will be distributed to over 2,000 school counselors at the conference and will reach over 25,000 school counselors nationwide.
The wording "digitally lascivious trends" aside, having spoken to thousands of parents (and many teens as well) over the past couple of years about these issues as a part of promoting Totally Wired, I worry about how effective this type of effort will be. Many parents struggle to just understand what their teens/tweens are really doing online in order to have face-to-face conversations about these issues -- I have a hard time believing that many would sit down with a "suite of interactive resources."
And as with anything teens and tweens are asked to do at school, well interactive resources does sound better than a lecture, but if it feels like a lesson in "don'ts" (don't post lascivious photos, don't bully with technology), I worry that the response will be an eye-rolling, sighing "whatever." Especially if the idea is to sentence students that have already been caught to a session using Project Pro in the counselor's office.
Granted, I haven't seen the resources, so I have no idea how they were designed, whether they incorporated teen/tween input, or if they will come across as "lessons" vs. empowering content and tools to manage teens' digital lives. I hope that "Project Pro" is awesome and effective and that I'm wrong (though the name isn't working for me already).
The reality is that online reputation management is not just an issue for teens but for EVERYONE. According to a study posted on ReadWriteWeb:
Seventy-eight percent of social networking users are concerned about privacy, but most fail to act on it. And 80% of the users surveyed allow all or part of their profiles to be indexed by public search engines like Google, while 66% of users don't restrict any profile information from being publicly searchable. Perhaps even more astonishing: a whopping 59% of the 1100 surveyed said they weren't sure who could see their profile.
I'm honestly kicking myself a little bit because one of the many ideas I never executed on was a follow up to Totally Wired that would have been an interactive guide/website for teens created in the spirit of gURL's classic "Deal With It," covering a lot of this stuff in a way that didn't feel like school or lessons or some sort of online training. Meredith even suggested getting imperfect role model Vanessa Hudgens involved in this type of effort.
I appreciate any efforts to empower teens and tweens to better manage their digital lives and be safe online -- I just hope they are executed in ways that will actually have an impact instead of just another software solution or website that a company can put their name on to say "we care about this issue." Maybe these groups should work with a super dynamic speaker like Josh Shipp -- have him speak on this topic at schools across the country -- followed by an interactive suite of tools that's positive, empowering and, like the gURL books, playful, funny and fun. I just booked my first speaking engagement with teens on this issue in March (frankly, I'm terrified)....I will definitely be calling Josh for tips!Posted in: Ypulse Essentials | Totally Wired | Web When Your Greatest Weakness Becomes A Superpower Posted by meredith  As I reluctantly near the end of Rick Riordan's Greek mythology-inspired Percy Jackson series (book five, here I come!), I've found myself thinking more about the author's choice to distinguish Percy and his fellow demigods, or half-bloods, by the telltale learning disabilities of ADHD and dyslexia.
For those who aren't familiar with the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series: the first book The Lighting Thief begins with sixth grader Percy -- who on top of said disabilities, also has a knack for landing on teachers' bad sides --discovering that the root of all these issues is actually his divine heritage. As the son of the sea god Poseidon, he, a with all "half-bloods," is marked by a difficulty with reading (their brains are hardwired for Ancient Greek), trouble focusing (this translates into battle-ready reflexes) and a host of mythological monsters that often disguise themselves as antagonistic administrators at school.
No doubt, it's a brilliant rhetorical device. Just one of the many instances I was impressed by how Riordan seamlessly merged the two realities of myth and modernity throughout the books, truly paying tribute to the genre by using the one to lend structure to the other. And when I read about Rick Riordan's personal reasons for incorporating the traits as a way of "honoring the potential of all the kids [he's] known who have these conditions," I was touched. Middle school was right around the time I was diagnosed with ADD, and even though I had plenty of support, I think hearing about the special (vs. "special") qualities of the disorder -- the creativity, out-of-the-box thinking -- would have definitely helped relieve some of the insecurities I felt at the time. I know I would have related to Annabeth, a.k.a. the daughter of Athena, and felt inspired by how she didn't let her disabilities get in the way of her bookworm habits.
That said, I still have one nagging issue with the setup -- the lack of progress. As far as I can remember, we never see or hear about Percy and friends really making any clear strides towards being any more comfortable in the classroom setting. I know, I know. These kids have a lot more harrowing obstacles to face in their extraordinary lives, and the books do take place during the summer. Still, there was a part of me wondering -- especially with the books spanning the course of four years, including the beginning of high school-- how Percy was dealing and, hopefully overcoming, the more common challenges he faced for those three-fourths of the year he wasn't saving the world.
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Posted in: Ypulse Essentials | Totally Wired | Web | Books
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