Abstract

More and more of the young people programs serve as clients and recruit as volunteers are savvy users of technology. Teens and their younger peers have lived with the Internet most, if not all, of their lives. They come to service programs with expectations about how they will be engaged, be supported, and communicated with using the online tools present in their everyday lives. Program staff and older volunteers working as tutors and mentors can better connect with these youth by gaining a basic understanding of and comfort with the “Web 2.0” tools youth favor. This effective practice is adapted from the LEARNS/Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory’s summer 2008 “Youth Impact” newsletter, MySpace and YouTube and Blogs, Oh My!

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Issue

Using Web 2.0 tools in appropriate and engaging ways in your youth-serving program can improve program management by better engaging youth clients and volunteers, improving staff and volunteer efficiency, and promoting positive outcomes for both youth clients and your organization as a whole.

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Action

Web 2.0 technologies enable a level of communication, collaboration, and connection between people that is more sophisticated and interactive than ever before. These tools effectively convert Web users from passive readers of static text on Web pages to active creators of information and engaged members of online communities.

Web 2.0 tools include:

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Blogs
• Wikis
• RSS
• Podcasts
• File sharing sites such as YouTube and Flickr

The following are suggested applications of the key Web 2.0 tools for both programs and volunteers:

Social network services are tools to help organize online communities that share interests and activities. Generally Web-based, they provide ways for members to communicate with each other. They allow users some control over the look-and-feel of their pages. MySpace and Facebook are the two most well-known social networking tools in the U.S.

For Programs

Create one or more social networking pages using MySpace or Facebook to:

• Establish a simple Web presence. Social networking sites give users a considerable amount of control over how their pages and profiles appear and function. In this capacity, they can be used to create low-cost, simple Web sites for programs with limited resources.
• Access an additional marketing channel. Social networking sites provide programs with an additional public face and communication vehicle. They can amplify and extend marketing and outreach messages.
• Improve recruitment and retention. By using social networking sites to market volunteer opportunities, connecting applicants with current volunteers and alumni, and staying in touch with volunteers after they move on, programs magnify their recruiting work and improve the odds that volunteers will serve their full terms.

For Volunteers

• Create a MySpace or Facebook account to see how it works and understand what your young person is talking about when she describes her own site. Virtually all the major social networking tools are free to set up and use. Visit each service’s Web site to learn more and sign up.
• Ask the individual you mentor or tutor to show you her MySpace or Facebook page and describe why she set it up the way she did.
• If you already have a MySpace or Facebook page, ask the youth you mentor or tutor if you can be added to his friends list. Stress that is more to stay in touch than to monitor his online activity. Don’t be offended if he declines, as he may feel his site is very personal and be guarded about who he grants access to.
• If your program has a MySpace or Facebook page, ask to be added as a friend. Oftentimes programs use their social networking sites to bring volunteers together and make announcements.

A blog is a Web site or online journal maintained by an individual or group with regular entries of information, commentary, graphics, and video. Blogs are easy to create using free blogging tools such as Blogger, TypePad, and WordPress. Blogs can also be found as features and add-ins in other applications such as social networking services or learning management systems. They tend to work best when they have a clear objective and purpose, are designed with realistic expectations about posting quality and frequency, and provide feedback methods such as comments and ratings.

Blogs can be used as simple Web pages. They are also an effective means of staying connected with stakeholders and sharing updates with them, posting recent information, promoting upcoming events, and boosting search engine ratings.

For Programs

Create one or more blogs in order to

• Encourage your program’s youth and volunteers to contribute stories and reflections. These can serve as written testimonials that enhance your recruitment efforts.
• Keep the community informed about what’s going on in your program and provide a forum where they can interact and post comments.
• Disseminate best practices and share resources with volunteers, staff, and colleagues.

For Volunteers

• Ask the young people you work with if they read any blogs at school or home; invite them to share their blogs and explain what they like about them.
• If your program offers a blog for your use, check it periodically for news and to stay in touch with fellow volunteers.

A wiki (from the Hawaiian word “quick”) is a collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses the material to contribute or modify content using simple tools. They are used to create collaborative Web sites, informal Intranets, and simple knowledge-management systems. The most well-known wiki is Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia anyone can edit and add to.

Wikis can be hosted as stand-alone tools, or be included as add-in features in other Web, social networking, and e-learning tools. They are useful for groups connected by common interests and purposes that need to collaborate on an issue or project. A wiki can replace the long e-mail trails and documents scattered across computer networks and file folders generated by many group projects.

Youth are less likely to have used wikis unless exposed to them through school or work. They are most useful for programs, as they can greatly simplify and expedite many team-oriented tasks.

For Programs

• Use a wiki to create a community of practice or repository of effective practices for volunteers and/or staff.
• Use a wiki to organize and manage planning for large-scale events and activities such as days of service or conferences.
• Create a wiki volunteers can use to organize and work on projects you give them or they come up with on their own. An example might be creating an orientation guide for new volunteers joining the program.

For Volunteers

Visit the Wikipedia site with your youth and explore topics he is interested in. Click on the “discussion” and “history” links for an entry and talk about the teamwork between contributors that led to the current entries. If you or your youth find something in an entry that could be corrected or added to, edit the page together.

RSS or Really Simple Syndication allows you to keep current with news and information from your favorite Web sites by notifying you when new material is added. The feeds can provide text-only summaries, full pages of content, audio (podcasting) or video. For example, many newspapers and magazines let you subscribe to one or more RSS feeds to receive summaries or full-text copies of their stories published on the Web. Free tools such as Google Reader allow you to subscribe to, track, and access multiple RSS feeds from a single, easy-to-use Web page.

The RSS feed receiver benefits from access to fresh and timely material that can be used on his or her own Web site to make it more interesting to visitors. Other receivers use RSS to save time by having new content from their favorite sites sent to them, rather than finding it themselves. The feed sender benefits from the increased exposure and traffic the feeds draw.

For Programs

• Subscribe to RSS feeds to keep up-to-date on important topics in the field of youth service, to be notified of new grant opportunities, and to track other information published on the web of interest or benefit to your program.
• Use an RSS feed on your Web site, blog, or social networking site so volunteers, clients, members of the community, and other stakeholders can be notified when you post announcements and volunteer opportunities.

For Volunteers

• Subscribe to RSS feeds to keep current on important topics related to your volunteer work.
• Subscribe to RSS feeds on topics your mentee is interested in so you have things to talk about with him and activities you can do together.
• If your program’s Web or social networking site offers RSS feeds, subscribe to them so you can be notified when the program posts news, training schedules, and other material of interest.

Podcasts (a combination of the words “iPod” and “broadcast”) are digital media files distributed over the Internet and listened to on a portable media player. Podcasts are especially popular in K-12 schools and colleges; teachers and professors use them to record lessons, debates, and guest speakers for absent students or later use, and students use them to record their presentations, projects, and experiments.

Podcasters record their sessions, edit them, and upload them to a feed. Listeners use a service such as iTunes to search for and subscribe to one or more feeds. When a new podcast is released on the feed, the file will download automatically to the subscriber’s iPod, computer, or other device so that they can listen at their leisure.

For Programs

• Seek out podcast feeds from researchers and practitioners working in your particular field of youth service and play them for staff and volunteers in training and orientation sessions.
• Create podcasts of client and volunteer testimonials to include in online recruitment strategies.
• Record presentations at conferences, seminars, and other events to replay for your staff, volunteers, or other stakeholders.
• Help volunteers work with youth to create a podcast series on a topic of the youth’s choosing.

For Volunteers

• Browse podcast feeds together with your youth and select one or more that you both find interesting. Subscribe to the feed(s) and have your youth do the same. This will add to the list of things you and your youth share and can talk about.
• With support from your program, create and record a podcast series on a topic of your youth’s choosing.

File sharing sites let users upload files, photos, and videos for others to view and download. They usually include feedback tools that allow others to rate and comment on submissions. The most popular are Flickr and Photobucket for sharing images and YouTube for sharing videos. YouTube has a section for videos produced by activists and nonprofit organizations.

For Programs

• Host your recruitment and training videos on YouTube or Google Video so you don’t have to worry about taking up hard drive space, configuring a streaming server, or making videos work in different players. You can then embed links to your videos on your Web or social networking sites.
• Design projects together with volunteers where volunteers work with youth to create photography or video projects that will be posted online when completed.

For Volunteers

• Browse YouTube for clips of performers and TV shows you enjoy and have your youth do the same. Then share and discuss your clips with each other.
• With help from your program, work on a photography or video project with your youth and post the product(s) you create together to a photo- or video-sharing site. Examples might include taking pictures of the youth’s neighborhood and community, videotaping a conversation with a family or community member, or creating a how-to video for an activity the youth enjoys doing.

In text messaging or texting, people send short streams of data in the form of text between cell phones and/or other text-capable devices or systems. Usually people text other people, but there are also automated systems that can send and receive texts. For example, volunteer centers using the United Way’s Volunteer Solutions application can send news items and volunteer opportunities as text messages to volunteers who elect to receive them.

Although texting is not usually considered a Web 2.0 technology, it is extremely popular with youth. As more and more adults and youth use cell phones and texting becomes a standard service, texting offers another way for youth, program staff, and volunteers to stay in touch.

For Programs

• Add a question to your application and intake forms for volunteers and youth, asking if they would be willing to accept text messages from you and each other (you will then need to be sure to get their cell phone numbers).
• When you need to contact a youth client, try texting first before calling. Many youth are more responsive to a text than a call.
• Consider using a service that broadcasts news as text messages to volunteers with cell phones who have opted to receive them. This provides you with another marketing and communication channel to your volunteers. There are low-cost services available on the Web to help you do this.

For Volunteers

• If you have a text-capable cell phone but have never tried it out, have your youth teach you how to send and receive text messages.
• If your program allows it and your youth has a cell phone (and is willing) use texting to confirm meetings and carry out other communication you currently do by phone.

Online video games are not usually considered Web 2.0 technologies, but like texting, they are very popular among youth. A growing number of Web sites such as Miniclip.com offer online games that are free and (generally) appropriate for younger users, although not as sophisticated as those run from a computer or game console such as a PlayStation.

For Programs

• Consider recruiting volunteers (especially younger ones) by advertising on Web sites offering free (and benign) games.
• Consider adding a game, gadget, or other interactive diversion to your Web or social networking sites that youth visit. An ideal game would reinforce a positive message or a goal of your program, or at least not detract from it. You might also consider having a custom game made for your program. For example, a volunteer or college intern (or youth client) could create an Adobe Flash game or activity for placement on your site.

For Volunteers

If you know your youth enjoys playing video games, ask her to show you her favorite ones and demonstrate how they are played. If the game(s) offer(s) a two-player mode and/or they can be played over the Internet, offer to play together occasionally. If the games are violent, or you get the sense the youth spends a potentially unhealthy amount of time playing them, talk to your program coordinator. There may be a need to share your concerns with the youth’s parents or guardians.

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Context

A 2007 survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that an estimated 93 percent of American teens aged 12–17 use the Internet. The survey also found that large numbers of these online youth are using the Internet to create and share content and interact with others. Fifty-five percent of the online teens surveyed have created a profile on MySpace or Facebook. Forty seven percent have uploaded photos to sites where others can see them, and 14 percent have posted videos. Another Pew survey in 2008 added that 85 percent of the teens use personal electronic communication tools, including text messaging, sending e-mail or instant messages, or posting comments on social networking sites.

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Citation

Adapted with permission from LEARNS/Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory “Youth Impact” newsletter, MySpace and YouTube and Blogs, Oh My! (Volume 2, 2008.) Written by Erich Stiefvater and edited by Nicky Martin.

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Outcome

Properly used, Web 2.0 and related tools can promote positive outcomes for youth and the programs and volunteers that work with them. They can help keep tech-savvy young clients and volunteers connected to and engaged with a program. They give volunteers opportunities to learn things about their youth and create things together with them. And they can help programs extend their reach and mission; better support clients, staff, and volunteers; and promote organizational efficiency.

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Resources

See MySpace and YouTube and Blogs, Oh My! for more information and a variety of resources.

Source Documents

Related Practices

• Using a blog to manage information and promote communication
• Preventing youth from becoming victims of cyberbullying

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