MTV announced last week that is was launching a social network to encourage teen activism. Here’s the topline from MediaPost:
AT ONCE SAVING THE WORLD and giving the growing number of activist
consumers a place to gather, MTV Networks has launched
Think.MTV.com. The community site will help the network and popular
artists attach themselves to socially conscious causes, serve as a
platform for users to focus on related ideas, and help various
non-profit groups and consumer brands reach concentrated
demographics through advertising.
Executives at MTV said the inspiration for the site came from a
study conducted last year, which found that 80% of young people want
to actively help their community, but only 19% are “very involved.”
Anastasia on her YPulse blog raises some interesting issues related to this new site:
There are already a couple of amazing sites connecting youth
activists in the non-profit space like YouthNoise, Do Something and TakingITGlobal. Part of me wanted MTV to just
sponsor Think MTV sections on all of these sites (and they still
can) vs. launch yet another social network young people have to
build a presence on. I also wonder if duplicating efforts works
against the spirit of what activists are trying to achieve. Does
having so many different communities around similar causes actually
work against the cause itself?
In my mind, it’s all good. Good for MTV for putting their weight behind the issue, good for the competition since MTV’s presence will act like rising tide for all the teen activism ships and good for teens who can easily lose their way in a flood of all consuming media options (TV, IM, video games, Facebook, etc.) And as a father of two teenagers, I can assure you that teens need every bit of *inspiration* they can get wherever they can find it.