The DIGIS 2011 - Best PSA - Responsibilities in Social Media for Secondary Students - ENTRY

A report from Mashable.com indicated some of the statistics of the recent crisis in Japan. It was noted that from the first moment a jolt was felt in Tokyo, citizens were aware that an earthquake and tsunami was occurring and that tragedy was on their doorstep. Being in the twenty-first century, we all know that the crisis was going to play out first on the social web, second to the likes of television and print.

"Within an hour of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake, which occurred on a bright afternoon in Japan, Twitter updates were flying out of Asia at the rate of over 1,200 per minute, while Facebook posts, photos, (YouTube) videos, and blog updates were streaming in just behind."

The world has seen a cultural shift in how the world is connected and that the Asian tsunami was felt in all corners of the world. The Internet and social media has the power to bring people afar closer and essentially moving us back towards a community model -- where news comes not from a mere stranger on television, but from people we trust because we know them "personally" through connections.

With this newly 21st-century acquired ability, we, the citizens are starting to learn the dangers and responsibilities of social media. While social media like Twitter and Facebook can be used for the good, including staying in contact, the "line" between safety and danger becomes fainter and can put an individual in many risking situations.

In our public service announcement, our intention was to target the public, but more specifically the younger demographic of 14-17 year olds to address the public responsibility and key points in social media safety.

We conducted a non-scientific survey between Grade 9, 10, 11 and 12 students at L'Amoreaux, to gain their thoughts on social media awareness. We've attached the results of all the students in this package, alongside a summary of the results.

The results found that users were not aware of what they were really publishing to everyone. Students were not aware of the specific privacy settings and we wanted to convey that the first step in being safe on the Internet starts with the users themselves. We found that Facebook and Twitter were great examples to mount about how personal data that we may not want shown to everyone, make its way to the public -- mainly because of the lack of awareness of what people are publishing.


Most of us have done things like post our phone number or address on someone else's Facebook wall, but now we need to be informed, be aware of the potential consequences and be smarter. We simply must pause and think before we submit content to the world, no matter how innocuous we think it may be.

In a crisis, people are hungry for information. What we feed them will determine our destiny as well, whether in the middle of the fight, or thousands of miles away. We know social networking is everywhere. It is common to find parents, children, coworkers and even the elderly on the networks across the social media world on sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and/or LinkedIn. People across the world have access to tools and options that were previously non-existent.

While there may be many new opportunities to connect, there is the same amount of potential danger available for online predators. Social networking has opened up many new doorways for cyber-crime, and with all the people on social networks, who are completely new to technology, it is more important than ever to make sure people is aware of the risks -- we had the intention to point some of those out in our public service announcement.

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