Derek E. Baird, M.Ed.

Calm the Vote: New BeMe Studios 2024 Election Streaming Series Aims to Ease Gen Z Election Jitters

I am excited to unveil a project I spearheaded as Chief Youth Officer at BeMe Health: our collaboration with Rock the Vote. By fusing BeMe’s expertise in youth mental health with Rock the Vote’s legacy in youth voter mobilization, we have crafted a unique approach for engaging youth in democracy during the 2024 election.

Our initiative is designed with a threefold goal: to empower first-time Gen Z voters to take action, to promote mental wellbeing during what can be a stressful period, and to boost non-partisan civic engagement.

But our mission extends beyond just motivating young adults to participate in elections; we equip them with the tools they need to navigate the electoral process with confidence and security.

As the project lead on this initiative, I’m excited to announce:

👉🏼 Our new voter engagement platform at BeMe.com/RocktheVote is now live! Starting today, potential voters can easily register to vote, check their registration status, pledge to vote, and request absentee ballots — all in one place powered by the Rock the Vote civic tech.

👉🏼 Our ‘Calm the Vote: A Gen Z Guide to the 2024 Election,’ a new BeMe Original series hosted by Juan Bendaña, aims to demystify the election process and provide mental health support for first-time voters.

Produced by BeMe Studios, this streaming series will roll out across all our social channels and is now available exclusively in the BeMe app.

👉🏼Available exclusively in the BeMe app, our unique Spark Sesh empowers youth to navigate challenging political conversations. This single-session intervention (SSI) equips youth with essential communication skills: engaging in meaningful dialogue, respecting diverse viewpoints, and preserving relationships during intense election periods.

Join us in making democracy less stressful and more accessible for Gen Z. Together, we can ensure that young voices are heard and supported throughout the 2024 election season and beyond.

 

The Gen Z Frequency: Book Release Day

Today my book ‘The GenZ Frequency’, co-written with Gregg L. Witt, was officially published in the UK and the rest of the world by Kogan Page! The book will be published in the US on September 28th!

‪If I’ve learned anything during the process of writing this book, it’s that Gen Z is going to change the world.‬ Thank you to all the young people who were willing to talk to me during the writing of this book and helping me to tune into the Gen Z frequency. ‬

'The Gen Z Frequency' offers a comprehensive youth marketing guide for any brand or organization trying to reach this demographic, covering fundamental truths, content creation, connecting with youth culture, engagement strategies and tactics such as social media, experiential, emerging technologies (like AR and VR), kids privacy law, building online communities, edtech and much more.

Available on Amazon, iBooks and KoganPage

Gen Z : The Next Generation of Learners [RESEARCH]

Results of new research conducted in August 2018 by The Harris Poll for Pearson Education.

The report explores the education, learning and media consumption habits and preferences of Generation Z. 

One surprising finding in this report is that Gen Z students still like to have teachers give them printed handouts and paper-based learning resources. So while they're mobile natives, looks like they still enjoy being analog.

This is an interesting and worthwhile report for anyone who works in education technology and is looking to create learning experiences that resonate with Gen Z.

 

 

  

Infographic: Gen Z and the Future of TV

Gen Z is the first generation that has had access to on-demand television content for a majority of their lives. Yet, questions still remain around how these digital natives actually consume content, as well as what their attitudes are towards video advertising in comparison to Generation X and Millennials. That is until now.

In a quest to better understand Generation Z, Hulu partnered with Tremor Video to survey over a thousand respondents ages 14-50 on their TV and SVOD consumption habits and digital video advertising preferences. 

And, with the help of the Center of Generational Kinetics, the results provide a window into the variance in behaviors and preferences across three generations – Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z.

From binge-watching, to using TV as a social capital, the future of TV is intertwined across a range of Gen Z preferences and behaviors.

Here's some of the key findings from the Hulu Insights team:

• 70% of Gen Z respondents equate “watching TV” with watching via an online source.
• Gen Z is less likely to actively avoid watching advertising and over 50% said they don’t mind or actually enjoy watching TV ads.
• 60% of Gen Z respondents prefer to “binge” a show, watching multiple episodes at a time – compared to only 40% of Gen X.
• Gen Z is driven by a need to be “in the know” about TV in order to be part of the social conversation. 20% have posted about a show… without actually watching it!

Related

• Cornucopia of Children's Content Comes to Streaming Services
• Derek E. Baird Blog Category > TV
• Most Popular SVOD & TV Apps for Kids
• Disney's New Platform Could Be The Streaming King for Kids SVOD

Photo Credit:  Victoria Heath on Unsplash

Instagram Celebrates Gen Z Change Makers at #KindnessProm

In addition to the anti-bullying comment filter announced yesterday, Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger announced that they are hosting the first ever #KindnessProm to celebrate young leaders who are inspiring their peers by helping kindness, acceptance and support grow on Instagram and in the world.

The prom is for students and “teen influencers” from around the country. It will be a “totally immersive, Instagrammable experience that focuses on positivity, kindness, giving back and community,” according to the Palm Beach Post.  Instead of choosing a prom king and queen, each guest will get a kindness award. Radio Disney Host and DJ Miss Lela Brown will play the music.

One of the teens invited to attend the Instagram Kindness Prom is Kayla Abramowitz, founder of Kayla Cares 4 Kids, a non-profit which supplies DVDs, video games, books, and craft supplies to children’s hospitals.

The Kindness Prom isn’t the first wellbeing initiative from Instagram to focus on teens, bullying, and social media. Last year Instagram launched the Instagram Together campaign which showcased their continued commitment to developing tools that address bullying, mental health, and other topics impacting tweens, teens and young adults.

 

• Related: Instagram pays it forward by throwing a "Kindness Prom" for teen influencers | ABC NEWS

Blocking Bad: Protecting Teens on Instagram

Yesterday, during the annual Facebook F8 Developer Conference, Instagram announced that they had launched new anti-bullying & comment filtering AI technology that will automatically filter out comments that “harass or upset people in our community.

As the number one social network for Gen Z teens, Instagram has been increasingly proactive in developing both technology and wellbeing programs that improve the lives of the teens. In addition, the new comment filter is focusing on protecting teen celebrities and influencers who are often the recipients of brutal attacks in the comment section on their social feeds.

We first got a sneak peek at this new filtering technology last summer when Instagram co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom sat down with CBS News to talk about how the social network is betting that limiting hate speech will encourage more expression on the platform.

"Is it free speech just to be mean to someone?" - Kevin Systrom, CEO Instagram

According to Instagram, "This new filter hides comments containing attacks on a person's appearance or character, as well as threats to a person's well-being or health. The bullying filter is on for our global community and can be disabled in the Comment Controls center in the app.”

As teens  increasingly turning to social media platforms, like Instagram, to talk about their mental health and find resources to help them through their personal struggles, it's more important than ever that social media companies realize that they play an increasingly vital role and responsibility in promoting kindness and supporting the mental health of teens in their online communities. 

 

Related: Instagram #KindnessProm

Trend Watch: How Gen Z Use GIFs to Convey Emotion and Celebrate Shared Cultural Moments

In the last few years, there’s been an explosion in the use of GIFS – those little-looped videos that seem to be everywhere. The GIF is often misunderstood as a component of modern communication. 

Gen Z navigates their anxieties by relying on visual-centric social media platforms, like GIFs, emoji, and memes, wherein they can both create and share visual content to express their emotions. 

On social platforms, they embrace memes, visual narratives, GIFs and emoji to create fan art and provide their visual interpretations of shared cultural experiences and project their own emotions into their social media feeds. The visual narrative content posted on these platforms can largely be employed, remixed, and re-appropriated across one another and be reused for multiple purposes across multiple moments in time.

This creates a form of unity in social narratives, situating visual materials as both conversational and archival, across the platforms while also positing disunity and the breakdown of platform exclusive vernaculars.

This episode of the Australian podcast, Future Tense, host Antony Funnell talks to digital researchers and linguists about the ways that people are using GIFs, emoji, selfies and other visual communication tools as narratives to express their ideas, emotions or as visual expressions and celebrations of shared cultural moments.

 

 

Related

Giphy builds transparent GIF library for Instagram Stories

Trend Watch: Facebook Freebooting

Here are all the new Animojis coming to your iPhone X (AAPL)

STUDY: The Role of Social Media and Technology in Peer Bullying

Top 10 best meme generator apps Android 2018

Educator Perspectives: Virtual Reality (VR) in the Classroom

 Technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), especially for Gen Z students’, provides avenues that allow them to engage in a social, collaborative, and active learning environment.

VR, especially when combined with storytelling, enable the student to participate in the story, develop empathy to experiences outside their current realm of understanding and fully immersed in their learning.

While there’s much hype around the use of VR in education, how are teachers using this emerging technology in the classroom? What do students think? Those are just some of the questions asked by research conducted by Foundry 10, a Seattle-based non-profit. 

Foundry 10: Students & VR Pilot Program

In 2015, 2015, Foundry 10 launched a pilot project to study the impact and student sentiment towards the use of virtual reality in their classroom and curriculum. Foundry 10 reached out to educators who expressed an interest in utilizing VR in their classes and provided them with headsets.

I've written a summary of the findings, for VR Pop over on Medium. You can read the entire Foundry 10 report on their website.

Related articles

Facebook opens social VR app to rival platforms (FB)

STUDY: The Role of Social Media and Technology in Peer Bullying

VR is Taking the World by Storm Over 1 Million Headsets Sold

Camp Google

Josh Shipp: The Grown-Up’s Guide to Teenage Humans

Josh Shipp has a pretty amazing story and is known for his really great advice for teens on, well — just about everything! MTV called his series “Hey! Josh” the Dear Abby for teens.

Full disclosure: Josh is a friend, so I know he’s too modest to list off his many accomplishments. But that doesn’t mean I can’t brag on him--here we go!

Josh has spoken at universities such as Harvard, Stanford, MIT & UCLA and to over TWO MILLION students around the country. He is a recognized teen expert for media outlets as MTV, CNN, FOX, The New York Times, 20/20, and Good Morning America. And Oprah. (Yes, that Oprah.)

“When it comes to understanding the minds of teens, there is no greater expert than Josh Shipp. I’ve witnessed firsthand the lives he’s transformed.”

// Ellen Rakieten, Emmy Award-Winning Producer of OPRAH

Josh is the author of the national bestseller “The Teen’s Guide to World Domination“ and he also was featured in the documentary TV series Teen Trouble (A&E) which followed his ground-breaking work with teens.

Growing Up Josh

Once an at-risk foster kid, he was facing down a bleak future that was likely to include prison or homelessness—until he met the grown-up who changed his life. Josh was passed around the foster care system, he was the class clown, a trouble maker.

He was written off, kicked out, and labeled every parents worst nightmare. Enter Rodney, the foster parent who refused to quit on Shipp and finally got him to believe in himself. And in doing so, changed the trajectory of his young life.

The Power of One Caring Adult

In March 2015, Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child released a study saying, “Every child who winds up doing well has had at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive adult.”

Maybe this child is 9 and in your Boy Scout Troop. Maybe she’s your 13-year-old step-daughter. Maybe he’s 15 and lives in your neighborhood. Whoever it may be, you have the power to make a positive and significant difference in their lives.

Here's how to be that caring adult for the kid in your life.

Step 1: Find out what they’re into.

Step 2: Spend time doing what matters to them because they matter to you.

Step 3: Your investment of time will lead to influential conversations.

If you’re interested in learning more about mentoring or finding a kid who needs a mentor, Josh has pulled together some resources:

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
• The Mentoring Project
• Boys & Girls Clubs of America

As Josh says, “Do for ONE kid — what you wish you could do for ALL kids.”

Grown-Up's Guide to Teenage Humans

On September 19th Josh's brand new book out for parents (teachers, uncles, aunts, youth leaders), “The Grown-Up’s Guide to Teenage Humans”, a practical guide for understanding teens hits bookshelves around the country. 

His goal for this book is to help parents and other caring adults be there for the kids in your life, and let them know that you see under the surface of their troubles. You see what they can be—and what they can be is amazing. 

Josh challenges adults to be that one caring adult – that person who changes a kid’s life with a simple, caring act. It starts with you, and it starts now.

Stressing the need for mutual respect, trust, and encouragement, Josh identifies three key mindsets crucial to understanding teens.

He breaks down the distinct phases of teenage life, examining the challenges at each phase, and offers revelatory stories that take us deep inside the teen brain.

"Every kid is ONE caring adult away from being a success story." // Josh Shipp

Josh’s message is simple, clear and a refreshing change from the alarmist advice that is so often the default when it comes to discussing Gen Z teens. You can learn more about “Grown-Up’s Guide” and download a free chapter over on his website or order a copy from Amazon.

Connect with Josh Shipp

Twitter/JoshShipp | JoshShipp.com | FB/JoshShipp | YouTube/JoshShipp

#YouWillBeFound: Teens, Social Media Artifacts and 'Dear Evan Hansen'

My colleague Jarrod Walczer and I have been working on a book chapter for a forthcoming publication about the upstander culture sprouting up around the hit Broadway musical, Dear Evan Hansen and the visual social media artifacts being created by teens.

 

We've spent the last few months scouring Instagram and Tumblr and reading countless numbers of Dear Evan Hansen posts, visual social media and culled data on thousands of posts.

 

It's been a pretty amazing, and, to be honest at times, a humbling experience. But mostly, it's heartbreaking to read how disconnected and alone the most connected generation in human history feels from the real world.

 

Either way, one thing has become very clear: it's hard to be a teen in the social media age. So much harder than most adults can even comprehend. 

We've learned a lot, developed a deep respect for the Fansen fandom, the Evan Hansen cast and most especially, Ben Platt.  As we delve deep into the culture of Evan Hansen, and read the personal stories of these teens, it's clear that Mr. Platt is holding the hopes and emotional fears of many young fans on his shoulders.

Yet, night after night, he continues to carry the emotional weight of the role, he continues to be gracious with his fans and greets them with a smile on his face at the stage door. 

We are putting the final touches on our book chapter and will have more details, soon!

Meet the Tweens of Gen Z

What sets Gen Z apart is an unrelenting relationship with information and technology, and their early independence, born of impatience and the confidence to act. These are the identifying traits of what will be the largest demographic in history.

And yet, their confidence and knowledge often out pace experience...which causes tension between an advanced intellect, and the reality of their actual age and emotional intelligence.

At the epicenter of this tension we find tweens—a complex subset of Gen Z. They are caught up in the turbulent transition from simply being a kid, to fending off the intricate pressures of teenage existence. They are the pivotal middle-ground of Gen Z.  

Tweens pose an interesting dilemma. Kids (5–8) are still largely influenced by and accessed through their parents.

Teens (14–18) are rapidly forming their own opinions and establishing independence from parents, and there are direct channels to reach them.

Tweens (9–13), on the contrary, are the hardest to reach, even while they are actively seeking cues and learning to form opinions. 

Because they are the least accessible, and arguably the most open to influence, tweens are an important puzzle to solve for companies marketing to Gen Z.

Gen Z is set to influence nearly $600 billion dollars of family spending and will comprise 40% of consumers by 2020. To succeed in marketing to this unique segment, any brand that wants in, has to be willing to play by their rules.

My colleague, Gregg Witt and I have co-authored a new book for Motivate Youth.

In this guide, you will learn key insights, strategies, and tactics your company can deploy to improve tween marketing efforts. You can download a copy of Meet the Tweens of Gen Z over on Scribd.

 

"Instagram Together" Showcases Mental Health

Instagram has launched an initiative called "Instagram Together" to showcase their continued commitment to developing tools that address bullying, mental health, and other topics impacting tweens, teens and young adults.

Teens and young adults are increasingly turning to social media platforms, like Instagram, to talk about their mental health struggles, so this is a much needed and welcome program.

As part of the Instagram Together campaign, several influential members of the community are showcased, sharing stories of how they use the Instagram ecosystem and hashtags (like #ItsOkayToTalk) to share their mental health journey with others to build (or find) a network of support.

Instagram is #HereForYou

As part of Mental Health Awareness month, Instagram announced a hashtag campaign called #HereForYou, which highlights how the social network has helped support its community members struggling with mental health issues.

 

Reporting Self-Harm on Instagram

Members of the community can also anonymously report others who they feel may be in need of mental health support.

The Self Harm Reporting feature allows users to report a mental health concern to Instagram and send the user a message with mental health resources in their country.  

These resources also display when someone visits a hashtag for a sensitive topic, like hashtags associated with self-harm, eating disorders, and suicide. 

This feature is very similar to the Facebook feature that allows people to report expressions of self-harm.

It's great to see Instagram taking active steps towards creating and fostering a safer, kinder experience by addressing the mental health, safety and well-being of their community. 

 

Related: How Texting Can Save Teen Lives

 

• If you want to talk to someone or are experiencing suicidal thoughts, text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

Be Authentic! Immersive Youth & Youthvine Joins Motivate

Our startup, Immersive Youth, along with our Youthvine platform, have been acquired by Motivate ROI and together we are launching Motivate Youth!

Motivate — the leading specialized insights and media partner for reaching Multicultural, Youth and LGBTQ segments — announced today its acquisition of Immersive Youth, an insights-driven agency that connects brands with tweens, teens, and young adults.

The acquisition supports Motivate’s strategy for aggressive expansion into its targeted growth markets: Multicultural, Youth and LGBTQ.

By adding Immersive Youth’s expertise, and dynamic team and leadership, Motivate reinforces its culturally-focused service to world-class brands and agency partners. Post-acquisition, Immersive Youth will be rebranded as Motivate Youth.

“Gen Z is the most ethnically diverse generation in U.S. history, being 47 percent multicultural,” said Trevor Hansen, CEO of Motivate. “Bringing on Immersive Youth is in response to the demand from brands to reach the largest demographic group today.

Immersive Youth’s approach to connecting brands with Gen Z is rooted in firsthand audience dialogue and analytic decisions that inform not only the strategies, but also the visuals, messaging and activation experience.

The team’s rigorous insights-to-activation process comprises a set of guiding principles that are proven to drive results. We are excited about the possibilities that will arise from this union.”

AMAZE.org: Sex Ed YouTube Videos for Teens, Parents and Teachers.

You know that talking with your kids about sex and growing up is important, but it’s tempting to put it off. The reality is that these conversations can’t wait. AMAZE.org takes the awkward out of sex ed. Real info in fun, animated videos that give you all the answers teens actually want to know about sex, your body and relationships.

Fun, Factual & Less Weird Sex Ed

AMAZE.org  is creating fun, factual and age appropriate online sex education videos for young adolescents. AMAZE has collaborated with a group of incredible young animators who are enthusiastic about their mission to create edgy, innovative and compelling videos to help young people learn about reproductive health.

The series of sex ed videos are being produced in conjunction with youth health organizations Advocates for Youth, Answer, and Youth Tech Health and animation studio, The Moving Company, to help break the ice and start these critical conversations so that kids get the accurate information they need. 

Accurate & Non Judgmental Sex Education

In a time where "fake news" fills our kids social feeds, AMAZE.or provides provides kids, parents and teachers a happy medium between accessible, engaging sex ed materials that don't deviate from the purpose of sex ed in the first place: To provide accurate, non-judgmental answers to curious questions.

I was fortunate to work with the AMAZE.org team as a youth and social media analyst during the early phases of this project and I was was really impressed with all the different stakeholders and educators involved to bring AMAZE.org to life.

AMAZE is providing a critical resource for parents and teens and these videos will really help make talking about sex ed, sexual orientation and puberty much less weird and help shift these discussions into a more open, healthy and normalized.

Be sure to check out all the videos on YouTube!

I AM THAT GIRL & Alessia Cara Launch "I AM YOU" Empowerment Campaign

Non-profit organization I AM THAT GIRL joins forces with 20-year old EP Entertainment/Def Jam Recordings global sensation Alessia Cara to create the “I AM YOU” empowerment campaign. The powerful message of Alessia’s new single “Scars To Your Beautiful” is the lynchpin behind her alliance with I AM THAT GIRL, the national movement that has been inspiring girls for the past six years to love, express, and be who they are through a global peer-to-peer community committed to creating a new norm for girl culture by raising the standard of how girls treat themselves.

“I AM YOU” launches with a short video directed by Kim Jacobs, which delivers the meaningful message of empowerment, strength and inclusivity using a striking visual. The piece, which is narrated by Alessia and features a musical soundbed from her powerful self-anthem, reinforces the message that while we have our own unique stories, we are all connected by the universal truths that make us human.

In the film, a rapid montage of girls of varied ages, sizes, and races flashes by, seamlessly composited together as if they are all speaking as one person, creating an extraordinary focal point for the singular voice that connects them all.

Jacobs shot around 50 young women over the course of one day, including a series of stills set to the playback track of the scripted voiceover. Most of the talent already were members of IATG chapters or volunteers, along with others who ended up taking the IATG pledge after wrapping the shoot.

“The stills were transcoded to feel like motion. Then the process of cutting between the faces required sensitivity, precision and a crazy amount of patience,” explains Jacobs. “Matching three girls blinking their eyes within a second of film is work for only warriors. We worked with the team at EXILE to fine-tune the edit until we finally struck the perfect balance of technique and humanity.”

“In any given second there are multiple faces cut to appear to be one person. I thought this would be a really strong and beautiful way to communicate the core ethos of I AM THAT GIRL,” says Kim Jacobs, who co-wrote the script with IATG Co-founder Emily Greener.

“It takes so many people to make something, especially in film, and all the people involved in every single part of the process were essential to the outcome. The I AM YOU film was generated from pure love.” - Kim Jacobs

 

“Scars To Your Beautiful” was not only used for the film, but also inspired IATG and Alessia to create an action-focused curriculum for young women everywhere, to shift girl culture and help them transform self-doubt to self-love. The conversation kit, which is downloadable at iamthatgirl.com/alessia, centers around five primary interactive meeting topics, each cued by a lyric from “Scars.”

 

 

Inc. Magazine Names Immersive Youth A Top Youth Marketing Blog

Our Immersive Youth team got some exciting news! Inc. Magazine has named us one of the Top Youth Marketing Blogs to watch in 2016! Needless to say, we are pretty excited to be in such great company with other digital youth firms like Ypulse and YouthBeat! 

The Inc article cites our Gen Z and Millennial Youthvine platform as a key differentiator from other digital youth agencies:

"What sets the company apart is Youthvine, its proprietary online community. Youthvine is a forum driven by young administrators.

It is coordinated to allow owners to communicate with next ­generation buyers. IYM's agency establishes the relationships, but Youthvine creates a unique experience to engage the new age."

Thanks to Dave Kerpen and Inc for including us on this list! And check out some of our work for a few of our clients, like Walt Disney World, Disney Yellow Shoes Creative Group and Funny or Die! And if you have a Gen Z or Millennial project you need help with, give us a shout out!