Derek E. Baird, M.Ed.

LOVELOUD: Imagine Dragons Step Up for Utah's LGBTQ Teens

Dan Reynolds, lead singer of Imagine Dragons, announced the 2017 LOVELOUD concert on August 26th. The festival is designed to ignite the relevant and vital conversation of what it means to unconditionally love, understand, accept, and support LGBTQ+ youth in Utah communities.

Music can save lives, and that’s exactly what Dan Reynolds, lead singer of Imagine Dragons, intends to do. All across America, LGBTQ+ youth are plagued by high statistics of suicide, risky drug use, and bullying in schools.

In Utah, teen suicide remains the leading cause of teen deaths in the state. LGBTQ+ youth are more than eight times more likely to commit suicide when compared to their straight peers, and account for as much as 40% of the current homeless youth population.

Of this 40%, almost half of the youth cite family rejection, abuse, and abandonment as the leading cause. There’s no doubt that religion plays a major factor in a family’s decision to abandon and abuse their youth.

For this reason, Dan Reynolds, the lead singer of Imagine Dragons, has decided to take action by creating the LOVELOUD Fest, uniting musical artists and guest speakers in support and acceptance of LGBTQ youth.

“What can we do as a community to change these devastating statistics?”  - Dan Reynolds

“I have no power or authority to speak on how to fix this problem, but I have been lucky enough to be given a platform that can hopefully raise awareness and create respectful conversations that lead to positive change.” And that’s exactly what LOVELOUD Fest plans to do.

 

All proceeds from this concert will go to the LOVELOUD Foundation which lends support to various Utah-based charities such as Encircle and Stand4Kind, as well as national charities, such as The Trevor Project and GLAAD. Each one of these organizations are dedicated to promoting acceptance and providing much needed resources to LGBTQ youth. (HuffPost)

 

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Number of trans calls to suicide hotlines more than double after Trump's transphobic tweet

Imagine Dragons' Dan Reynolds Shares Emotional Anti-Bullying Message

Music Festival Benefitting LGBTQ Advocacy Groups Gets Surprising Endorsement from LDS Church - My Transgender Life

Trend Watch: 60 Million Teens Going Crazy for Musical.ly App

Move over Vine and Instagram! Musica.ly is the newest hot app among teens and tweens. How big? Nearly 60 million t/weens are using musica.ly to make their own music videos.

And like Vine and Instagram, teens are using musica.ly to become Internet stars and amass huge followings. 

Watch as "Muser" star Baby Ariel joined GMA to explain to the appeal of the app and teach the hosts how to make a musical.ly video.

 

 

UPDATE: Musical.ly has merged with TikTok (8/2/2018)

Taylor Swift 1989 Secret Sessions [VIDEO]

This is GENIUS. This is how you do fan marketing---build relationships, treat fans like friends, empower influencers to spread the word, support your brand ambassadors and, oh--bake them cookies.

No literally, Taylor made cookies for her fans. (Hopefully, she will post the recipe for those chocolate chip coconut cookies on her tumblr.) 

Taylor Swift took to the internet to find fans across the US and UK and invited them to hear her new album "1989" first! These sessions were top secret and became known as the #1989SecretSessions.

Her whole approach to marketing her new album has put the fans first. From her album launch party on Yahoo!, to the Secret Sessions, embrace of tumblr and even her Olivia Benson-dietCoke-kitten video has been geared to engage and celebrate her fans and reward their loyalty. 

Taylor Swift, marketing genius. 

Related Links

• Buy 1989 on Amazon

Related articles

Three Takeaways for Marketers From the Repositioning of Brand Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift, Reputation, review: 'brash, weaponised pop'

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

Search, Music and Social Networking Among Top Activities of UK Youth

UK teens have a significant presence online and are at the leading edge of many digital behaviors, according to a survey conducted by Research Now and initiated by K&A BrandResearch.

When UK teens go online—whether via PC or mobile—using search engines to seek out information is their No. 1 activity, in line with the ubiquity of this action among older age groups as well.

The next two most popular activities showed the ways in which teens’ digital priorities may somewhat diverge from older consumers.

Just about 80% of UK teens said they went online to visit social networks. And another seven out of 10 used the internet to listen to music. These responses beat out email, watching video and playing games as teens’ primary digital activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Read the rest of the article over on eMarketer

 

Related articles

How the internet is kickstarting a teen poetry revolution

UK Teens Go Online to Look up Products and Compare Brand Prices

Facebook search limited for teens

INFOGRAPHIC: 81% of Americans use a smartphone and watch TV simultaneously

Infographic: Facebook By The Numbers

It is no secret that Facebook is a social media juggernaut. But not until you spend a little time with the stats like how many people use Facebook, who they are and how often they use it, do you get an idea of its reach and potential to change almost everything - marketing, media and yes, music.

via Kera Scene Music | View Large

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike Schmid Wants Kids to 'Let it Out' [INTERVIEW]

Earlier this week my interview with musician Mike Schmid was published on Ypulse.com!

Mike is a talented singer-songwriter and highly sought-after musician who has worked with some of the biggest acts in the music business.  

In addition to playing keyboards and touring with Miley Cyrus, Mike has played with the Jonas Brothers, Billy Ray Cyrus, Sheryl Crow, Kenna, Chantal Kreviazuk, Ed King, Jeffrey Steele, Van Hunt, Aly & AJ and the Corrs as well as many independent singer/songwriters, such as Connie Kim, Right the Stars and Rob Giles.

His songs have been featured on the TV shows “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Flashpoint,” “The Real World,” “All My Children,” “The Bad Girls Club,” “Felicity,” “The Black Donnellys” and others.

His new album, ‘Let it Out’ is all about expressing yourself in every possible way: dancing, dreaming, painting, singing. The album is for the kids (and kids-at-heart). It is about being yourself in every situation, a message that is resonant to children and adults alike.

• You can read the entire interview, Mike Schmid On Miley, Fame, Twitter, And Music For Kids, over on Ypulse.

• You can buy his new album for kids, 'Let it Out' on Bandcamp, CD Baby, Amazon MP3 Store and, of course, iTunes.

• Mike on Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and his website.

Infographic: What Different Generations Do Online

via pewinternet.org

The primary adult data in this report come from a Pew Internet Project survey conducted from April 29 to May 30, 2010.

For more information on these and other surveys cited in this report, including survey dates of all activities cited, please see the Methodology section at the end of the "Generations 2010" report.

Indie Music: Mike Schmid + Christmas = Snow Day

Mike Schmid is a talented and accomplished indie singer-songwriter. His songs have been played on "So You Think You Can Dance," "The Real World," "All My Children," "The Bad Girls Club," "Felicity," "The Black Donnellys" and more.

He is currently working on a new album of children's songs.

In addition to playing keyboard and touring with Miley Cyrus, he has played with the Jonas Brothers, Sheryl Crow, the Corrs as well as many independent singer/songwriters, such as Connie Kim, Right the Stars and Renee Stahl.

In 2006 Mike recorded a Christmas EP titled 'Snow Day." The album features some original new holiday tunes and covers of some traditional Christmas tunes. Here, have a listen...

So light up the fireplace, grab some nog, download a copy of 'Snow Day' (or one of his other albums), support indie music (Santa will put you on the "Nice" list if you do!) and get in the holiday spirit!

Get to Know Mike Schmid

• Mike Schmid.com
• Mike Schmid on Tumblr
• Connect with Mike Schmid Music on Facebook
• Mike Schmid on TheHighwayGirl.com

Trend Watch: Vinyl Records Back in Vogue Among Teens

Yes, like cropped tops and high-waisted Levis, vinyl records are making a comeback.

Why, when we have such lightweight, simple technology at the tip of our fingers, are teenagers fascinated by these oversized, nearly obsolete discs?

Perhaps it is the fact that most of us, used to having all our music stored in iPods that fit in the palm of our hands, completely missed out on the tangibility of records.

Even “vintage” music is becoming popular again. Shows such as “Glee,” in which the characters perform songs from every genre and era, are drumming up interest by teenagers in songs from America’s yesterdays

In this digital age kids are growing up in, songs skip around and change with the simple click of a button. Young people never physically see the music playing, and it doesn’t matter, so long as they hear what they want. But, there is a certain wonder to watching a record spin on a turntable and maneuvering the long, fragile needle.

Another possibility, of course, is that today’s teens are in awe of the amazing art displayed on the album covers. Sure, CD cases show interesting pictures, and occasionally album covers are displayed on iTunes, but there seems to be no comparison to looking at a 12-by-12 picture that adds a certain depth to the music.

Read more over on www.buffalonews.com

Global ‘Digital Life’ research project reveals major changes in online behavior

The largest ever global research project into people’s online activities and behaviour – Digital Life – was launched earlier this week by TNS, the world’s biggest custom research company.

Covering nearly 90 per cent of the world’s online population through 50,000 interviews with consumers in 46 countries, the study reveals major changes in the world’s online behaviour.

Among the key findings of the study are:

• Globally, people who have on-line access have digital sources as their number one media channel. 61% of online users use the internet daily against 54% for TV, 36% for Radio and 32% for Newspapers.

• Online consumers in rapid growth markets have overtaken mature markets in terms of engaging with digital activities. When looking at behaviour online, rapid growth markets such as Egypt (56%) and China (54%) have much higher levels of digital engagement than mature markets such as Japan (20%), Denmark (25%) or Finland (26%). This is despite mature markets usually having a more advanced internet infrastructure.

• Activities such as blogging and social networking are gaining momentum at huge speed in rapid growth markets. The research shows four out of five online users in China (88%) and over half of those in Brazil (51%) have written their own blog or forum entry, compared to only 32% in the US.

• The Internet has also become the default option for photo sharing among online users in rapid growth markets, particularly in Asia. The number of online consumers who have ever uploaded photos to social networks or photo sharing sites is 92% in Thailand, 88% in Malaysia and 87% in Vietnam, whilst developed markets are more conservative. Less than a third of online consumers in Japan (28%) and under half of those in Germany (48%) have uploaded photos to such sites.

TNS Digital Life: Drivers of Online Behaviour

• Growth in social networking has been fuelled by the transition from PC to mobile. Mobile users spend on average 3.1 hours per week on social networking sites compared to just 2.2 hours on email. The drive to mobile is driven by the increased need for instant gratification and the ability of social networks to offer multiple messaging formats, including the instant message or update function.

• The digital landscape will change in the future. Research shows that consumers expect their use of social networking on mobiles to increase more than use through PC. In the US, for example, a quarter (26%) of online consumers expect their use of social networking on a PC to increase in the next 12 months compared to over a third (36%) who will be looking to their mobile to increase usage. In Australia the figures are 26% and 44% respectively, and in Sweden they are 28% and 53%.

TNS Digital Life: The North American Digital Landscape  

• Online consumers are spending more time on social networking sites such as Facebook. In rapid growth markets such as Latin America, the Middle East and China, the average time spent, per week, on social networking is 5.2 hours compared to only 4 hours on email.

• Online consumers in mature markets remain more reliant on email, spending 5.1 hours checking their inboxes compared to just 3.8 hours on social networking. The heaviest users of social networking are in Malaysia (9 hours per week), Russia (8.1 hours per week) and Turkey (7.7 hours per week).

• When it comes to who has more friends, online consumers in Malaysia tops the list with an average of 233 friends in their social network, closely followed by Brazilians with 231. The least social are the Japanese with just 29 friends and Tanzanians have, on average, 38 in their circle of friends. Surprisingly, Chinese consumers only have an average of 68 friends in their networks despite being heavy users of social networking sites, indicating a culture that embraces fewer but closer friendships.

Weekly Wrap: NBC's Social TV, Blocking Bieber, Will.I.Am on the Music Industry, Google TV Roundup, Facebook's Influence on Girls, Age of Curation, Aussie Gen Z's & More!

NBC Turns Television into a Social Media Game: The endeavor is a network-wide initiative designed to leverage the presence of show fans on social networks and incentivize them with points for engaging with content — i.e. watching videos on NBC.com, Liking shows, chatting and recruiting friends.

Points can be redeemed for goodies like NBC merchandise, show previews, virtual goods, badges and sweepstakes entries. [Mashable] 

Creating a Content Driven Community: When you create a content-driven community, don't forget to set measurable goals, establish meaningful benchmarks, evaluate results, and document what moves the needle for the business. Every business already has an organic community: its employees, partners, and, depending on its degree of involvement, its customers. [Conversation Agent]

Will.I.Am: "The Music Industry is Gone": “The band of the future is not going to be a singer, a guitarist and a bass player. It will be a singer, a guitarist, a bass player and a code writer – the guy who does apps, computer animation. That is a group. It is going to be about self-contained content-providers.” [Harlem Loves]

Google TV Round Up

Guide to Google TV's Ecosystem [TechCrunch] | What We Know So Far About Google TV [Search Engine Land]| Google TV Has Arrived [Mashable] | Here's What Google TV Looks Like [BI] | Google TV Explained [Logitech]

Overwhelmed? Welcome the Age of Curation: Still don’t believe we live in the Age of Curation, of which the iPad is just a recent manifestation? Go save everything you run across to read later using Instapaper, even from your Twitter and newsreader feeds (themselves forms of curation), which you can then read on the functionality-curating iPad and Kindle devices. Related: Trend Watch | Content Computing [Video] [Wired] [Barking Robot]

Study: Facebook Is a Major Influence on Girls: A study of eight to 15-year-olds for National Family Week found 40% of girls identified Facebook as one of the most important things in their lives - compared with 6% of boys.

Parents were found to underestimate the significance of technology. Asked to name the three most important things in their lives, the most popular choices for girls were friends, family and then Facebook and MSN. [BBC]

Connecting with Generation Z: Meet Generation Z, otherwise known as The Naturals. Give them any label you like, but you better make sure your business understands this powerful new generation of consumers that has never known life without the internet. Related: Those Digital Natives? Not So Savvy. [nineMSN] [BarkingRobot]

Why Twitter Radically Reworked Its Trending Topics Algorithm: How to keep Twitter from seeming like "an inane playground for hormonally cracked-out tweens." Related: Blocking Justin Bieber > New Tweetdeck version allows you to block all Justin Bieber related Tweets. [AdAge] [Mashable]

2010 Social Media Matters Report: Majority of Top Media Destinations Are Social

According to research conducted by BlogHer and iVillage “2010 Social Media Matters Study,” co-sponsored by The Nielsen Company and Ketchum, social sites are now a frequent destination for nearly three-quarters of Internet users.

Social Media Matters 2010

Respondents’ top daily media activities were social as well. Watching television is still on top, but Facebook was the next most common media destination visited every day.

The study found similar rates of usage among men and women, and pegged the percentage of weekly social media users at 73% of the online population.

via www.emarketer.com

Here are some of the other key findings in the 2010 Social Media Matters Study:

• Blogs trail only search engines as the preferred media source for product-purchasing information for BlogHer users.

• Among BlogHer users, 96 percent read blogs weekly or more often.

• BlogHer users are more active than average women across the board on blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.

• As for iVillage users, message boards and forums were second only to conversations with friends and family as the preferred source of product-purchasing information.

• 73 percent of respondents from the iVillage community said they share topics on message boards and forums that they would not share on social networks. Of those, relationships (61 percent), health (45 percent), and work-related issues (39 percent) were the top topics they would not share on social networks.

• 31% higher than the total online population for Gen X generation

• 3.6 percent of iVillage community members post on message boards or forums every day.

Related: Millennials, Men Watch Most Online TV

Infographic: How Teens Use Mobile Phones

Have you ever wondered what teens were really using their mobile phones for? A recent study released by Pew Internet Research has shed light on average mobile phone use among American teens.

This study includes not only information regarding how much teens use their mobile phones, but what they are using them for as well, such as: to go online, text, listen to music, sharing pictures and accessing social networking sites.

Perhaps not surprisingly, average mobile use varies greatly by age, and sexting, while limited (according to Pew only 4% of teen admit sending a nude photo of themselves to someone via text) seems to becoming more of an issue.

View Large on www.flowtown.com

Related: Parents' Embrace Texting with Their Kids

Josh Shipp: Class of 2010 Graduation RAP Speech

Greeting Class of 2010
MySpace Twitter followers and Facebook friends
I've prepared something that makes sense to use in your journey
Know who you are own it cuz you're worthy

-- Class of 2010 Graduation RAP Speech, Josh Shipp

Project Gaga 2010: Building a Monster Fan Base

Love her or hate her, there' no denying that Lady Gaga is a cultural force who resonates with many, many young people. Perhaps no other creative genius since the late (great) John Hughes has been able to effectively express the inner turmoil and feelings of disenfranchisement that are part of modern teenage life.

For many young people, Lady Gaga ("Mother Monster") has been able to tap into the global zeitgeist of a generation of "Little Monsters" and empowered them through her music to speak up share their voice.

Project Gaga 2010 is a user-generated fan project that collected over 268 pictures of mostly teenage fans from across the globe all "with the same message: thank you, mother monster, for giving us all a voice."

Teenage fan behavior patterns haven't changed that much in the last 50 years or so. What has changed are the ways in which they express their devotion as a fan to their favorite movie, music or TV star.

Today's teens, unlike previous generations, have many more digital tools that allow them to self-organize via social networking sites, coordinate the collection of this photos from around the world, use free web-based tools to produce a video and free distribution on YouTube. 

And oh, a tweet of approval from "Mother Monster" is a pretty good way to market your tribute.

Now for some of us who are a wee bit past those awkward crazy teenage years this "Mother Monster" tribute stuff may seem a little bizarre.

But before you dismiss it, consider the idea that if previous generations had the same bounty of free digital and self-publishing tools, the web would be full of similar tributes to Madonna, Michael Jackson, Elvis, Frank Sinatra or Al Jolson.

Related: Lady Gaga Joins Forces with Virgin Mobile to Fight Teen Homelessness