Derek E. Baird

Introducing Tiny Habits for Kids

I've recently partnered with my colleague and friend, B.J. Fogg, author of the New York Times Bestseller, Tiny Habits, to build a community to help teach parents, teachers, and other trusted adults to use the Tiny Habits methods to improve the lives of children. 

If you're interested in joining Tiny Habits for Kids, please use this priority invitation. In order to keep our Tiny Habits for Kids community robust, useful, and free of trolls, we ask you to verify your identity when you complete your invitation.

"Tiny Habits is a blueprint for redefining our approach to self-improvement. The habits are tiny, but the results are big." -Arianna Huffington, Founder and CEO at Thrive Global

We look forward to building our community and having you learn from our Certified Tiny Habits Coaches, how creating habits-- from getting kids to do their homework, reducing screentime and even eating carrots-- can be fun and easy.

So, come join us--we can't wait to meet you and show you how starting tiny can result in big changes.

Humanizing User Experience Design Strategies with New Technologies: AR, VR, MR, and AI to Support Student Engagement and Retention in Higher Education

Today, I'm pleased to announce the book chapter I co-authored with Mercedes Fisher, Ph.D. for "International Perspectives on the Role of Technology in Humanizing Higher Education" is now available on both the Emerald Publishing website and Amazon!

Our chapter is focused on using new technologies like AR, VR, Zoom, and AI to support student engagement in higher education.

The Gen Z Frequency Translated into Chinese Language Edition

I'm so proud and excited to announce that my book, The Gen Z Frequency, has been translated into a Chinese language edition by Blue Lion Press and Zhejiang University Press.

Just like the original version of the book, the Chinese language edition offers a comprehensive guide for any youth brand or organization trying to reach Gen Z.

"Many books talk about Gen Z, but this is a definitive playbook for modern marketers and business people to authentically engage an emerging generation."

-Stefan Heinrich, Head of Global Marketing, ByteDance (TikTok)

The book covers content creation, connecting with youth culture, online community and content engagement strategies, and tactics such as social media, experiential, emerging technologies (like AR and VR), kids' privacy law, building online communities, embracing youth culture, and much more.

 

 

'The internet is all around us': How children come to understand the Internet

While children are living more of their lives online, little is known about what they understand about the implications of their online participation.

In this report, the Tiana Murray & Rachel Buchanan report on the Best Footprint Forward project conducted at the University of Newcastle (UON), which explored how children come to understand the internet.

Thirty-three children (ranging in age from 10 to 12 years old) from three primary schools in regional Australia participated in focus groups and created a work sample depicting the internet.

Analysis of the focus group transcripts and work samples revealed that while the children’s understanding of the internet was not technical, their knowledge was developed through the social activities that they engaged in online, and influenced by the interactions they have in their ‘real life’ with parents, teachers, and friends.

The children in the study demonstrated ambivalence about the internet; they regularly went online for a variety of purposes but these positive experiences were tempered by concerns and fears. This research presents a nuanced perspective of children’s knowledge of the internet; by rejecting the notion that children are naïve, passive consumers of digital culture, analysis of their understanding reveals it to be balanced and sophisticated.

You can read the full study below. 

How The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Will Reshape Online Privacy for Kids’ Across America

Here's my latest piece for Virtual Reality Pop! magazine, this time focused on the new privacy law, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and how it will impact both publishers and creators of digital experiences for kids, including virtual reality.

The primary challenge for many companies is that to be CCPA compliant, they will now be required to acquire actual knowledge of a users age, and by doing so, it may potentially open them to COPPA liability.

The primary benefit for kids, teens, and families are that the CCPA will give parents and teens more control over what personal data companies can collect from minors.

Gen Z, Privacy & Photos on Social Media

MediaSmarts has been developing digital and media literacy programs and resources for Canadian homes, schools and communities since 1996.

Through their work, Media Smarts supports parents, educators and youth media professionals with information and tools so they can help children and teens develop the critical thinking skills they need for interacting with the media they love.

Building on the privacy findings from their Young Canadians in a Wired World research, this 2017 qualitative study, To Share or Not to Share, of Gen Z youth ages 13 to 16 examines the reasoning that teens apply when deciding to share photos of themselves or other people electronically.

These interviews explore the ways that reputational privacy and social norms impact teens’ decisions to post photos and investigate whether or not they actively consent to the collection and use of their personal information by the platforms they use for sharing photos. The findings of the Media Smarts study also dovetailed with my own research for my book, The Gen Z Frequency.

Key Highlights

• Participants engaged in a number of different strategies to manage their privacy. Though a small number of photos were kept entirely private, most of the participants’ efforts were aimed at controlling who saw particular photos and preventing them from being spread to unintended audiences.
  
  
• A small number of topics were seen as not appropriate to share because they were seen as “private” (as opposed to not being shared out of fear of a negative.
  
  
• Photos containing family members were the most commonly cited as not appropriate to share because they were seen as “private”, though some participants included close friends as well.
  
  
• Snapchat, where photos are temporary by default, creates an expectation of being casual and “fun”, while Instagram’s persistent feed promotes the careful maintenance of a public-facing profile.
  
  
• When participants actively sought consent before posting photos of friends, the question was generally not “Should I share it?” but “Which one should I share?”, with the emphasis on selecting a photo in which everyone looks good according to the standards of the platform.

 

LinkedIn For Good: Youth Development and Social Impact Programs

A recent study conducted by the U.S. Health and Human Services shows that youth aging out of foster care have very low levels of employment and earnings. As a result, many of these foster program youth will end up being homeless. It is estimated that there are currently 1 million homeless and displaced youth in America. Research conducted by the Boston University of Public Health found that a majority of homeless youth still have access to social media and technology.

One vital step we can take towards reducing the impact of aging out of foster care is to help them develop job skills, career resources and, most importantly, the mentoring required to assist them to find employment before they age out of the system. Doing so will greatly improve their both their employment and economic opportunity outcomes.

Ideally, this would be accomplished through 1:1 mentoring, but there are also lots of fantastic youth development resources available online, including on LinkedIn. While primarily designed for the wider youth demographic, these resources are especially relevant for youth currently in the foster care system.

LinkedIn for Students from LinkedIn for Good

LinkedIn has put together an impressive set of resources for youth--both in and out of the foster system--who are preparing to enter the workforce. Created as part of the LinkedIn for Good initiative, this set of social impact resources offers everything from tips on how to create a professional profile, to job seeker tips, best practices on how to network, finding a mentor, along with a huge catalog of online courses to learn new skills.

In 2017, LinkedIn for Good programs reached 1 million underserved youth, veterans, refugees, employees and nonprofits as part of their mission to unlock greater opportunity for all.

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

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.

The Power of Play: Sqord Gets Kids Up and Healthy

 

Sqord is an motivational entertainment company that creates fun, social experiences for kids and families around healthy habits.

The company's first product is low cost wearable device tightly coupled with  an interactive mobile game app to inspire and reward healthy, "active play." Together, the Sqord Activity Pod and Sqord Game App provide kids and parents with a fun and convenient way to encourage kids to get up, get active and get healthy! 

Sqord is all about encouraging group play as a way to build healthier kids - – physically, socially and emotionally. One part social community, one part fitness tracker, one part game – Sqord tracks movement in the real world and converts it into Sqord Activity Points that kids can use in the Sqord App to unlock cool new features such as messaging and sending high 5’s to friends, upgrading their PowerMe avatars and much more.  

Kids can compete with their friends  - or the world - in head to head challenges on the Sqord leader board, encouraging friendly competition and motivation – all in a 100% safe, easy and fun experience built just for them.

Sqord App Features

The Sqord Activity Pod tracks movement in the real world and converts it into Sqord Activity Points that kids can use in the Sqord App. The more Sqord Activity Points they earn, they unlock more and more cool interactive game levels in the Sqord game app!

• Kids can create and customize their very own PowerMe character inside the online world. 

• The Sqord Activity Pod inspires, motivates and tracks your play— converting that play into Activity Points. Use points to unlock cool new features such as messaging friends, upgrading your PowerMe, and much more!

• Compete on the Sqord leader board and in head-to-head challenges with your friends -- or the world. Parents can also set goals for their kids and create unique Awards to further incentivize healthy active play

• Send quick High Fives or Squawks to your friends, and all kid-safe, parent-approved. The Sqord App is specially designed to make sure all interactions are 100% safe, easy, and fun for kids of all ages
  
  
• Sqord has also been named a partner of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move initiative focused on kids health
  
  
• Sqord is now available on Amazon!

 

 

Brad Montague: "Don't Hide Your Magic"

IBrad Montague is the creator of Kid President, the popular web series featured on Rainn Wilson's Soul Pancake YouTube channel that has been viewed more than 16 million times.

With a passion for helping foster creativity and compassion in young people he is constantly creating new and unique ways to make the world a better and more childlike place.

In this podcast, Brad sits down with Branden Harvey, a storyteller, social media pioneer and doer of good deeds!

These are two of my favorite people, so it's great to have them together in the same podcast! Both Branden and Brad are really inspiring and it's such a treat to listen to them both talk about their creative process.

As a bonus, Brad shares the Kid President origin story (Hi, Kid Prez!) and a reminder to not to "Hide Your Magic." So sit back, relax and dream better dreams!

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!

How Kids Content Will Drive Adoption of Virtual Reality

I stumbled across this really terrific  article on the life cycle of virtual reality in the kids education and entertainment market--well worth reading for anyone involved in the kid/tween/teen media and education worlds. 

"Once the VR space takes hold, kids will ultimately become "world-smiths," as they create immersive social experiences utilizing powerful, easy-to-use tools found on 3D user-generated content platforms.

These platforms will empower children to create and distribute VR content for consumption by their peers."

 

 

It's Approved! New Kids & Social Media Patent!

One of the patents I worked on while at The Walt Disney Company (TWDC), Dynamic Trust Score for Evaluating Ongoing Online Relationships, was just approved by the U.S. Patent Office! It was a team effort and centers around kids, privacy and social media. I've included a copy of the full patent below!

 

ABSTRACT

A method is provided for a dynamic trust score for evaluating ongoing online relationships. By considering a plurality of user data variables and using validation data from internal and external database sources, a trust score with a high degree of confidence may be provided for establishing and verifying online relationships.

Since the trust score may be dynamically recalculated periodically or on demand, the trust score may also validate over continuing periods of time, as opposed to conventional verification systems that only validate at a single point in time.

Thus, a higher degree of safety, reliability, and control is provided for online services directed towards children or other user classes that may require greater protection.

 

 Dynamic Trust Score for Evaulating Ongoing Online Relationships by Derek E. Baird on Scribd