Author: Rebecca Staed

Rules of Attraction

research_150.jpgYou can count on youth media websites to be packed with powerful, teen-produced content. But while a lot of time and effort goes into creating those radio snippets, videos, and articles, few youth media nonprofits have the budget to put as much energy into making their site’s design appeal to teens. Others hire web specialists who may not be experts in teen design. As a result, some youth media groups’ websites are more alluring to adults than to their target audience. This is a missed opportunity—no matter how strong the content, a website that is not designed with youth in mind will fail to attract teen visitors, according to a new study by the Nielsen Norman Group (NNG).
“Teens pay more attention to web design than do adults,” NNG concludes in Teenagers on the Web: 60 Usability Guidelines for Creating Compelling Websites for Teens. Researchers studied 38 adolescents from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds (46 percent came from households with an income of less than $30,000) as they performed tasks on the web (like trying to find information on Marie Curie).
Some of the findings may sound obvious to those working with teens, such as the “discovery” that young people crave venues to express themselves. Other conclusions challenge typical teen stereotypes, like the misconception that today’s youth are techno-geniuses in need of constant visual and aural stimulation. (Actually, teens prefer simple design schemes and may be less adept at finding information on the web than adults, the study found.)

Some of the report’s conclusions challenge typical teen stereotypes, like the misconception that today’s youth are techno-geniuses in need of constant visual and aural stimulation.

The NNG report translates these findings into clear guidelines for how to make a website work well for teens. For all who design, edit, or facilitate youth websites, NNG’s tips on what attracts teen attention are worth heeding. After all, the web can be a powerful means of getting youth-produced work in the hands (or on the computers) of one of youth media’s primary audiences—teens themselves. Here are some of the guide’s highlights:
Let teens chat and talk. Make sure your site is interactive. Quizzes, polls, message boards, games, or questions asking for feedback allow teens to meet new friends, share ideas, and believe their ideas matter and can make a difference. Interactive websites send that message. (So does giving teens a platform to showcase their own media, come to think of it…)
Make the site easy to use and understand. NNG cites three factors for why young people may not be the techno whiz kids so many people assume they are—teens’ still-developing reading skills, research abilities, and, uh, patience. Whether or not this sounds to you like more teen stereotyping, you’ll probably agree with the study’s resulting tips for web design. To create an effective teen site, NNG says, make everything clear. Provide lots of visible links that change color to show visited areas and clear cross-references with links to related material. Make the “search” box easy to find.
Keep it clean. A common misconception is that teens want loud, glitzy graphics, reports NNG. Actually, teens like a minimalist, clean layout. They prefer a large font (so they can lean back in their chairs while reading), tabulated borders, and need-to-know information only. Jumbled, verbose content is a major turnoff. Nor are teens fond of fancy animation schemes, pop-ups, or annoying sound effects.
Don’t call it a “kids’” or “youth” site. This may be bad news for organizations with the word “youth” in their names, but NNG’s study found that the terms “can be completely misinterpreted by teens.” While the report did not explain what beef, exactly, teens have with the word “youth,” it did relay that teens avoid sites that appear too childlike, and “detest” being called “kids.” The bottom line: teens like being called “teens.”
Use classy colors and cutting-edge design. Think Macs.
Make it fast. Not every teen has high-speed access or a top-notch computer. Slow-running sites and long download times can be annoying, to say the least.
Let teens click for information. Teens prefer to click than to scroll, so limit the scrolling, please.
Intrigued? You can learn (much) more by buying Teenagers on the Web for, gulp, $149. The price may be worth it. The easy-to-follow, 129-page report offers 60 detailed design guidelines along with pictures of exemplary sites and supporting research explaining how and why these tips work for teens. It also provides commonsense advice for how to get teens to articulate their thoughts during studies. (Assure young people that there are no “right” or “wrong” answers—and no intimidating white lab coats, please.) The report can be downloaded from the Nielsen Norman Group website.
As for the study’s conclusion that adults may be able to out-websurf us youth, I have some difficulty believing it. It takes my mom an hour to type and send a paragraph-long email, and she still hasn’t figured out that “Return” is the same as “Enter.” So for NNG’s next study, I propose a nationwide household challenge to determine web proficiency. Losers do the winner’s homework for a week.
Rebecca Staed worked as an intern at Children’s PressLine.
This article originally appeared on YMR as “What Works on the Web for Teens.”

Continue reading Rules of Attraction

What Works on the Web for Teens

research_150.jpgYou can count on youth media websites to be packed with powerful, teen-produced content. But while a lot of time and effort goes into creating those radio snippets, videos, and articles, few youth media nonprofits have the budget to put as much energy into making their site’s design appeal to teens. Others hire web specialists who may not be experts in teen design. As a result, some youth media groups’ websites are more alluring to adults than to their target audience. This is a missed opportunity—no matter how strong the content, a website that is not designed with youth in mind will fail to attract teen visitors, according to a new study by the Nielsen Norman Group (NNG).
“Teens pay more attention to web design than do adults,” NNG concludes in Teenagers on the Web: 60 Usability Guidelines for Creating Compelling Websites for Teens. Researchers studied 38 adolescents from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds (46 percent came from households with an income of less than $30,000) as they performed tasks on the web (like trying to find information on Marie Curie).
Some of the findings may sound obvious to those working with teens, such as the “discovery” that young people crave venues to express themselves. Other conclusions challenge typical teen stereotypes, like the misconception that today’s youth are techno-geniuses in need of constant visual and aural stimulation. (Actually, teens prefer simple design schemes and may be less adept at finding information on the web than adults, the study found.)

Some of the report’s conclusions challenge typical teen stereotypes, like the misconception that today’s youth are techno-geniuses in need of constant visual and aural stimulation.

The NNG report translates these findings into clear guidelines for how to make a website work well for teens. For all who design, edit, or facilitate youth websites, NNG’s tips on what attracts teen attention are worth heeding. After all, the web can be a powerful means of getting youth-produced work in the hands (or on the computers) of one of youth media’s primary audiences—teens themselves. Here are some of the guide’s highlights:
Let teens chat and talk. Make sure your site is interactive. Quizzes, polls, message boards, games, or questions asking for feedback allow teens to meet new friends, share ideas, and believe their ideas matter and can make a difference. Interactive websites send that message. (So does giving teens a platform to showcase their own media, come to think of it…)
Make the site easy to use and understand. NNG cites three factors for why young people may not be the techno whiz kids so many people assume they are—teens’ still-developing reading skills, research abilities, and, uh, patience. Whether or not this sounds to you like more teen stereotyping, you’ll probably agree with the study’s resulting tips for web design. To create an effective teen site, NNG says, make everything clear. Provide lots of visible links that change color to show visited areas and clear cross-references with links to related material. Make the “search” box easy to find.
Keep it clean. A common misconception is that teens want loud, glitzy graphics, reports NNG. Actually, teens like a minimalist, clean layout. They prefer a large font (so they can lean back in their chairs while reading), tabulated borders, and need-to-know information only. Jumbled, verbose content is a major turnoff. Nor are teens fond of fancy animation schemes, pop-ups, or annoying sound effects.
Don’t call it a “kids’” or “youth” site. This may be bad news for organizations with the word “youth” in their names, but NNG’s study found that the terms “can be completely misinterpreted by teens.” While the report did not explain what beef, exactly, teens have with the word “youth,” it did relay that teens avoid sites that appear too childlike, and “detest” being called “kids.” The bottom line: teens like being called “teens.”
Use classy colors and cutting-edge design. Think Macs.
Make it fast. Not every teen has high-speed access or a top-notch computer. Slow-running sites and long download times can be annoying, to say the least.
Let teens click for information. Teens prefer to click than to scroll, so limit the scrolling, please.
Intrigued? You can learn (much) more by buying Teenagers on the Web for, gulp, $149. The price may be worth it. The easy-to-follow, 129-page report offers 60 detailed design guidelines along with pictures of exemplary sites and supporting research explaining how and why these tips work for teens. It also provides commonsense advice for how to get teens to articulate their thoughts during studies. (Assure young people that there are no “right” or “wrong” answers—and no intimidating white lab coats, please.) The report can be downloaded from the Nielsen Norman Group website.
As for the study’s conclusion that adults may be able to out-websurf us youth, I have some difficulty believing it. It takes my mom an hour to type and send a paragraph-long email, and she still hasn’t figured out that “Return” is the same as “Enter.” So for NNG’s next study, I propose a nationwide household challenge to determine web proficiency. Losers do the winner’s homework for a week.
Rebecca Staed is a junior communication studies major at Hollins University. She worked as an intern at Children’s PressLine last summer and currently works as an intern at the Roanoke Times. She is available for media internships—preferably paid ones—as she is a very poor college student, living on instant oatmeal and Easy Mac.

Continue reading What Works on the Web for Teens

Bringing in the Bling

Rejection builds character.

Maybe I tell myself that because I’ve danced with rejection. My character could touch the sky.

I spent this past summer interning with the youth media nonprofit Children’s PressLine, in New York City. A group of our young reporters and editors were gearing up for the Republican and Democratic national conventions, where they would churn out stories from the hub of the action.

I was in charge of securing various food and material contributions to keep costs down during both convention weeks.

While I knew that nonprofits survive on donations, as a journalism major at Hollins University I also knew that journalists should not accept donations if it compromises journalistic integrity. So before accepting the internship, I asked my supervisor, “How much influence do your donors have on the topics and stories that you cover?”

“None,” she said.

So I took the job. Two months seemed like more than enough time to get everything ready for the conventions. Here’s how I pictured my summer internship: I would make lots of calls, lay on the charm, explain my goal to get free stuff for the kids, and a voice on the other end would proclaim “Yes, of course!” After work, I would shop and soak up music in Central Park. Life really would be a bowl of cherries!

Or so I thought.

When I finally jumped into cold calling what seemed like every food business in Manhattan, I learned that getting donations was far from easy.

Some days were worse than others, not only because of repeated "no’s," but also because of the hang-ups.

You try arguing with the angry buzz of a disconnected telephone call!

Or, after pleading with a pizzeria for what seemed like hours, they sent a single “One Free Large Thin Crust Pizza” coupon in the mail. Did they expect us to divide the pie into 30 scraps and tell the kids, “Just chew slowly?”

Didn’t they understand I was trying to feed an army of growing kids?!

Yet, food was probably the easiest to get. More so than discounted train tickets, computer supplies, cameras, T-shirts, or 30 Boston Duck Tours! Companies kept feeding me poor excuses in a “call someone who cares” tone.

In silent retribution, I compiled a hit list of cold, greedy corporations who couldn’t spare their time, energy, or food—crumbs, really, in the scheme of things—for our small yet notable organization. I vowed to deprive them of my business, as if I were saving society from corporate hunger.

At one point I even considered pitching pride and decency out the 15th-floor office window by teetering to a particular car rental company in heels, a mini-skirt, and low-cut blouse to ask the owner once more if he was certain that he wouldn’t cut us a deal.

He was. But, don’t worry, I called instead.

July arrived, and I began to get the hang of things. Or really, I just got better at it. The more comfortable I got asking for donations and talking about CPL’s mission, the more donations I received. People responded best when I remembered their name, didn’t ramble, and managed not to sound nervous.

By the end of the summer, I had even adopted a gutsy tone, and I rehearsed my pitch before calling. The donations were not exactly rolling in, but these things take time. In the end, I snagged some pretty cool bling (for those of you who don’t know, “bling” means goods.) I got free cell phones and minutes for both conventions, and lots of free food.

So, I’ll share my secrets with you. My logical but hard-earned approach to getting donations in a city you’re not in:

Be a fearless caller. Just like in high school, there are no stupid questions—or wrong companies to call. The best place to start is the Yellow Pages or city guide on the web.

Ask for someone in charge or in public relations. Typically, they are the ones who make these decisions or can direct you to someone else who can. If it’s a worker, keep in mind that they are busy, and cut to the chase.

State your organization’s mission. Why should anyone care about you? Be clear about what you want, why you need it, when you want it by, and how much you want.

Be perceptive and receptive to your audience. Know their values. Is the business small or large? I found family-oriented places the most willing to donate. When I called “mom-and-pop” places, I made it clear that the kids were my top priority, not the food. The kids literally depended upon me for sustenance during both conventions. They were the backbone of the project and deserved the most valiant effort I could give, and people responded to that.

Leave messages and try, try again. If you don’t catch someone the first time, usually, they are curious and will call back. But if someone says they will get back to you, don’t hold your breath. Call back and ask for someone else. Give a pseudo-name the next time. It’s just like going to dad after mom says “no.” We all did it, and a lot of times it worked. And never leave a "maybe" hanging.

Keep a written record of who you talk to, when you talked to them, their position, and their response. It is embarrassing and unprofessional to forget someone’s name or a previous conversation with them.

Pay attention to ads or articles concerning groups that could help you. In my case, the cell phone company that donated phones and minutes targeted a hip, young, urban crowd in their ads, very similar to our kids.

Use your PR skills. If you want something, let them know what you can offer in return. Allow them to share their ideas with you as well. Most companies, I learned, were willing to invest in us if they understood our mission and if we could give some publicity in return. We offered press releases, photo-ops with our kids, or their company name or logo on our T-shirts and banners. A cell phone company requested a focus group with the kids regarding their cell phone experience after both conventions. So that was definitely a win-win situation.

Make things convenient for them. I always offered specific days and times that we would pick up their donation to minimize hesitations over details. After all, donors are giving you their services or products for free, so you want to make it easy for them.

Persuade them that if they say “no” they will miss out on one of the best opportunities of the year. Peer pressure can be a powerful tool of persuasion. When I was trying to persuade someone who sounded hesitant, I mentioned others who had already jumped on the bandwagon, eager about the distinguished guests that would either see or talk with our young reporters at both conventions. Does George W. Bush or Hilary Rodham Clinton ring a bell?

Learn to love rejection. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, right?

In the face of rejection, I say, “Bring it on!”

Rebecca Staed is a junior communication studies major at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. She worked as an intern at Children’s PressLine last summer. She is available for media internships—preferably paid ones, as she is a very poor college student, living on instant oatmeal and Easy Mac.

Continue reading Bringing in the Bling