Facebook for Teen T1s?

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Patricia

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Hello all

I've been puzzling over this for couple of weeks... Since my article in Balance (thank you, thank you!), I've been contacted by several carers of teens with type 1 -- like, ten! Several I see have migrated here, which is all good. There are several who haven't, but this may happen in time, or we may continue to talk over on my blog, which of course is also fine.

My concern really is about the teens themselves. Many of them are non-compliant, or certainly going through a rough time. I remember a long time ago this forum discussed trying to get together a) a teen thread here or b) a separate teen website... We were all up for the latter, and quite sensibly the former seemed more fragmenting than is useful or best for this forum -- which I firmly believe is still the case. There is also the issue of moderating for under 16's, which could be a little sticky if advertised as such...

A separate website, though a good idea, seemed too difficult to get up and running -- and teens may not use it.

SO. I've looked on facebook and there doesn't appear to be a Teen/Young Adult T1 group...

I think it would be wrong for me to set one up. I'm not a teen nor do I have T1 -- and it's precisely in order to step away from parental/authority requirements that I think the group is needed....

Any of you older T1 teens feel like taking this on? I could ask my son to start one, and I think he might...but he also might join. And perhaps the children of carers who have visited my site -- non-compliant or not! -- may be persuaded too...As long as it's clear this is not run by nor for parents or carers, of course.

Thoughts? I'm willing to help in any way possible. But it is clear to me from the messages I've received that there's a hole here...

Best,

Patricia
 
Patricia said:
Hello all

I've been puzzling over this for couple of weeks... Since my article in Balance (thank you, thank you!), I've been contacted by several carers of teens with type 1 -- like, ten! Several I see have migrated here, which is all good. There are several who haven't, but this may happen in time, or we may continue to talk over on my blog, which of course is also fine.

My concern really is about the teens themselves. Many of them are non-compliant, or certainly going through a rough time. I remember a long time ago this forum discussed trying to get together a) a teen thread here or b) a separate teen website... We were all up for the latter, and quite sensibly the former seemed more fragmenting than is useful or best for this forum -- which I firmly believe is still the case. There is also the issue of moderating for under 16's, which could be a little sticky if advertised as such...

A separate website, though a good idea, seemed too difficult to get up and running -- and teens may not use it.

SO. I've looked on facebook and there doesn't appear to be a Teen/Young Adult T1 group...

I think it would be wrong for me to set one up. I'm not a teen nor do I have T1 -- and it's precisely in order to step away from parental/authority requirements that I think the group is needed....

Any of you older T1 teens feel like taking this on? I could ask my son to start one, and I think he might...but he also might join. And perhaps the children of carers who have visited my site -- non-compliant or not! -- may be persuaded too...As long as it's clear this is not run by nor for parents or carers, of course.

Thoughts? I'm willing to help in any way possible. But it is clear to me from the messages I've received that there's a hole here...

Best,

Patricia
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try diabetic rockstar. It's a ning network and aimed more at teens and young people than somewhere like tudiabetes

http://www.diabeticrockstar.com/
 
Brilliant ...I am also not a teen and T2 but if i can help in anyway let me know xxx i have clearence from 4 years ago when i worked in a school if that helps
 
yes, if someone decides to make the move forward to set something up as an offshoot of here (although like you say i imagine there would be huge protection issues), i would be more than happy to help do anything i can! like am i have police checks (i had to have like 3 last year for the different jobs i did!)
 
I turned 21 yesterday, if you dont think im too old I'd like to set up a facebook group for teenagers.
 
smile4loubie said:
I turned 21 yesterday, if you dont think im too old I'd like to set up a facebook group for teenagers.
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it would be difficult on fb, as there are laws about being 16 and whatnot (it doesn't stop them...they just lie about their age...)

The best bet is a ning network. Its really easy to use and an excellent site.

Saying that, there are already ning networks out there. Obviously tudiabetes but thats more aimed at adults. Diabetic rockstar is a good example, but again I think a lot of adults use it.
 
SilentAssassin1642 said:
it would be difficult on fb, as there are laws about being 16 and whatnot (it doesn't stop them...they just lie about their age...)

The best bet is a ning network. Its really easy to use and an excellent site.

Saying that, there are already ning networks out there. Obviously tudiabetes but thats more aimed at adults. Diabetic rockstar is a good example, but again I think a lot of adults use it.
Click to expand...

you lots knowledge of the internet is amazing ....is a Ning site a networking site ?
 
It's also got to be something that teens will actually DO. It's all well and good setting something up, but if it's not used it'll be a bit heartbreaking...That's why I was thinking about FB -- because then at least they might 'encounter' it rather than have to search it out or whatever... things happen naturally on FB.

Saying that: can you do this Ning thing (yes I am 46!) and promote it on FB? Maybe that's a way through?

Hmmm....

Lou, you'd be great, yes. Sam, whatdya think is the way forward?
 
Patricia said:
It's also got to be something that teens will actually DO. It's all well and good setting something up, but if it's not used it'll be a bit heartbreaking...That's why I was thinking about FB -- because then at least they might 'encounter' it rather than have to search it out or whatever... things happen naturally on FB.

Saying that: can you do this Ning thing (yes I am 46!) and promote it on FB? Maybe that's a way through?

Hmmm....

Lou, you'd be great, yes. Sam, whatdya think is the way forward?
Click to expand...

yes, you can easily promote it on fb - set up a fan page of the site etc, it can be promoted elsewhere. For instance, tudiabetes has a fanpage on fb.

Like I said the only problem with fb is that it has laws for younger teens etc.

Here ya go: http://www.ning.com/

It can be very easily set up - but we would probably need a team of staff behind us etc as when (i say when lol) it gets off its feet there could be a lot of members flocking in.

except come july you have to pay for it........
 
I really do feel that there is a huge need for somewhere like this, but I do think that, in order to be safe and securely monitored, it needs to be funded in some way. You'd want the kids to feel safe so they could be as honest and open as possible or it just wouldn't work and there wouldn't be sufficient interest over time to keep people engaged. I think you only need to look at how open many people are here, and how threatened many feel when someone comes along and disrupts things.

Whilst we would all wish for something informal and free that only honest and genuine people would use, the interweb simply is not like that, unfortunately. Even on a fairly well monitored site like this one, people can get away with masquerading as someone they aren't for months until something trips them up. We have a few tools to help us 'discover' such people, but I think you would need some more or less 'bulletproof' way of identifying members and proving identities.

As I know you're all aware, we're not just talking about your average teen (although they would be that as well, of course!), but potentially very vulnerable young people because they are coping with a very difficult, chronic condition, and maybe more open to deception and danger at times because of that.

I'm just thinking aloud really, and basing things on how I would want my nieces to be protected and also my experiences here as a moderator/admin. I'll probably think of more things! Forgive me if you think I'm talking nonsense! 🙂
 
Hi Northerner

In principle I agree completely with all this. Lord knows I want more than anything for our kids to be safe -- and as you say, they are potentially vulnerable.

What I can't seem to weigh up well enough though is the risk of them NOT being so with the risk of them feeling generally unsupported, misunderstood etc -- and not looking after themselves as a consequence.

Sigh. It really feels a catch 22, and is a delicate situation. Already my E is slightly suspicious of anything with DUK etc on it (less so for JDRF) -- and he's the open sort!

I also think it HUGELY valuable to listen to your moderating experience. I truly think of you as KING moderator -- and this site's success is largely due I think to the real alertness and attention of moderation...

So. Where to go and what to do? Maybe I'm being too pessimistic, and maybe a separate site would gather enough people, and be friendly and well managed -- and not top-down, bossy and parental! -- and able to be promoted well through FB etc... Maybe.

I look at TuDiabetes though -- find it mind-boggling confusing, and don't seem to see that much use is made -- in the friendly, supportive way we work here -- of its facilities. I'm not sure it's a useful road to go down, therefore...

I think Katie was initially interested in this... Did anyone ever pursue funding? Again I think the obvious ones are DUK, JDRF and Wellcome Trust...
 
I will ask my contact at DUK what his thoughts are - they must have had this put to them before, so maybe they have some ideas/done some research already. You're right about Tudiabetes, it's not really much of a forum - certainly not for the UK group on there and I've never used it much for that either. Good for blogs and the promotion thereof!
 
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