Teenagers and youths seem to spend more and more time on internet and on social network applications. It may be a way (I am not sure effective or not) to reach them. Many spend more time on the computer than with family members. Some research suggested youths are searching the internets for methods of suicide.
INTERESTING STATISTICS FOR THE TOP 10 SOCIAL MEDIA SITES (http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/07/social-media-sites-statistics.html)
Social media is that dominating force in the modern world that can change minds, catch more business, increase sales or build and shape a brand or business. Have you fallen prey to spending hours on Facebook, or waking up at midnight to check for Tweets? This is because of the impact social media has on all of us these days. Over the years, social media sites have also proven to be effective platforms for marketing. Below are a few interesting stats for the top 10 popular social media sites.
1. Facebook
This is the biggest social networking site with the largest number of users. There are more than 1 million small or medium sized businesses advertising here and it is estimated that larger companies are spending as much as $100 million on Facebook advertising per year.
2. Twitter
Twitter is loved for spreading the word via tweets. This site has revolutionized social media. Approximately 81 percent of Twitter’s advertising revenue comes from mobile and there is a $200,000 cost estimated for a 24-Hour Promoted Trend on Twitter.
3. LinkedIn
LinkedIn helps to build professional networks and engagement with other users. It is the world’s largest professional network being used for this purpose. Today, it has over 332 million users and each second adds two new members, all of which attracts marketers.
4. Google +
This site has 300 million monthly active users and is used for relationship marketing. It has over a 53 percent positive interaction between Google+ users and brands.
5. YouTube
YouTube is expected to generate $5.6 billion in gross revenue in 2016. Currently, there are 6 billion hours of video watched on YouTube per month and 1 billion videos watched over mobile phones per day.
6. Pinterest
Pinterest marketing is another social media tool helping brands to grow rapidly. There are over 70 million users of Pinterest of which 80 percent are women and 20 percent are men. Over 9 million users have connected their accounts to Facebook.
7. Instagram
Marketers know the usefulness of Instagram marketing and use Instagram to market products and services. It is a wonderful platform to share visual stories. There are more than 300 million monthly active users on Instagram, of which 75 million are daily active users. Instagram is widely being used for business marketing.
8. Tumblr
This microblogging platform is used for sharing photos, videos, audio, quotes, text or anything that you’d like to market. It has more than 420 million users and 217 million blogs created, making it a favorite.
9. Flickr
This image and video hosting social network has over 3.5 million images uploaded daily by users and offers massive online photo storage.
10. Reddit
Reddit is a social networking site used for entertainment purposes, where registered members share content and direct links. It has 174 million monthly unique visitors.
Reddit has a "Suicide Watch" subreddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/SuicideWatch/
Hi Bob, I don't have specific details on this, but Facebook, Google, and most other big social media players have active and evolving protocol for improving suicide prevention efforts. For example, I believe Google automatically places some suicide prevention/support sites at the top of most?/all? searches using the word "suicide". Facebook has a system for immediately reporting concerning posts - such as messages of suicide intent. Colleagues and I have been working on better integrating various online support/treatment/prevention sites with other media.
Your directions on this are spot on, but there doesn't seem to be any good summary of what is out there.
Hi Keith, many thanks for your inputs. I would think it is important to share your findings.
1. There have been research which identified that there has been an increasing trend of people leaving their "suicide" messages or notes on social network like FaceBook, instead of the traditional hand-written note, some days before taking their lives, some a few hours, implying there may be a window for (effective) intervention.
2. Facebook recently reported that they have developed a new anti-suicide apps which was successfully trial-run in US, and will be rolled out globally. I wrote to them but do not get any response. As many preventive measures are moving towards community-based approach, I think there may be some similar psychological factors involved here to make the prevention programme more effective - well, another one of those F2F vs online thingy, but they may share some similar factors. Previously, I read that FB track certain key words (well, I haven't read which words they track), and if it detects it from someone's posting, they will send an "anonymous" email to him in a nice way and invite him or her to call certain numbers or to connect online, etc. Maybe I should try this. I don't know it will be a pop-up message or an anonymous email (of which I will not know if I don't check my mailbox). I have no information of their new so-called new anti-suicide apps.
3. I just typed "suicide" on Google. This is the message that pops up. "You're not alone. Confidential help is available for free. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Provides help to those in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. Call 1-800-273-8255. Available 24 hours everyday. [Online Chat]." I am not sure whether anybody has research on the effectiveness of having this kind of standard "disclosure" or "notice" or whatever we should call them, especially since teenage and young adult group use the world wide web a lot. Furthermore, I am not sure whether they customise or provide options for people from different countries, cultural background, religion, etc., or it is a standard message across. Honestly, if I see this message with a toll-free number, I won't call ... I am also not sure whether they have engaged researchers on how best to get the high-risk group to interact ... i.e. to connect with them.
4. Suicide is about society (well from Durkheim and sociology viewpoint) ... and if these social network builds a "society" of their own (and which sometimes supersede the communication (well, if we view it psychologically that social network does fulfil some basic human needs of communicating) hours they spend on F2F method, and in the process makes a lot of money, I think it is fair to examine their role as a responsible corporate citizen, and invest some resources on suicide prevention programmes, instead of just focusing on marketing messages. They have successfully become part of the society ... and perhaps should review their role as a responsible member of the society? This is some "innovation" that can really help mankind.
Regards, [email protected]
Very interesting points Bob! There are many directions you point to that should be better researched and understood. That is not so easily done though. For example, your google search for 'suicide,' almost certainly produced some different results than if I did the same search. Yours would even get different results than your next door neighbor. Google does have stats on how many clicks they get on those sponsored links though, and that could partly answer one question.
Best wishes,
Keith
Very interesting topic. I have typed SUICIDE at FB. They have left my post at my wall. Typing SUICIDE at Google many sites regarding Help for those who might commit suicide came up. Is it really helpful to see those sites and not clicking at them?
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