Youth Advocacy in SNAs: Challenges for Addressing Health Disparities

Social networking applications (SNAs) have been touted as promising platforms for activism: they provide a platform by which voices can be heard and collective action mobilized. Yet, little work has studied the suitability of existing SNAs for enabling youth advocacy efforts. We conducted an intensive 5-week qualitative study with 10th graders to understand how existing SNAs support and inhibit youth advocacy. We contribute to the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) by explicating several themes regarding the barriers youth face when using SNAs for advocacy, features in existing SNAs that are not suitable for youth advocacy, and the peer pressure youth perceive when advocating for serious issues in these environments. We conclude with recommendations for how existing SNA features could be reformed to better support youth advocacy.

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