My colleague, Leigh Anne, recently brought the Digital Youth Project to my attention. It is the largest and most comprehensive study of kids’ internet use ever to be undertaken.

The three general objectives of the project were to:

• Describe kids as active innovators using digital media rather than as passive consumers of popular culture or academic knowledge.
• Think about the implications of kids’ innovative cultures for schools and higher education and to engage in a dialogue with educational planners.
• Advise software designers about how to use kids’ innovative approaches to knowledge and learning in building better software.

The project lasted three years and its results can be found in a 55-age white paper, a two-page brief, and a full-length book entitled , “Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media.” It included the work of 28 researchers and research collaborators and was funded by the MacArthur Foundation. It’s a fascinating read and worthwhile for anyone who works in education or youth marketing or just wants to stay abreast of how the youth of today experience and approach internet use.

David Armano of Logic + Emotion lays out a conceptual framework for online community building in an article in AdAge.  Everyone wants engagement with their brand.  The problem is that most companies believe that viral strategies are the only (or at least the best) way to do this.  Armano makes the case that community building offers a more achievable goal:

[U]nlike viral, community requires a different set of objectives, strategy and tactics around measurement. Yet, intuitively, brands realize there is value to them. That’s because if we take our bright and shiny marketing hats off for a moment, we realize that it’s likely we are part of them. … People who use social networks also feel like they’re part of a larger community of people they relate to.

Regardless of whether you’re considering starting an online community, Armano provides a concise framework for any online presence—and for any brand initiative for that matter:

Content
When considering community initiatives, there are three questions to ask: Where will the content come from? Does it provide indisputable value? Can a regular flow of quality content be maintained?

Context
Context means understanding how to meet people where they are and serving them the right experience at the right time. Well-designed applications and functionality have great opportunities to deliver on context.

Connectivity
… It’s not about mass communications but more about the micro-interactions …. Designing experiences that support thousands of micro-interactions means you are making a commitment vs. trying to produce a one-hit wonder. …

Continuity
Communities … need to be flexible to evolve while still providing a valuable and consistent user experience which can be sustained.

Read the full article here.