Counselor Connection
Collaboration is essential for school counselors. This mini-blog is for my counselor colleagues to share ideas, lessons and inspiration
A lot of teens are going to a site called We Heart It. The site is similar to Pinterest, where people post their pictures, but there is one big difference: it's a "bully proof" way for teens to express themselves. Beautiful landscapes, Fashion trends and inspirational quotes all can be found splashed across the pages of We Heart It; a social media site that attracts 20 million users each month. "People use it as a place to find design and fashion inspiration. They also find it just as almost a pick me up in the morning, so our service is a positive and supportive site," said Rhana Edelin, CEO of We Heart It. At first glance, We Heart It looks similar to Pinterest. Users can search for images by keywords, organize them in groups and follow others. But We Heart It CEO Rhana Edelin says the two services are quite different, starting with the user base. "Our demographic is a lot younger," said Edelin. "When we ask our users about what they think of Pinterest, they say 'Yeah, that's the site my mom and my aunt use'." In fact 80 percent of We Heart it users are under 25, and over 50 percent are teens. But cyber bullying isn't an issue on this social media site. Edelin says it has a "bully proof design." "If I am following you or see an image from you...the only thing that I can do is heart that image, which is endorsing it, or I can follow you which is a way to say I want more of those images, and so those are both positive actions," said Edelin. Edelin also credits the site with being a safe place for young adults to explore their ever changing identity. "You can find like-minded people and try out different sort of personas and experiment with different visually imagery to express yourself and see what fits," said Edelin. You can create a profile for We Heart It directly through the website or using your Facebook, Twitter or Google accounts. The We Heart It app is also available for both iOs and android. Read more: http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/24470148/2014/01/16/bully-proof-site-attracts-teens#ixzz2qhPgk1Wn
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AuthorProfessional School Counselor since 2004. National Award winner just trying to make an impact on our profession. Archives
October 2014
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