Young Scot “exhilarated” by digital challenges

For over 30 years, Young Scot has been supporting young people to make informed decisions and choices.  In that time a lot has changed though our core principle has not – to provide all young people aged 11-26 with a relevant and engaging mix of information, ideas and opportunities. The way we do it however has changed dramatically and for us, that’s the challenge: making sure we stay at the cutting edge of digital developments, as demanded by our audience, whilst at the same time ensuring that no young person is left behind. We’re not afraid of this challenge – it’s an exhilarating place to be. Two years ago, we made a decision to become “digital by design”. Why? Because that’s what young people told us they wanted. In that same year, we developed our core approach to engaging with young people – co-design. This was a step beyond consultation, involving them more systematically in co-operative and co-productive development of Young Scot’s products and services. We are still exploring, but with over 560,000 Young Scot NEC members across Scotland, we have ready access to an audience who can provide us with insights as they too learn to navigate their digital lives. In a rapidly changing world, it’s a constant process of review and renewal, working alongside the young people we serve, who we see as both experts of their own experience and agents of change.

We work hard to try to stay on top of emerging social media trends to make sure we provide information in the digital spaces where young people are gathering

Being online allows us to easily be responsive and reactive to what young people are telling us.  We are able to respond to emerging issues, providing immediate, quality information through a range of digital and rich media formats, including video, audio, images, infographics, tweets, posts and news/alert formats. We use data and performance to feed future content, campaigns and communications with our demographic. We recognise that a “device first” stance for creation of all digital channels is essential, and we have developed apps such as the Young Scot "Near Me" with localised content. We work hard to try to stay on top of emerging social media trends to make sure we provide information in the digital spaces where young people are gathering. Although young people are active adopters of all things digital, a small, but significant percentage do not have the same access or digital skills and they play a key part in our approach.  The work of the youth engagement specialists in our Outreach team is a critical part of ensuring that all young people can benefit from Young Scot’s services.  Our Mobile Youth Information Zone and InfoMobiles, staffed by the team and complete with the latest technology, can regularly be found interacting directly at youth events, Freshers’ Fayres, even T in the Park. There’s more to be done, though.  First up is research, drilling down into the statistics relating to that relatively small percentage of young people who aren’t engaged online – what do we all need to do to help kick-start their participation?  What are the barriers they face? Is it about hardware? Is it about capability? We need to help all young people become digitally literate, to develop digital skills and make sure they fully understand their digital identities – so we are working hard on our own contribution to addressing that need. This is not about technology for its own sake – it is about purpose. We have fallen in love with the possibilities it offers to young people to build opportunities and make informed decisions and choices. However, we cannot and will not forget that not all young people have had the opportunity to grasp these possibilities yet – we invite you to join us in ensuring that no young person is left behind and all young people can fulfil their potential as active and engaged citizens, and to making Scotland the best place in the world to grow up.