eModeration works with Poke and Barnardo’s to moderate videos and messages submitted for the Christmas Day The Teens’ Speech::

Hundreds of teenagers responded to a call from children’s charity Barnardo’s to submit videos for the Christmas Day The Teens’ Speech, according to eModeration, which moderated each of the submitted videos.

Young people aged between 13 and 19 were invited to submit videos on a dedicated YouTube channel, MySpace page, and via The Teens’ Speech blog. They uploaded their views on topics as diverse as crime, drugs, sex and relationships, money, family and friends, cultural diversity, politics and their views on Britain’s future.  A selection of contributors were invited to participate in The Teens’ Speech film which was premiered on the MySpace homepage at 3:10pm GMT on Christmas Day.  It is a brutally honest, intimate and often moving view of Britain through the eyes of its teenagers.

 Teens responded positively, taking the opportunity to upload serious commentary on British society, and although every upload was checked, they proved themselves trustworthy: there was very little content that could not be posted.  As you would expect from a campaign aimed at teenagers, discussion was enabled across multiple platforms: the Teens’ Speech blog, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and the Barnardo’s website.  Naturally, each of these comments was also moderated by eModeration to ensure that the conversations stayed ‘clean’.

 Peter Beech, the partner running the project at Poke, said: “The Teens’ Speech was an opportunity to give a voice to teenagers to express their views on Britain today, and the issues they face. These are the people who will shape the future of Britain, so their views matter. Ensuring teenagers have promising and happy futures should be a national concern, which is why we created The Teens’ Speech. We wanted the experience to be a very positive one, so eModeration’s work in moderating the content submitted to the project was vital, to make sure no-one was exposed to abusive, illegal or inappropriate content.”

 Tamara Littleton, CEO of eModeration, said: “Barnardo’s does an amazing job of helping children and teenagers in Britain. Teens are a much-maligned and often-ignored group, and yet their views are incredibly important to our future. We have a duty both to listen to their views and protect them from abuse: physical, verbal and virtual. Our job is to work with organisations like Barnardo’s to ensure that the content they see online is safe.”

Further press information:

Kate Hartley

Carrot Communications

Tel: +44 (0)771 406 5233