y to vote and the civically engaged. they are more likely to vote. >> i will throw out a couple of examples. first of all, the harry potter alliance uses parallels from "harry potter" to inspire fans to be heroes. we work for other things besides harry potter. one of those is a group called "nerd fighters." they are nerds who fight. unlike ordinary people who are made of muscle and bone and flesh and the nerves, nerds are made of the force of boston. -- awesome.

awesomenly the force of bosto to beckon fight the world soccer. that is the amount of suck in the world. one of the leaders of this community, john and hank green, they make these amazing youtuber videos. every week. they are brothers, they discarded as a project where they were video blogging to each other. they are really funny and interesting. you can check them out on youtube. vlog brothers. just a quick example. they call their following the nerd fighters. for his birthday there were going to do a big thing. it was going to be a big surprise. they get hundreds of thousands of these every week. they have a strong following. every year to a takeover youtube with people taking over youtube about what is awesome in the world.

youtube has partnered with them. it has been amazing. it has increased awareness for all of these organizations. to speak to his birthday, on his birthday last year, johnson, hank, you are 30. i realize you do not like many things. you do not like stuff. i did not know what to get you. but then i remembered you like oxygen. for your 30th birthday, we have planted 20,000 trees in your name. then he showed a 10 minute video of people in iraq, all over the united states, almost every continent except antarctica. this beautiful music of people planting trees with signs a said happy birthday, hank. we work with them in the aftermath of the earthquake in haiti.

we worked with all of these different people. we reached out to everyone we possibly new including j.k. rowling who sent us seven harry potter bucks. we reached out to the actors in the movies. they donated things and we sold them. you could get a raffle ticket to get those books. or for $70, you can get the guy who played draco sign something. we had all of these famous authors and you to celebrities get on these weathercasts. we were pleading -- tweeting hhh. helping haiti healed. we raised over $123,000 from small donations. that sent five cargo planes full of medical supplies. each of them was named after a different harry potter character.

we all have the power to create these contagious things. who is on facebook? who is on twittered? anybody on youtube? if you did not raise your hands, i would recommend doing it. you are all the sudden famous in this weird way. time magazine made the person of the year you, meaning all of you. we are the ones recreating our world. we have that chance. you're not in this isolated world with in your school and community. you get on the internet and put something up, and one can see it. that is the difference between now and the 1990's. that is totally different and exciting. it means we can make things better contagious. sometimes they will not be contagious, sometimes they are. i used to be a comedian. i put up three videos.

i could not believe that some many people watch them. we're living in a different age. we'll talk more about that. there is so much good we can do. you guys come up with ideas and work with other people to come up with ideas on how that can work. >> i would echo a lot of what he was saying. we're talking about how social media technology foster civic engagement. it is redefining how we look at community. now we are no longer restrain to making connections with people who go to our school and church or who might be in some sort of a club. you can find people connected around one particular piece of content. at this point you are not limited by what you can see. if i can go in -- online for

basketball, politics, what average maybe, you are making authentic connections with people than you would have been able to do 20 years ago. it is that connection from person to person, we are social people. what motivates us is not just our own interest but how those interests can relate to helping to connect with somebody else. now that we can develop community in a different way, that is what provides a lot more connections that precious and motivate us to be more engaged. >> i think that your generation has a huge responsibility. there is so many challenges that we face as a nation and as a world. everything from the economy, we all know people who are out of

work who cannot find jobs. there is the issue of climate change, global warming, there are wars around the world. there are all of these challenges that we face. some of it is not new. our parents faced challenges. our grandparents his face huge challenges. ronald reagan dealt with the challenge of communism in the world. i do think this is a different time. your generation, you guys are going to be called on to deal with some pretty big challenges. one of the things you have that your parents did not have, that your parents to grant -- bram paris did not have, is a way to gain political power and to have a voice that has never existed before in the whole history of the world.

if my grandparents wanted to get a message to the president of the united states, or to round up 1000 people for a cause, it would take years or it might be impossible. but today, you have direct access to people in power through social media. you can get on the president's facebook page. you can get on the white house page. each of your local elected officials, if you have issues in your own community where there are potholes in your road or a crime in your neighborhood, you have immediate access to people in power who can do something about it through social media. you can create facebook group and get hundreds of your friends to join. people will pay attention.

you have no lack of access of power for the first time in history. in the entire history of the world, young people have a voice. they have a seat at the table. they have no way of gaining access to people in power and to government agency and to their local official -- officials and to companies that make decisions that impact millions of lives. with that? s and with that power that has -- with that access and with that power that has never existed, there is also a great responsibility. i think that social media that was invented by your generation, it is going to change the world. if you leverage it in the right way. >> that was an awesome spider- man reference.

anyone seen the first one? uncle ben before he got killed? with great power comes great responsibility. do not make uncle ben die in vain. [laughter] >> i wanted to ask a question. you're asked bridget mentioning challenges. you talk about how young people have a voice and a seat at the table. one of the things that is sometimes said about this generation is that they're given the label of "slacktivists." that you're not really engaged if you click. you're not doing the same thing like malcolm glad well who wrote a piece in the "new yorker" who said that people are not the same sort of activist in the 1960's were sitting at lunch counters. i wanted to get your thoughts to

that charge. the you see it differently? >> there are some good points there. balancing the responsibility without access, we need to think around, it is not necessarily the same thing if i like a facebook page. we need to make sure there is a transition from this digital, passive engagement. how does that connects to what she may actually be doing in your community, donations, mobilizing some other folks. if you're going to be engaged around something, you have to be doing something. liking and sharing a page it does maybe have limited impact or commitment but what they are our tools and the tools box. if we have responsibilities to impact change and we have is different landscape, we do not

want to discount or a means for one person to share that link with 10 people and those 10 people to share with their friends. then within one hour you have something that is spread out to 10,000 people. it might be a passive level of engagement that engagement, sharing that link, leads to 10% of these people taking up that issue or having a better understanding of what the issue may be. they're able to get more deeply involved. we need to appreciate that. the other side of it as well is what i would push back on any other adult who calls this a slacker passive person. we have the responsibility to work with you guys that we understand how you leverage and use the space. how you might better use facebook, twitter, messaging, the skills that you guys are the have. how does that impact the civil- rights era?

there is nothing new under the sun in my mind. we have different tools to have certain types of impact. because there is another generation, there are adults who have -- should have perspective. we should work with young people to make sure that they are educating adults so we understand the space a little bit better. we need to work together to make sure we're not discounting everything you guys are doing. we need to be careful in understanding which each small thing, we need to understand how one shift can have a large impact over time. whether it is the schools, parents, or you guys been more clear about it with yourselves, how do we leverage all of these tools to have an impact and be clear on what the impacts to what are, too.

thank you care about global warming, it is not really that much. if you do have a clear goal, some sort of impact of these you can look at and say, i influence something. i was a part of this community the cared about this thing, i think that is worth recognizing. that is worth us supporting. >> i am glad you mentioned that. someone text did here, i wish my parents could hear this discussion. i think this really goes akili's point. these tools were invented by us and we were the early adopters

and this is an inherent misunderstanding of playing around on facebook all day, and i do not care what you have for breakfast. it is not necessarily about that. but even in the case that it is, where people are joining causes that they are not done in into right away, or not volunteering for four, it is an on-ramp to set the engagement. it is a low barrier entry way of getting someone involved. maybe next time i can ask you for $5 donation in the time after that, if you can come to this block with me. then you will help me champion a team. nobody comes in for social media are not, no one comes in saying i am ready to cure cancer. the comment and say, i am going to take baby steps to find ways that i can use my network in my skills to make a difference. i think social media provides

the opportunity for that. but it is not the end, it is the means to an end. there are some things they're taken granted for a lot away when it comes to opinions and fostering conversations about issues that are important to us, people that we might not get to talk to on a daily basis or might not share this personal things with them in the course of our daily lives. >> i need like five hours to talk about this question. has anyone st. michael -- malcolm collateral -- gladwell? he has a giant afro and he has a big head. he wrote an article that that was ridiculous. it ranged from really important questions that too many people our -- too many take it for

granted. i think you raise some important questions, but historically his summation of the civil rights movement was oversimplified. beyond that, he is like one of the hippest and coolest people out there and i do not know when he decided to be an old man complaining about the kids today. that is what happened in that article and now he is not going back. people are like, malcolm, what about egypt? what about to needs it? people are using facebook and twitter and ending dictatorships. what you think now? he still thinks the same thing he thought before. really, malcolm? i like your afro. there is definitely by of all questions that he posed in that article, but beyond that, the reason why such a silly question, it is like saying, telephones are part of our

lives, right? almost everyone here uses up alone in some way. it permanently changes everything, part of your life. evaluating whether that is important are not is silly. politicians always call people and say vote for me. that is a method of communication. saying that facebook and twitter is not viable, it strikes me as what are we even talking about? it exists. by the way, i take special events -- a fence to the word/-- offense to the word slackivist. or ae who wasn't an actor writer or a comedian, do it now. do not say you are going to. do it right now.

do it with a cause. there are ways to do it. talk to me later. e-mail me. i would get is some tips on how to make a video pirates. does anyone know what fire remains? getting it moving, getting that contagious? just put kittens in the video. everyone will watch it. saying, i.n. around really think. node put in kittens and do we voice overs. or make a parody of a movie coming up here you can do these things and create change that we never could have before. we are at the ronald reagan library. this is someone who is known as the great communicator. he changed permanently the way that we view communications of politics. right now president obama, he would not be president were not for social media. someone else what had been president. you're looking at use things

like reagan and obama, these towering figures in history, and we are towering figures in history now. all of us, you, and thomas friedman, someone i like a lot less than malcolm gladwell, he said the only competition that exists now is between us and our own imaginations. imagine kittens. you can make a video the gets of million views. i know the guy who made the evolution of dance. i knew him before he was famous. is one of the most famous youtube videos and the most poorly video. the most famous video on youtube is a baby by adding another baby's finger. it's ridiculous. have some phreaking fund. i did not like each ledger as

the joker but he said why so serious? we can have the funds and kittens and babies biting each other's fingers and put in a message on how you get involved on things that mattered we see that change in egypt and across the middle east. we're seeing right now and are a communities. if you do not think that you have power, i guarantee your parents do not understand you but, guess, they probably do not. that is ok puking that the world to understand you on facebook and twitter and youtube. -- that is ok. you can get the world to understand one facebook and twitter and utah. >> i am not understanding kittens. >> leave that one alone. >> we have five minutes left before we get to the audience- submitted questions. i would say about one minute a

piece for this question, which is, innovative ways in which organizes and corporates and nonprofits are encouraging civic engagement, especially with the age that we have today. talk about specifically the ways that your work reaches out this audience. >> about five weeks ago, i launched a website called splashlife.com. the website itself, as you come to splashlife, there are opportunities to take action and make a difference and learn about issues that affect young people. and as you learn about those issues to make your read the articles or to comment on them, would you share them on facebook, which you can do right from the site, or you tweak delaying to the article which you can do from the site, you

earn points. we had built this point program around causes were the more points you weren't coming you get deals and discounts and awards on everything that you buy, from computers did genes to airline tickets -- anything that you can imagine. one of the things that we think is important at a splashlife, if you take the time to invest in the world around you or investing your own lives, because there is a lot of information about financial education, how to get a bank account, how to get a job, all those kinds of things -- your earn points. the more you invest in yourself and the life and the world, the more splashlife invests in you. it is trying to add a gaming and one element to it.

we have members what thousands of points already. you earn points, the more that you do. that is what splashlife is doing. >> all my fellow panelists are people i would give examples of incredibly innovative and amazing things. but a lot of what the power that i think these tools do is that it does not require not profits for corporations or governments to empower people. they can do the things themselves. i was not sure if i was going to mention but i saw someone deleted me because they saw was my birthday today. -- some one tweeted me because they sought it was my birthday today. great research. thanks so much for having me.

i also decided to donate my birthday to charity. i started it calls on facebook which allows me to tell people that says, instead of buying it yet, give a donation to this cause. if you want to check it out, you can check out teen rubicon. it helps them the first responders for disasters. of communication and mobilization, not just on the net, but also with supporters about the work that they're doing with social media. i think it is a really great cause. that is an example of not needing an organization to ask you to be involved. another couple of other ways our

applications if you have 10 minutes and a cell phone, you can volunteer. i can sit at the airport, which i will be doing later today, and i can volunteer through my mobile phone. all sorts of all some ways that people are getting involved. the san ramon fire department has an application for your iphone that if you are cpr certified, you can download the at any uses steel and services so that if someone in your immediate vicinity goes into cardiac arrest, it will send you a text message and tell you there is a person three doors down the need cpr. you can go over and probably say that person's life and a lot of ways. that is one of the most innovative and inspiring things i can think of, that even a government institution has been able to use these tools and

technologies. one other example that is amazing -- it is not always about the tools. sometimes we think a lot about my organization hosting a panel recently. we had a fellow from egypt largely through social media. one of the comments was someone saying, the revolution what happened if that had to. it was less about the tools and more about the will of the people. i thought that was interesting and poignant and goes back to making sure that we recognize them as tools and not as the be all and end all. twitter did not overthrow mubarak, the people of egypt did, in the used twitter as a way to help do that. as andrew said, i could take five hours to talk about examples of these things that people are doing. it is so inspiring.

another example of, remember when the ipod came out? on twitter, there were conversations about how bad the name ipad was. people were making jokes about feminine hygiene products. it was really uncomfortable and there was this tampon tag it and it was mortifying. why would they pick the same, block, blah, blah? there was an opportunity to take that name where people were telling these crass jokes making people feel uncomfortable, and said that these are all funny manys, but did you know the people in africa do not have access to a feminine hygiene products. it inhibits them from being able to go to school and get educated because they had to stay home.

what you are joking about ipad and itampon, you can give to these organizations. it was not about twitter. it was not about the fact that twitter did it. she saw something that was happening and turned that into an all fun and opportunity for people to give back. >> that is so cool. what we're doing in the harry potter alliance, like i said, who has read harry potter for smart who has seen the movies? who is looking for to july 15? cool. voldemort in the real world. we're working again horcruxes in the real world very one that causes anxiety and depression,

everything from that to call slavery. it turns out that a lot of hard chocolate is made by child slaves in the ivory coast. their trade chocolate to make that not happen, and make happendisapperate. we have over 15,000 signatures remnant, including one good friend who plays luna in the movies. i'm going to talk to the movies and see how we can make that happen together. we are in the middle doing all these wonderful things the we have done. if we are building a library in brooklyn, the charter school, a total of over 75,000 books across the world. this is all for social media and through chapters working in their schools, starting harry potter alliance chapters. beyond that, there was a quote from take a role in which is marvelous bird we do not need

magic to chase the were pared we have the power within this already. we can imagine better. we're creating a new organization called imagine better. you can talk about how we can take any book, tv show, and movie and make it real. "avatar", let's fight the skype people and the coal industry and help protect pandora and our world. -- in our world. we need to get this all together to work to imagine better. what you're doing every time you log on the facebook, but we can do it better. in harry potter, major is the amoral force. it can be used for good or bad. one teacher friend says that they're going to fight things in

the hallway. that is not good. let's try to use this magic for defense against the dark parts. at that is what we're doing. anyone can get involved with this at the hpa.org. >> i will try to be brief. andrew has asked an interesting question in terms of how many of you are on facebook and twitter and youtube. i would ask the second part to that question -- how many are able access facebook what you are in school? or any social network? from the school computers? that is a surprising number. in california coming you might be ahead. how you too? but-how about youtube? all these tools are tools that you could put into a tool box to

help accomplish would ever go you have all identified. one thing i what throw out there, a challenge toward other educators and policymakers, looking at schools, libraries, anything where kids and teens will interact, how we help you get access but also get the skills to help navigate the spaces and a much more impactful manner. a lot of the work that we have done all his develop a social learning their work were all the schools that we work with and the libraries will work with, all the participants, middle school or high school, can connect to all of their peers and mentors and the work that they are doing through a social network online. we're trying to get the interaction that you are used to doing day to day, whether facebook, twitter, q2 come anywhere else, and understand the value of it and know the connections that you make your those sites, the reflection is

that you have on topics and your sharing, that is important. how can we recognize that and design experience is around that? we're trying to make sure that we can look good things and people that are working with teens, making sure to bring more that into the classroom, the after space -- after school space. we have a partnership with the chicago public library where we tried to remix a library experience. going in and being quiet as possible, getting a book, but it is not much of a dynamic experience. it has been the same thing for however long. in chicago, we have opened up a space for teens to engage in digital media inside of the library. it is strictly for teens. any kid that has a library card can get access to equipment,

like laptop, cameras, music studio, video games, and also access to mentors, professional artists. if you are interesting and videos, you can get connected with a professional video editor. if your ensure it did in music, you get access to music producers or singers that can help you home that craft. you cannot just in time on facebook and youtube, but identify cause search pressure well -- yourself, you have those tools so that you are empowered to be even more impactful. it would be a challenge with all of us to use it in how you want to communicate, those skills that you value, and we need to figure out how to bring that in more. a lot of examples that you have

already talked about in terms of using things that would not be around activism, and we can help you be the new creators of those acts. -- apps. there is one where they can tap into their own network where they have issues with the police in their community predicted report that and it goes out to their own network. that is something that the kids can think of. and they can have their own skills to develop those things to get out there. we have the access now and the transparency to make the new connections. can we take a step further to talk about the skills that you can develop over time that will allow you to make the most out of these spaces? >> one of the cools things about

this panel is that even though we have been no one talking the less we have been no one's talking, you've been part of the conversation with tech stain and posting on textbook -- twitter and facebook. now we have 20 minutes to get questions that have been coming in. we will go back and forth. i'm going to turn to janet in the back, who has been monitoring the online conversation in question. if anyone has a question, old media style, you can line up over here were the microphones are. chris that is right there. -- krista is right there. allies janet to submit one of the questions from online. >> our question is how can we

get our technophobic parents involved? >> any of the panel want to respond? >> one thing that helps is that parents, they think that you might be on facebook wasting your time, playing video to games. you need to help your parents understand what the value of that is. if you are mobilizing those on facebook and organizing a group to do something, if you have this new skills said, you're not a game player but programming year round games, how you put that in front of your parents? parents love to see their kids creating new things in new experiences. they're making so many assumptions around what is happening when you stare at the phone all day or sit in front of that laptop. you're spending all your time doing it.

make sure your clear of the value. you can bridge that gap in create conversations with parents to make sure that we do not allow them to have these assumptions that we're wasting our time on the computer or on the cellphone. >> one of the things it is important is the same way it is important to get your friends involved. make it personal. really show them the value of this and why it isn't one. my parents swore to me that they would never join facebook. they're like, i am afraid of it, it is too much personal information, no one needs to know what i meeting for breakfast, i do not want to put all of that out there. i will never do it. my brother joined the army. my brother's capt. said my parents of a letter and said, we started a facebook page. for the truth of my brother was in. you better believe my parents both have facebook accounts in

about 36 seconds. it was the first time that they ever really felt like it provided them a very specific reason and very specific value added. we talk to our friends about it and we have to talk to our parents about it in the same way. maybe you could sit down with me and we to understand together how facebook works and i consider you about up facebook cause and said you how to set up this profile -- show you how to setup this profile. and then they might get off of your case about spending too much time in front of a computer. >> i usually get the opposite question when i talk to young people. how do i keep my parents off my facebook page? [laughter] it's private and i do not want them to know everything i am doing in my life. i think that it kristen is

right. making a personal is probably one of the most important things. our parents did not grow up with these tools. even more important than getting them involved is helping to educate them so they at least to support you in your efforts to use social media to become a civically engaged. it is a whole new world. my mom is also on facebook and it takes time. but once they are on, they are adjusted to dick -- just as addictive as we are. >> once people doing, it makes a difference. my mom and 2003 was like, andrew, i want to learn the computer. i just said to her, mom, i did

not mean to be mean that there are certain people that are just meant for the computer and certain paper are not. you're one of those people who are not. and now, on her own initiative, she is writing on my facebook what about how much she loves me and i miam like -- she is very spiritual, my mom very cheap teaches classes on spirituality on live web cast. she is using everything. being a kid with it. show some of the examples we had today. >> phyllis like most of our questions are coming in online. -- it looks like most of our questions are coming in online. >> the birthday girl's name is

misspelled. kristen, happy birthday. >> they look like a waterfall of questions coming down as they were responding very him was like we have some great questioning going on. let me go back to jennifer another question. >> the one at the top of the panel, how they might -- how do i convince my principle to let us use facebook, twitter, etc.? >> challenging. one way that i have seen this done, i think it was a school in texas, a high school where a teacher started doing and courage to is letting people tweet during her class. one of the things she founded up to was for students that did not always speak out, they felt like they could ask questions or send in comments. they have hashtag for their

class. it lets students go back into hashtag to see nelson things they might have missed when they were steady. when the teacher had to travel, she did tweaked to the class and said that she was watching them. i can see your posting things are not. she was transparent about not knowing if current status were paying attention or doing other things. maybe something like that where you could experiment and see if you could create case studies and then make a presentation to your principal. generally, the thing with parents, they do not necessarily understand it sometimes. if you can put together a plan

or strategy or a proposal or you can say this is how would benefit the learning environment, where we could develop 21st century skills, this is why we think it is important, and this is that code of conduct or the rules of participation that we will abide by, then i would hope that the principal would be receptive to hearing that, a well thought through idea like that instead of saying, can i check my facebook during class? >> one of the big concerns i have heard from educators is in using social media in class is that you have issues of online bullying and there are safety issues and things that would have to be grappled with. i think that code of conduct is important, showing your principles and your teachers that you are using social made

responsibly, using it to further your education, to organize your student groups on campus, to promote your sports teams, and not for us sort of negative behavior. think that is an important step in having social media tools bought into the classroom and for you to be able to text in class and all those different things that students really want to do that -- but that are kind of bend in schools -- banned in schools. it is the responsible aspect that administrators are what worry about. they have school safety concerns and things that trump everything else. >> go ahead. >> the good peace about that question is that your principal

is not the first person to have the challenge to be convinced to be technology or social media into the classroom. recognize that the principle has to answer to a lot of other folks and it is not even their decision. the district level might dictate what computer network you might get access to. educators also should hear from you guys. their answers make a lot of sense that you guys should think of round what projects should look like to make sure that is transparent. start that conversation with them. educators are impacted by other educators. there has been a lot of work over the last four or five years on thinking about these models as to how you can bring technology and social media into the classroom space. when we talk about these case studies, the easiest way to

convince people is to show them a web page or a video of how somebody has already done it. find that and put it in front of a principle is an easy and quick way to make that argument. pbs did a great documentary and i will posted to my twitter later and they talk about these issues that different folks are doing eat -- using a different media in different ways. i think finding these conversations that already eggs zest -- you have the teachers in the room who are already familiar with this. a teacher communities are talking about how they can become a debtor teachers of a recognized at that level the value of it. you can really partner with them to bubble up that conversation to the principal and maybe the

people at the district level in your respective areas. i'll try to add that onto the hash tag at some point. there are many videos out there where you can send them in an e- mail where they can come into the conversation. not everything about facebook and twitter is bad. i think we need to make sure we are tackling the issue of how folks are using social media. i think the bullying issues and everything are real. i think we are getting too afraid of engaging in the conversation because of those issues. we see the cyber-bullying from out there and that stops everybody dead in their tracks. that is not a new issue. outside the school, there are already bullying issues there. we need to understand what we know about bullying and make sure we bring that in so we is

have some order how we would engage online. >> as organizers, it is good to think about -- don't think about the principle as your enemy. think of them as your friend and think that may -- that they may have a different way of looking at it. if you can work together to find similar common ground -- you put up a facebook group saying might school should win a blue ribbon and get many people to like it, they will like that. if you think about asking your principal about getting involved in awesome this year and it could get good media for the school. go to your school board meetings and bring it up in positive ways. the mature, young adults. dress appropriately and speak well and that really goes far. >> thank you and i think we have

maybe time for one more question. it looks like we have an audience member who has a question. >> my name is chris. how can social media be used in a negative way and how will young people know the difference? >> that is a really, really important question. some of the things that were mentioned about cyber-bullying are definitely negative. you have to treat responsibly, i guess. -- tweet responsibly, i guess. it is not all positive and helpful. there are some real challenges associated with it particularly one of the things i think is challenging his you can put anything you want on the internet and it does not have to be fact-checked for correct or

responsible or respectful. many times, we perpetuate myth information and it makes it hard to distinguish opinion from fact or know if the facts are correct i think that is really challenging. it is important for schools if we are talking about how can schools encourage this, helping people understand how to research, how to determine what is fact, how to talk respectively about current events, how to make sure everything that you're putting out there is correct and accurate especially when it comes to political statements. i think we see so much partisanship right now and hateful messages being perpetuated very quickly on line by political candidates and citizens as well. i think it is important to use

tifacts.com to check facts and have your personal code of conduct and what you think is appropriate to put out there. check twice, once. make sure you feel comfortable about that. it is a big element of personal responsibility associated with that. >> i think one of the biggest sort of challenges that young people face in terms of the social media world and taking a stand on things and making public comments is that when you do, it is searchable by the world. a lot of conversation in the media and the press and college campuses and job recruiters offices is that the stuff you put on line, don't think that

just your friends can see it. people are seeing it who you may interview for a job with one day or who may be evaluating your college application and determining whether or not to admit to as a student. realize that one of the biggest drawbacks that i have seen is people posting things in a bad mood. it is so instantaneous. you could write anything in a moment. it is hard to ever get rid of that. it can have an impact on your life. always realize that when you are involved in social media or joining groups that it is public. other people are going to hold you accountable for what you are doing. other than that, i think the positives far outweigh the negatives and you have the

potential like no other generation, like no other people in history, to take these tools and to change the world with them. >> one quick example -- when a sawmill was killed and everything was spread out over twitter, -- when osama bin laden was killed and everything was spread out over twitter, people were re-tweeting a quote that people thought was from martin luther king. they were trying to influence other people to get their ideas out there. five or six hours later, someone sat down and did a good google search and realized about 2/3 of the "is something that mlk said and somebody else attacked a sentence on to that. everybody was quickly sharing without thinking about where it

came from, they had this new quote. you have to think of the quality of your messaging. we share thing so quickly that you really have to figure out how to do your research. >> i see there is a couple more questions. we are just about out of time. after we end, if you guys want to ask the panelists in person afterwards, we will do that. we want to make sure you get your questions answered. we'll come back afterwards. >> five more hours! [laughter] >> i want to wrap up and share a few highlights that i heard from our panelists and safety thank yous. things that stuck with me today

is the idea of leveraging your skills when you get into the social media environment and pick things you are good that and become active and engaged in your community. from melissa, making up your mind that what you believe in, stepping out and using this time of your life to figure out who you are and what you stand for. from andrew, kittens, you are not just a wave, you are part of the ocean. from kristin, a social media is an on ramp, it is not all civic engagement. those are a couple of things that stood out for me. i would like to thank our remarkable analysts for spending a few hours of their valuable time to be here with us today [applause] i would also like to thank the opening speaker. thank you for contributing to

our speaker. i would like to thank my colleagues at the presidential learning center. for all the behind-the-scenes -- behind-the-scenes stuff will they have done today. thank you to our tech team and our gratitude for making things go smoothly and finally, a big huge thank-you to all of you, to the students, to this teachers who are here and in person and watching online for deciding that this is a discussion important enough to take part of -- to take part in and contribute. i have enjoyed seeing some other things going on in the back channels. thank you very much and have a terrific rest of your day. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> next, live, your calls and comments on "washington journal/" then, "newsmakers."

then-president obama's town hall meeting on twitter. >> who is going to get fired up over nancy pelosi and john boehner? they are short him for the incredible narrow range of choice that we actually have been political -- and elected officials bend in the declaration of independence, reason tv editor in chief nick gillespie takes on the problems of today's two-party system and possible libertarian solution tonight on c-span is "q &a." >> this morning, democratic pollster andrea boem and discusses how fiscal issues could impact political issues in the 2012 elections and then the 2012 elections and then ruce ccook