#SaySomething’s Stars of Social Media

In one of our community projects that ran through the summer, a group of young people in Lupset, aged 13 to 16, led an online social media campaign. Guided by Sophie Mei Lan, journalist and vlogger, the aim was to reach people both within the community and beyond and encourage them to #SaySomething and seek support if they are struggling with their mental health and wellbeing.

The idea for the project came from the young people themselves while the summer s’cool team were creating their programme of events. The young people were acutely aware of the mental health challenges facing young people today, especially how they might be propagated by social media. They are also aware of social media’s tendency to exploit young people. They wanted to recreate and reclaim the narrative. To use the platform to share their creativity in a positive light – making content that might help uplift people, rather than bring them down.

Over the five weeks, the group narrowed their concept for the campaign, learned how to use Canva to create visual content such as logos, and video thumbnails and, then onto filming and editing techniques in accordance with each social media platform. Once everyone had discovered their interests and skills, they took on different roles within the group. Some focussed on the graphic design, some on the filming, and some on presenting.

Sophie said of the project “I think people really can misjudge young people from a range of backgrounds and write them off. But online we can help people go from consumers to creators and there are so many jobs and opportunities online. Like with anything, it’s how we use it in a positive way.”

The young people themselves valued how the group bonded throughout the project, sharing their experiences, and finding support in each other. It highlighted the importance of being open, which they used as inspiration to fuel the aims of the project.

The result is an array of content featuring mental wellbeing and self-care advice from young people to others, for platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. They also hope to continue the campaign and develop a Mental Health Magazine.

Photography by Nick Singleton

Words by Antonia Stephenson