It’s no secret that social media isn’t serving the generation that grew up on it, as more and more studies show a correlation between increased time spent on social media platforms and increased rates of depression. However, the generation most impacted by these platforms can also be the ones to help re-engineer them.
That’s why we are thrilled to announce Asmbl and On Our Terms as the winners of The Social Dilemma start-up grant, a competition organized in partnership with LookUp.Live which challenges young people to come up with solutions for how we might realign tech to serve the interests of people, not profits.
Asmbl and On Our Terms join ten other teams in the LookUpLive startup community that will receive mentorship and $2,500 in seed money to further develop their ideas. We wish them luck as they embark on a 6-month journey in LookUp Live’s leadership lab where they will connect with other young changemakers collectively reimagining a future where technology serves us, rather than exploits us.
ASMBL
Asmbl is a non-profit social media platform designed to connect activists with the causes they care about, centralizing all the tools necessary “to organize for a more just future.”
It is the brainchild of Stanford students Alma Andino-Frydman, Anastasia Sotiropoulos, Chloe Shrager, Grant Biskho and James Chao.
Asmbl prioritizes authentic online relationships, avoiding “like” counts and a follower/following format in favor of promoting a mutual network of activists. The team envisions “the next social movement originating on Asmbl.”
Watch Asmbl’s winning pitch video.
ON OUR TERMS
On Our Terms is a multimedia campaign “from young people to young people” aimed at educating their peers about data rights and what it really means when you accept the terms and conditions of popular social media platforms.
The team behind On Our Terms is Hannah Chung, Felix Breitbach, Mya Davis, Young Kim, Sam Breitbach, and Peter Suh from USC Iovine and Young Academy.
Through producing content like satirical videos and toolkits on safe social media usage, they hope to not only educate young people, but incite a movement to demand accountability from tech leaders to “protect user data and privacy ‘on our terms.’
Watch On Our Terms’ winning pitch video.
We’re thrilled to be partnering with LookUpLive to support the community of young people who are helping us imagine a new future for tech.