Viacom’s MTV has launched a new social networking site called Think.MTV.com, and the site is focused on encouraging young people to become involved in youth activism.
The site is in beta and MTV says the site is for everyone from volunteers to die hard activists to anyone in between. The site will let users create profile pages like on other social networks such as MySpace and Facebook and they will be able to upload videos and photos.
MTV launched Think in part because of a study they did that found young people care about activism and 80 percent said it was a positive step to become involved in their community but only 19 percent described themselves as being “very involved.”
The Think site has backing from founding partners the Case Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Goldhirsch Foundation and MCJ Amelior Foundation. They will act as advisors and help bring other non-profit organizations into the Think Community.
“The Think Community was built to catalyze a sea change in youth activism and make rock stars out of those young people working to better themselves, their communities and the world,” said Christina Norman, President, MTV.
“We’re honored to partner with forward-thinking foundations, non-profits, celebrities and America’s youth on this powerful new platform for positive social change.”
The site itself has a good look but the features are nothing groundbreaking. They do focus on a variety of issues that may be attractive to the MTV demographic, and could spur involvement in issues such as the environment, politics and education. The social networking scene is a crowded one for sure, but MTV’s Think maybe on to something with its social issue focus.
