The social media space: Findings from the 2024 Women + Girls Research Alliance Leadership Café

By Mia Gaddy

The Women + Girls Research Alliance (W+GRA) hosted its annual Leadership Café on October 30, 2024. More than 200 attendees engaged in insightful conversations on the topic of social media at the event which employed an adaptation of the World Café Method

W+GRA, in partnership with the Charlotte Urban Institute, prepared a report on conversations from the event. Through thorough qualitative analysis and the Data Analysis, Integration, and Synthesis (DAIS) method, the Institute developed themes which are represented in the full report.

Key takeaways from the discussions: 

1. Social media uses: Participants mentioned the most common uses of social media were for acquiring information, communication, entertainment, and inspiration. 

2. Safe attributes: Participants identified mindful decision-making; permissions and settings available on platforms; and, social support and connection as things that make social media a safe space.

3. Unsafe attributes: Participants also noted negative and unwanted interactions, exploitation, exposure to negative or inappropriate content, and fake accounts and content as unsafe attributes. 

4. Additional thoughts: Participants were concerned about social media’s role in sharing misinformation.

Call to Action

The Institute team developed actionable recommendations for social media platforms, informed by participant discussion and review of the literature. They were as follows:

1. Social media platforms: Make changes to features, settings, and permissions to make the platforms safer and easier to navigate.

2. Community members and educators: Provide social media training programs, especially for women and girls, that educate users on safety practices, privacy and protection features, and their rights.
   

Helpful Resources

The Institute team gathered a list of online resources that attendees and others can refer to when using social media. 

1. The Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services of the City of Philadelphia offers an extensive list of resources for parents and teens related to social media safety. 

2. Common Sense Media: Parenting, Media, and Everything in Between offers platform-specific guides and advice on digital safety. 

3. The Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network offers various instructions and how-tos for social media platforms. They also offer tips for making one’s social media experience safer. 

4. Take it Down is a service provided by the U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that helps remove sexually explicit photos of individuals under 18 from devices and provides resources and support.

5. The Federal Trade Commission’s website on Protecting Kids Online is geared toward parents and caretakers and provides resources and guides, such as how to talk to children about being online and how to protect their privacy. 
   

Click here to read the full report, findings, and recommendations from the Charlotte Urban Institute.