Mobile life support

Impartial advice and guidance
Attracting an average of almost 100,000 website visits each month, TheSite.org is a trusted source of impartial advice and guidance for hundreds of thousands of young people throughout the UK. It is an online ‘guide to life’ for 16-25 year-olds, offering straight-talking information, advice and guidance on anything and everything a young person might need to know – from housing and tax, relationships and emotional wellbeing, to drink and drugs. It also features an expert question and answer service and a thriving moderated community offering instant peer support.

TheSite.org is run by YouthNet, the UK’s first exclusively online charity, which works to guide and support young people, enabling them to make informed choices, participate in society and achieve their ambitions.

Innovative support services
Now the charity is launching a project to address a significant gap in knowledge regarding how young people access online information and support through mobile devices when they are on the move and in their own personal sphere.

YouthNet hopes that better understanding will enable service providers to develop innovative support services that do even more to meet the needs of young people living in today’s digital world.

Delivery via mobile devices
The research will look at how young people use mobile devices to access information on the move, paying particular attention to the environment around the user – a factor that can significantly affect attitudes and behaviours.

The project is the first of its kind. It will focus on identifying both the benefits and the barriers that these new mobile technologies present to better supporting young people seeking high quality information and advice in a safe and confidential online space.

The overall aim is to understand how, where and why young people access information through mobile devices – and how that information should be delivered for optimal effect. This will ensure that young people have greater access to the important advice and support provided by YouthNet’s services using mobile devices in the future.