How Thorn Works With Platforms to Make Them Safer

Keeping young people safe in the online spaces they frequent isn’t always easy. It takes creativity and collaboration to reach them with relevant, timely messages that help empower them to use platforms in smart and healthy ways.

That’s why Thorn is grateful when we get the opportunity to partner with popular platforms to connect with young users where they are, helping them to interact in positive ways to reduce risk.

NoFiltr + Discord: A Youth-Empowerment Dream Team

Last month, NoFiltr – our youth-targeted program – partnered with the voice, video, and text chat app Discord to participate in Safer Internet Day – a chance to help users stay safe on the platform and on the internet as a whole and develop healthy digital habits.  

Collaborating with Discord gave our NoFiltr team the chance to directly reach the tens of millions of young people who use the platform to talk and hang out with their communities and friends. 

“This partnership allowed Discord to have meaningful dialogue with youth across the country, providing a safe space to engage in meaningful topics about online safety with a tech platform they use daily,” said Adele Taylor, our Youth Digital Programs and Partnerships Manager. “Having youth voices be the foundation of our work is a unique opportunity to ensure we are truly creating engaging and impactful content for youth.”

As part of the partnership, we launched an interactive quiz – “What’s Your Digital Role?” – designed to help users determine their role in building a safe and inclusive online community, along with other resources and dynamic content that encouraged young people to be part of making the internet a safer place.

“We were blown away by the response to these resources. We received more than 1,000 quiz submissions within the first 12 hours of launching – a new record for us,” Adele added. “It proves that youth share a desire to talk about these things and to play an active role in making the spaces they inhabit safer and more inclusive for all.”

The Future of Thorn’s Partnerships

The Discord partnership is just one example of a positive collaboration between Thorn – a nonprofit organization – and a social media platform that gives youth actionable and relatable content to help them be a part of a positive digital revolution.  

From Youth Innovation Council Workshops to social and digital content creation and educational resource development, each new partnership is a unique opportunity to keep youth safe online. 

The result is that youth feel that the platforms they frequent are genuinely invested in their online safety and wellbeing. 

“[I am enjoying] the community we are developing and the skills we are learning,” said one Youth Innovation Council member. “I find that through our meetings, I’m meeting a lot of good people and making a lot of friends. Also, I find that I am learning a lot especially through activities like the partnership workshops which taught me a lot in a fun way!”

Thorn and NoFiltr continue to partner directly – and seek additional partnerships – with platforms interested in playing an active role in shaping healthier online spaces. We can’t wait to see and share our future impact.

If you work for a tech company and are interested in exploring platform partnerships with Thorn, email us at info@wearethorn.org.