The Time to Act is Now

MTV launched Act.MTV.com today. The pro-social website seeks to engage its readers on many different levels by using unexpected approaches that resonate with the younger generation. MTV believes that “every action counts,” and hopes that Act will help motivate its audience to take action around the issues that matter to them. 

The website will cover many different issues, including: digital health, jobs, social innovation, sexual abuse and education, just to name a few. Visiting the site you will find stories on everything from pop culture’s intersection with the pro-social and “how-to” columns focused on topics such as recycling, voting, volunteering and petitions; to “day in the life” style pieces focused on a young nonprofit leader and the work that they are doing. Being MTV of course, the creators are also developing connections to music, such as creating video playlists for issues.

Act.MTV.com hopes to spark action among youth by fulfilling three key roles:

• Digital Presence:  Promote simple and quick ways for people to get involved with social issues that are relevant to its audience.

• Stories:  Celebrate the stories of young people, celebrities and nonprofits that are making an impact on pressing social issues. As master storytellers, MTV is in a unique position to share personal and provocative stories with its audience like no other.

• Matchmaker:  Connect those who may be disengaged with the organizations, people and tools that they need to help them take action.

With integration of the site across multiple MTV platforms, including: MTV news, mobile, events, consumer products, and the social web, I believe Act.MTV.com’s messages will have a pretty good chance of getting to the right people. According to Act’s creators, they want the site to be, “informative without being preachy, and integrate humor and creativity where possible… when we do critique, we focus on solutions, not the problem.”

Think Again?

This is not MTV’s first foray into the online activism space. MTV launched a website called Think.MTV.com in 1997 that according to Reuters, was “designed to be a resource for social and political issues, aiming to inform as well as let users connect with other like-minded people on issues from the environment to sexual health and discrimination.” Several foundations helped MTV develop this site, including the Case Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Goldhirsh Foundation and MCJ Amelior Foundation. The site is still live, but with the launch of Act.MTV.com it appears that MTV is trying a new approach to engaging its audience—and if all goes well an entire generation.

Time to Move On?

Looking at the bigger picture, MTV debuted in 1981 and in those formative years was a very different beast than today’s MTV—as are its viewers. In particular, MTV’s hold on, and influence of, the younger audience has appeared to slip. MTV Networks chief executive, Judy McGrath was quoted in a recent New York Times piece as saying that MTV “should be the ‘forever young network,’ [but] had clung to Generation X a little too long, some believed, at the expense of the Millennials.”

Lesson learned. MTV has been actively reinventing itself to better reach Millennials. Through MTV’s research about the Millennial generation, MTV spokespeople noted that “teenagers and twentysomethings nowadays were less rebellious than those in the past. They are not rebelling against their parents so much as they are watching TV with their parents.” With research in hand, MTV is keen on reworking itself, including its shows, and from the look of it, Act.MTV.com.

The Right Place, Right Time?

I think MTV is on to something here and that there is great potential for Act to really resonate with younger generations. The site is fresh, engaging and does what it sets out to do, all while keeping things somewhat entertaining, light and maintaining the fundamental essence of MTV.

Have you visited the site? What do you think of Act? Do you think MTV’s audience will be able to move from shows such as Jersey Shore to taking action in defense of animals losing their habitat? Is there value in promoting small acts of good, or is this just a way to placate Millennials and the younger generation? Is Act's belief that "every action counts" valid?