"The burning questions that seem to be on everyone's mind when it comes to teens' online civic engagement or any civic engagement are: How do we get a lot of participation? How do we sustain it over time? These are the first questions the Citizens League hears from adults as we embark on new Students Speak Out (SSO) initiatives.

This report conveys seven strategies the teens emphasized as most important for any seeking
authentic and useful information from them in an online setting.

1. Provide sincere, transparent experiences that give teens authentic opportunities to contribute to real discussions and projects. Otherwise, don’t bother.
2. Rethink your definition of participation. Worry less about increasing the number of actual posts on a topic and instead be satisfied with getting teens thinking.
3. Assume teens can handle and want to tackle meaty, complicated topics.
4. Invest in adults who facilitate, coordinate, motivate, and validate.
5. Make it easy for teens to spread the word and participate via Facebook.
6. Create a space that challenges people to consider a variety of perspectives and backgrounds. Teens report that their schools are often not such a space.
7. Make the Web site a resource for teens to connect with the community, learn more and feel a part of something both on- and offline."