Online signposting platforms must 'speak children's language', think-tank recommends
Joe Lepper
Thursday, July 11, 2024
Online signposting of support is blighted by jargon and leaving young people feeling overwhelmed by too much information, analysis has found.
Too often websites run by councils, charities and others signposting support are using language that young people find difficult to understand, according to analysis by think tank New Philanthropy Capital.
“There was a mismatch between the words that young people were using to describe their issues and the words that websites and services used,” found NPC’s research, which involved analysing websites and conducting focus groups with young people.
“This is important because it made it harder for them to find what they were looking for.”
Its report into the findings adds: “Young people may not understand sector-specific jargon and if they cannot understand what is written about a service, they’re less likely to use it.
“They can feel overwhelmed when there is too much information. This issue is magnified for websites populated by content from other organisations, which can create issues with content consistency and word length.”
One young person involved in the research said “screams council website…” about one local authority’s efforts to signpost support services to young people.
NPC is recommending that online signposting of support for young people should “speak their language”.
It also urges councils and others signposting support to talk about issues young people are interested in finding more information about “rather than simply listing services that the site has available”.
This includes producing guidance articles about the issues. This also ensures there is content provided to “fill gaps where services are not available to signpost”.
“If it’s not focused on youth issues, the site becomes more useless than a Google search,” said one young person.
How can we improve digital signposting for young people?
— NPC (@NPCthinks) July 11, 2024
Our new report, funded by @Nominet, highlights the innovative work of @MindOfMyOwnApp @ChasingStigma @TheMixUK and the National Support Network and aligns with a new paper by @CarefulTrouble .https://t.co/t7LEeV7Yix
Search functions are used but too often present young people “with too many options that are not relevant”, said NPC, which runs the Signpost+ service with charities and businesses to improve online support for young people.
Signposting needs to be concise, up to date and accurate, with links regularly checked to ensure they are still valid.
“Young people were disappointed when a site didn’t deliver what they thought it would from the signpost. This applied to signposts that had too little and too much information,” found NPC.
“Too little, and a young person didn’t know what to expect, too much and the website gave nothing extra. It was most frustrating when sites gave links that led to error pages,” states the report.
NPC cites research by the charity Mind, which found that “young people can be negatively impacted if they are turned away from support because it does not match their needs, which can prevent them from trying again”.
“Providing support also means being clear about what is on offer, what is not on offer, and who it is for," advises NPC.
A common mistake signposting websites make is to promise information about local provision “then list services tens of miles away”.
The think tank adds: “Young people can be negatively impacted if they are turned away from support because it does not match their needs, which can prevent them from trying again.
"Providing support also means being clear about what is on offer, what is not on offer, and who it is for.”
