Game: Seven Degrees of Social Media

Type/Purpose: High Tech, Off-Site, Scavenger Hunt

Materials:

• Make sure some of your participants have smartphones and a Facebook/Twitter/Google+/etc. account.
• Adult chaperones

Set-Up:

• Pre-select a location to conduct the activity: malls, parks or other public places might be good starts.
• Upon arrival, break the group up into small groups, with at least 1 smartphone and 1 adult in each group.

Play:

• The group will have 15-30 minutes (you select the time frame) to play. The objective is to find connections between team members through other people.
• The small group will approach a person and begin to see how they might be connected to them, through friends and likes, then will link that person to another person back to another group member. EXAMPLE: Joe, a member of the group, likes a certain TV show on Facebook. He finds Tim, who also likes that show on Facebook. Tim also follows a certain baseball team on Twitter that Susan also follows. Susan is a Facebook friend of Bobby. Bobby is a Facebook friend of Jan, another member of the group. This group found a connection between its members by 4 degrees (Joe to Tim (through TV show) to Susan (through baseball team) to Jan (through Facebook friend)).
• At the end, the group will keep track of how many connections they found through how many degrees
  • For every one degree connection, they get 3 points
  • 2 degree connection = 4 points
  • 3 degree = 5 points
  • etc. (a 20 degree connection = 22 points:

NOTES: Remind participants to not be rude or overly aggressive with people. If they seem apprehensive or don’t want to participate, DO NOT force. Remind them that they are representing your group.

Extra ideas:

• Have at least 2 people in your group with smartphones, one with Facebook, and the other with Twitter/Google+/etc.
• Try this activity without mobile devices, having groups compile information on pen and paper.
• Have a discussion on differences and commonalities. Talk about how we all share the common trait of being Sinful and having a Savior.

EXTRA MOBILE/SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITIES:

• YouTube movie night (again monitor appropriate submissions)
• At next gathering, have youth bring in a playlist of 3 or 4 appropriate songs to play, and rotate through them as the activity goes on.
• QR Code Tag: Meet at a mall, break up into small groups with at least one participant with a smartphone with a QR Reader app on their phone. (A QR code is that small square that you see in ads that you can scan with a smartphone). Give groups 15-20 minutes to move about the mall, scanning as many codes as they can.
• Social media workshop: Have a night to discuss social media and plusses and minuses of using and sharing personal content.