For the first time ever, #SPSM chat will be featuring an anonymous guest expert. Tune in for an “old fashioned” Twitter chat, 5/22/16, 9pCT. Our guest will be one of the anonymous moderators of Reddit’s /r/suicidewatch.
What is Reddit? Read the wiki on it here. Or better yet, go check it out. Why is our guest expert anonymous? As the moderator of a high traffic social media community for people who are suicidal, it is safer for her and for others that her public identity remain confidential. But, of course, she has done media with others about /r/suicidewatch, and you should check it out.
SPSM will have the opportunity to do a Q&A with someone who has unique experience moderating one of the largest, longest-standing, and most active peer support social media communities around suicidality that exists today. Reddit, and especially /r/suicidewatch serves a more masculine demographic than is typically reached by traditional suicide prevention campaigns. And the strategies used to moderate /r/suicidewatch are, in some ways, a departure from the traditional methods for helping people in crisis.
The facts are that, increasingly, there will be divergent platforms where people will express thoughts of suicide. And, as a result, divergent strategies and standards of care will be needed. This chat will be a great opportunity to expand our ideas about standards and practices in peer support social media communities.
Suicide Prevention Social Media #SPSM 