Liv2BGirl

Tosha Marks, Cindy Abel, Diana Keough talk Liv2bGirl

We’ve all heard the news stories about young people who have been victims of cyberbullying through social media. In some cases, kids have even gone so far as attempting or committing suicide over the experience. This week we sat down with Cindy Abel and Tosha Marks, co-founders of Liv2BGirl. It’s a social media environment they’re building as a mobile app that will give girls a social media environment exclusive to them. The site will be free from cyberbullying and negative, attacking/abusive behaviors—these being clearly prohibited when a user sets up their profile.

A recent article by Cindy and Tosha published on Momeomagazine.com states these statistics cited from dosomething.org:

Nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online
68% of teens agree that cyberbullying is a serious problem
81% of young people think bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person
90% of teens who have seen cyberbullying ignored it
Girls are twice as likely as boys to be victims of cyberbullying
Only 1 in 10 victims tell there parent or trusted adult of the abuse.

In this short clip, Tosha Marks shares why they are building the Liv2BGirl app:

The concept proved to have traction with girls when they launched their beta website to evaluate interest and content offerings, gaining roughly 700 users who tested the site. Cindy and Tosha quickly found that the idea of a social media space free from hurtful, hateful behaviors is appealing to girls—enough so that average time per visit was ~30 mins.

We talked about some of the troubling statistics around cyberbullying as well as negative experiences Cindy and Tosha saw their own daughters face in various social media platforms. We also discussed the resources they need to bring their app to full realization and how folks can get involved to get this source of positive peer pressure and encouragement for our daughters into their hands.

Special Guests:

Tosha Marks, Co-founder, Liv2BGirl