Nancy Lublin organises a social change website called DoSomething.org, which focuses on enlisting teens to make a difference in the world. When DoSomething changed tactics to start focusing on SMS-based marketing, it unexpectedly started receiving texts from troubled teens reaching out for someone to talk to.

She’s setting up a text-only crisis hotline to allow teenagers to have somewhere that they can message, using a medium that they’re completely used to in today’s world. She discusses the enormous possibilities that setting up such a text hotline could have in terms of the data gathered and what that could mean for understanding teen problems and taking steps towards reducing and possibly eliminating them.

Is the power of texting strong enough to truly make a difference here? Would you use a text hotline if you had a crisis?

[Via TED]