It has been a long running joke to see people on myspace in emotional and “teen angst” mirror shots looking forlorn, merely seeking attention through high contrast and weirdly angled poses. Woe is the life of a young teenage middle classed suburbanite spending their days in the basement writing poetry about how their parents don’t pay enough attention to them - but for some people, the battles of teenage life are a reality, and at times a grave hardship.

NYC Mindspace is a campaign created by the New York Health Department which utilizes social networking sites like Myspace to giving struggling teens resources to help overcome their problems. Through a series of fictional teen profiles, the NYC Mindspace “teens” interact through video blogs, pictures, online quizzes, music downloads, and help resources.

It’s an interesting concept, but we already know that teens won’t reach out to someone because they either don’t have someone to talk to, don’t want to talk to, or just don’t trust someone enough to confide in. Would finding out that the person giving out advice and befriending you was not real not traumatize the person into not knowing what to believe? Regardless, the initiative by a local government organization is a step in the right direction. It shows that web 2.0 systems can be used for something more important than twittering your dogs where-abouts.