Thanks for asking, ShapingYouth - you are such an important presence in the public discussion about youth, media and technology. Even though there have been many news reports about Hope's tragic case, I'm not sure anyone could ever know enough to say what could've prevented her suicide. An online-safety advocate who appeared on the Today Show blamed her school. The local St. Petersburg Times, which reported her story in detail (http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/sexting-related-bullying-cited-in-hillsborough-teens-suicide/1054895), said that – the day before Hope committed suicide – the school counselor, noting cuts on her legs, asked Hope to sign a "no harm" contract by which she "agreed to tell an adult if she felt inclined to hurt herself." Which sounds like the school may've felt its role in helping Hope was in process. My point is that it's not helpful to point to any single factor for either blame or solution because human lives are complex and responses to harm are unpredictable. SAMHSA, the part of the US government that does suicide prevention education and supports the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, has media guidelines for reporters that, among other things, advises them not to oversimplify what happened.

As for solutions, there has to be a diverse spectrum of help – probably in every space young people spend time in, including online. So, yes, site and virtual-world moderators need to play a role, but so do peers, parents, schools, government (SAMHSA is working hard to "be there" for youth on the fixed and mobile social Web). On moderators, specifically, there's probably little they can do unless the person is actually voicing suicidal intentions and they happen upon that communication among the thousands or millions of posts or chats they may be watching in a day. A much more likely support in social sites or virtual worlds comes from friends who would see such communication more immediately; hopefully they'd know to go right to customer service staff for help in getting immediate local help to the person at risk.

As for sexting, gosh it's important to help our children think through the implications, from extreme embarrassment to bullying to prosecution (we hope our tips to help stop sexting – http://www.connectsafely.org/sexting – can help with that). But even loving, nonconfrontational conversations (that aren't so frequent that kids' eyes glaze over) can't always eclipse adolescent development, which experts tell us includes risk assessment, social influencing, and impulsive behavior. That's why youth online wellbeing so takes a village. Their peers are a vital part of that village, too – the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline says peers are the best source of referrals to the Lifeline, usually via social network sites, not a toll-free phone number (but that number is 1-800-273-TALK). The Lifeline coordinates the work of more than 100 toll-free help centers around the US, getting calls and cases to the center nearest the person needing help, and help not just for suicidal crisis, but depression, domestic violence, and all sorts of needs (more people need to know about that). The Lifeline also works with a number of social network sites to help their customer-service people provide the quickest and best support possible.

That doesn't fully answer your question about how to help people after the fact, but there are a lot of answers to that question because each case is so individual. The most important thing is to encourage young people to share whatever is troubling them so they can get help or get the response and healing process started.

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Anne Collier

ConnectSafely co-director