‘Recognition of competition’ versus Will to App: rethinking digital engagement in Australian youth sexual health promotion policy and practice

Recent Australian research has found that young people (broadly defined as 15–30-year-olds) express a strong preference for seeking out digital sexual health information that is produced by authoritative sources (e.g. government websites), but are more likely to share material that is funny and/or features intimate first-person narratives. This produces a tension for sexual health messaging that aims to flag credibility, but also ‘spreadability’ – and perhaps even ‘relatability’. This tension is not exclusive to health communication, but has much in common with challenges facing digital news publishers who have struggled in recent years to tread a line between authoritativeness and clickbait. Drawing on participant observation of Australian sexual health promotion policy and practice and studies of online news and activism, this article reflects on the challenges and opportunities facing Australian sexual health organisations seeking to work with young people in digital spaces. A range of brief case studies of models offered by successful digital publishers, such as Vice and Upworthy, are offered as alternatives to the ‘Will to App’