With its striking architecture and bustling atmosphere, Brummies will be no strangers to seeing photographers roaming the streets of the city in search of inspiration. A few have no doubt come across a young photographer called Dan Twist behind the lens at some of the city's most iconic sites over the last few years.

But now, instead of snapping atmospheric black and white images of the residents of Britain's second city in all their glory, Dan is using his creativity for something new, as part of a Google.org and Youtube backed campaign to make the internet safer for young people. Headed up by Birmingham based Youth Engagement Agency Beatfreeks, the Be Internet Citizens (BIC) campaign aims to offer young people the knowledge and the skills they need to identify harmful content, share content safely and take action against harmful content online.
As part of the campaign, a group of young people, including 23 year old Dan, were brought together to form a youth-development group. The year-long programme has seen the group take part in a range of training sessions, as well as offering their insights on how young people navigate the online space and their own experiences on social media.

Alongside the BIC campaign, Beatfreeks will also launch a National Youth Trends Report, designed to offer a snapshot of what young people are experiencing on social media in 2022, how the pandemic has affected their experience and the kinds of content they’re creating and consuming.
The campaign culminates with a free, week-long digital festival, featuring sessions designed with the input of the young content creators, focused around topics including cancel culture, woke-fishing and the importance of taking time away from the screen. It is hoped that insights from both the report and the digital festival will inspire businesses and organisations to work more effectively with young people.

Having been involved with Beatfreeks campaigns previously, Dan, who now works in digital marketing, knew he wanted to be involved with the campaign as soon as he saw it on the agency’s Instagram.
“I just love everything that Beatfreeks do and the way that they’re so passionate about promoting the work of young creatives. I thought the idea of a digital festival was really cool and with so much of personal and work life being in the digital space, I think that having conversations with other young people about what’s currently happening online and how we can make it a better and safer place for everyone is so important.”
It’s this shared passion for working with other young creatives that prompted Dan to get involved, having developed his own network of creative Brummies while taking photos in the city. He went on to found Xposure Collective - an online network of young photographers.
“After my A-Levels I took a gap year and it was during that time that I decided one day to pick up my camera and head into Birmingham. I started taking street photos and from there, found other people locally who were doing similar things,” Dan says.

“Linking up with other young creatives was a great way to bounce ideas off each other. Seeing the different angles that people come at things from pushes you to branch out and try new things. Other young creatives really inspire me and it's inspirational to see young people doing amazing things. ”

As well as being actively involved in the Youth Trends Report, Dan and others in the youth-development group have collaborated with established content creators to create content that promotes different elements of the BIC campaign.

“I’ve been working on some video content to explore the idea of social detoxing and how having a break away from social media can improve your mental health. I’ve tried to push myself as video isn’t something I've ever really tried before but it’s been interesting to get the other creators' insights and tips on how I could make it more engaging to really catch people’s attention.”

The National Youth Trends Report will be released on 10th May.