When you talk to teens and high school students about issues like identity theft, privacy, and online safety, chances are you’ll just be greeted with that stinging “whatever” look. And of course that’s the response we noticed when we approached our first group of Junior Counselor candidates to discuss just these issues.

But the more we talked to our students, the more we realized that if we approach these important topics in a radically different way, “whatever” quickly changed to “where do I sign up?”

So what was our secret recipe? We simply helped our students connect the dots – helped them make the connection and value between what they like to do and what we would like them to do.

Our Facebook discussions are a perfect example of how our approach worked. When we initially talked to students about the safety and security risks their Facebook use could expose them to, we got little interest or response. After all, they were practically raised on Facebook so what could we possibly know that they didn’t?

So we decided to stop talking about Facebook safety for a while and just talk about Facebook. We found, not surprisingly, that most of the students already had a Facebook page or were planning on having one very soon. When we asked them how many of them felt confident that they could create a Facebook page for someone else, most of the hands quickly went up.

But our next questions really got their attention. We asked our students if they knew that people would pay them for creating a Facebook page. Their eyes were wide open now and suddenly they figured that we really did know something about Facebook that they didn’t.

So we pressed on. Did you know, we asked them, that there are millions of small businesses, non-profits, and even schools in America that could benefit from having a social networking presence, if only they could find someone local and affordable to help guide them. Organizations that are even willing to pay for that help?

“No way,” our students said. “We can do this stuff in our sleep yet people are willing to pay us?” Now we had them hooked. Yes way, we said. And not only that, a growing number of young people have full time, high paying jobs as social media managers – getting paid to have fun doing exactly the kind of stuff you do all day for nothing?

So imagine, we said, if your participation in the Junior Counselor program might help you connect with some of these local businesses and organizations - maybe even businesses in your neighborhood. Maybe it could be a school project for you, or even a summer job. It might even lead to an internship, a full time job, and even a career…What would you think about that?

We had won them over. There was hardly a “whatever” in the house. All the hands were up and more than that, ready to sign up. We had their complete and undivided attention and they wanted to know more.

That’s when we brought them back down to earth, at least a little. We explained that while there are millions of organizations across America that would love to be able to take advantage of all the excitement and opportunity of social networking, and especially Facebook and Twitter, anyone who offers to help then establish that presence needs to also know about the security and safety issues that are involved.

That’s the bottom line, we said, at least for businesses. You can’t do social networking without including security and safety, we told them. That’s because businesses have an obligation to make their social networking safe and to protect anyone who uses their Facebook or Twitter pages.

They were nodding now. They got it. Finally they understood why boring stuff like online security and safety now needed to be important to them, if only for selfish reasons. But that’s OK. It’s a start, and a good first step towards permanently changing their attitudes to security.

This may be our secret recipe. Not only discussing security and safety in terms that students understand and relate to, but connecting something boring to something exciting, rewarding, and even fun.

Now, if we can use this new awareness to help students think about security in a whole new way, they can then became powerful advocates as they go out into the community – helping their parents create secure Facebook pages and working with local businesses to tap into the power of social networking.