Can Platforms such as Facebook actually Address Youth Unemployment?

Since the great recession of 2008, unemployment has been stubbornly high. However, the level of unemployment diverges greatly between college educated (under 4%) and non-college educated (over 10%). Further, for the non-college educated youth, the situation is truly dismal. Is there any way to address this situation?

At Ocoos, we offer an internet platform for the Small and Medium Business (SMB) marketplace. Much like Facebook for social networking, the Ocoos platform does not require any programming skills to operate a full marketing/sales infrastructure. As we have engaged with the SMB market we have made the following observations:

• A significant percentage of the SMB market consists of businesses run by owners who are uncomfortable with technology. They are even uncomfortable with computers much less the internet/cloud/mobile.
• As described in  (http://www.ocoos.com/SmallServiceProvidersAndTheDigitalAge.pdf)  these businesses recognize the need to engage with the internet, but are not equipped to make this transition.
• The young generation broadly (included the non-college educated) are very comfortable with computing devices as well as the internet. They live on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Thus, a broad training program at the high school, vocational school, adult education, and community college level focused on teaching of the basics of digital marketing with platforms (not requiring programming skills) would be beneficial for both sides. For the non-college educated youth, along with their chosen professions (auto repair, baking, construction), they can be taught the mechanics of digital marketing augmented with practical training on the appropriate internet marketing platforms. With this knowledge, they become significantly differentiated relative to their peers in the marketplace. For the SMB businesses, engaging with someone who can help them bridge the technology divide without the cost structure of the college-educated workforce is very attractive.  The combination can help the small business engage in the modern world.