Cyber Bullying on Facebook and What to Do About It
What Is Facebook Bullying?
Facebook bullying is bullying that happens on the social networking site, Facebook.
Bullying can take three different forms: physical, verbal and relational. For bullying on Facebook, it may be either verbal (written) or relational bullying or a combination of both.
In case you’re not familiar with these terms:
- Verbal bullying is when an individual uses verbal language (e.g., insults, teasing, etc) to gain power over his or her peers.
- Relational bullying is when a bully tries to hurt a peer and/or that peer’s standing within a particular peer group
Facebook Bullying Statistics
Did you know that of reported cases of cyber bullying, 87% occurred on Facebook! This means that, by far, most cyber bullying happens on Facebook. Unfortunately, of those victims of cyber bullying, only 37% ever reported the bullying to the social network it happened on.
In comparison only 20% of youth report being picked on on Twitter (a well known micro blogging and social networking website)
Surprisingly, the segment of youth most likely to be bullied on Facebook was 19 year old males. This means that for many youth, bullying doesn’t end when they graduate from high school.
What Should You Do If You or Someone You Know Is Being Bullied or Harassed on Facebook?
First off, don’t keep it a secret! Report bullying on Facebook by telling a parent or teacher about the bullying. If you’re school age, they may also be able to help you report the Facebook bullying to your school or police.
Second, take advantage of the features Facebook offers to help you deal with bullying on Facebook:
- Unfriend the person – this will prevent them from posting on your timeline or chatting with you in Facebook chat.
- Block the person – this will prevent them from being able to see and interact with you on Facebook. They won’t be able to see your Facebook page or send you messages. You won’t be able to see theirs either.
- Report the bullying on Facebook – you can report the person or anything harassing they post. Using the report option will notify Facebook about the offending person or material. Every page and post on Facebook has a ‘Report’ option you can use to report bullying on Facebook. This is usually visible after clicking a little gear icon on the page or post. If the person or material is in violation of Facebook’s term of service, they may suspend or terminate the person’s account. How do you report bullying on Facebook? This is how.
Finally, document and save the offensive material or messages. If the Facebook bullying doesn’t stop and you need to talk to your school, the police, etc, they’ll want to see this.
Also, if after blocking the person a friend tells you that they’re still posting offensive material about you, ask your friend to Report it to Facebook.
For more information, be sure to check out Facebook’s page on bullying at https://www.facebook.com/help/420576171311103
*These statistics come from an Opinium Research study of 2,000 teenages released on the website www.knowthenet.org.uk/trolling
