1. Social Media and Bullying
By: Sarah Ulrey
MLA Graduate Student
Houston Baptist University
Teaching and Learning Symposium
April 22, 2017

2. The Facts:
In 2011, 95% of all teens years of age were online, and 80% of them were on social media sites.
There were 5 million kids 10 years and younger who had a Facebook account, and the majority of those are not being supervised.
Approximately 43% of teenagers report being bullied during their lifetime.
Percent that are bullied: Whites 18.6% Hispanics 13.6% Blacks 8.9% Girls 22.1% Boys 10.8%

3. The Different Reasons Someone Might Be Bullied For:
Appearance
61%
Intelligence
25%
Race
17%
Sexuality
15%
Financial Status
Religion
11%
Other Reasons
20%

4. Information Shared by Teenagers
Teen Activity
2006
2012
Shared a photo of themselves
79%
91%
Shared their school name
49%
71%
Shared their city or town
61%
Shared their address
29%
53%
Shared their cell phone number 2%
20%

5. Allies in this Struggle
33% of teenagers have experienced some form of cyberbullying.
Only 7% of U.S. parents are worried about it happening to their child.
Teenagers rely most heavily on their parents and peers for advice.

7. Social Media Facebook Snapchat Medium Twitter Reddit SoundCloud
According to Lifewire.com below are listed 20 of the top 23 social media apps as of
Facebook
Snapchat
Medium
Twitter
Reddit
SoundCloud
Google+
Flickr
Tinder
YouTube
Swarm
WhatsApp
Instagram
Kik
Musical.ly
Pinterest
Yik Yak
Peach
Tumblr
Periscope

8. General Social Media Platforms
Over 1.59 billion monthly, active users.
Owns WhatsApp, the most popular instant messaging platform that uses your phone number to communicate through either the Wi-Fi or data on your phone.
Real time public micro-blogging
140 character limit
Free instant messaging app
Uses usernames
Share photos, gifs and videos
Very similar to Facebook
Has communities and collections features to differentiate themselves
Peach
Similar to Facebook as well
Has games and you can doodle
Started in early 2016, has potential

9. Video Platforms Share or watch video content online
Comment on videos, upvote or downvote them
Owned by Google
Live web video broadcasting
Send notices to followers to watch
Leave comments and hearts
can allow replays or make the video private
Video Platforms
Sharing sounds, music and podcasts
Artists promote on soundcloud
Find what’s trending, create a playlist, find covers and remixes
Share short music videos and edit them
Dance and lip-sync to music
The more a video is liked the better it trends on the platform

10. Photo Platforms Photo sharing Owned by Facebook
Pinboard style platform
Social shopping
10 million monthly unique visits
Self-destructing snaps
Stories are public
Photo sharing platform around since before Pinterest and Instagram
Upload, organize and edit 1000 GB of photos
Owned by Yahoo!

11. Location-Based Platforms
Location-Based Platforms
Swarm by Foursquare
See where your friends are at, plan to meet-up, or do check-ins
Interactions are made into a game and you can earn prizes
All anonymous
Read short updates of people around you
Can upvote, downvote, and reply anonymously
Dating app
Swipe right if you like their picture, swipe left if you do not
Free, but has premium features you can pay to use

12. Majority Writing Platforms
Platform for readers and writers
Can publish stories with photos, videos and gifs
Can follow people or tags
The more a story is liked, the higher it shows on the feed
Topical threads, photos and videos
AMAs are where you can ask celebs, who participate, questions
Subthreads with most upvotes get moved to the top
Blogging platform
Mostly use visual content
Can reblog and like posted content

13. Ryan Halligan (1989 – 2003)
Ryan had befriended a bully that he had defended himself against.
This friend then started spreading lies about him being gay.
A girl within the school, who Ryan had a crush on, pretended online to like him. She would then turn around and share what he told her online to classmates.
This ordeal lasted for over 2 years.
Ryan committed suicide on October 7, He was 14 years old.
Even after his death, the original bully continued to spread the lie that Ryan was gay.

14. Megan Meier (1992 – 2006)
Megan struggled with ADD, depression and weight issues.
She met a boy on the platform MySpace, Josh Evans, whom she never met in person nor spoke to on the phone.
For about 5 weeks they communicated, and slowly Josh became mean to her.
He finally told her that the world would be a better place without her.
Her classmates and other friends also posted cruel messages on her page.
She hanged herself in her room, her mother found her 20 minutes later, and she died the following day. She was 13 years old.

15. Jessica Logan (1990 – 2008) Hope Witsell (1996 – 2009)
Jessica had sent a nude photo of herself to her boyfriend.
After they broke up, he sent the photo to hundreds of teenagers at 7 different high schools in the area.
She was then bullied through Facebook, MySpace and text messages.
After attending the funeral of another student who had committed suicide, she then hung herself. She was 18 years old.
Jessica Logan
(1990 – 2008)
Hope sent a compromising picture to her boyfriend.
He then shared this photo with teens at 6 different schools in the area.
Students then created the “Hope Hater Page” on MySpace that led to additional cyber bullying.
She then hung herself a little over a year after Jessica had. She was 13 years old.
Hope Witsell
(1996 – 2009)

16. Tyler Clementi (1991 – 2010)
The summer after graduating from high school, Tyler came out as being gay.
His room mate at Rutgers set up a webcam and streamed footage of Tyler kissing a boy.
Tyler became a topic of ridicule from his fellow classmates at the university on his room mate’s Twitter feed.
He committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge. He was 18 years old.

17. Amanda started using video chat to meet new people
Amanda started using video chat to meet new people. One stranger convinced her to bare her breasts on camera.
The stranger then attempted to use the photo as blackmail. The picture circulated on the internet, and he used the picture as his Facebook profile pic.
He then stalked her. Every time she changed schools he found her, posed as a new classmate and became her friend online, then continued bullying her.
His girlfriend beat her up outside her new school. She began drinking, doing drugs, cutting, drank bleach and tried to overdose.
In September of 2012, Amanda posted a video to YouTube detailing the bullying she had endured. A month later she committed suicide. She was 16 years old.
Amanda Todd (1996 – 2012)

18. During a class at University of Texas Arlington (UTA) a male student started coming onto Thomas.
Thomas typed into his computer for the student to stop because Thomas was straight. The student responded by typing that he was gay on his computer.
When the student did not leave him alone, Thomas changed seats.
After class, the student went to a friend he had in administration that was a dean, and claimed that Thomas was bullying him.
Thomas was refused due process, and was not allowed to defend himself. His father, who is an attorney, was barred from attending a meeting.
He was placed on probation without being able to defend himself.
Days later Thomas committed suicide. He was 24 years old.
Thomas Klocke (1992 – 2016)

19.
Ways to Approach
There are some ways to combat cyberbullying that have been mentioned previously. Those are:
Become knowledgeable about what platforms your students are using and the features involved with them (this will change from year to year).
Educating the parents about cyberbullying and ways they can help their child.

20. Cyberbullying Tips Staying Safe from Cyber Bullying
If You’re Cyber Bullied
Remember that people on the internet lie about who they are.
Think, don’t react! Reacting hurts you and gives bullies what they want.
Keep personal information private, so that people can’t use it against you.
Remember you have a Cyber Bullying plan. Figure out what’s best to do.
Be careful that you’re not acting like a bully.
Tell a trusted adult if you think it’s best or if your plan isn’t working out.
Don’t go to sites where people treat you badly.
Save the evidence.

21. Cyberbullying Tips Cyber Bullying Plan Help Your Friends Stay Calm.
When you see posts bullying someone, tell the bully to stop. Remind them that bullying isn’t cool.
Stop the activity or ignore the bully.
Tell the bully to stop. Don’t be a bully or make threats when you do this.
Offer your friendship and support to people who are bullied.
Tell a trusted adult.
Block the bully.
If the bullying doesn’t stop, tell a trusted adult before it gets our of hand.
If you know the bully, send copies of the bullying to his/her parents. Politely ask them to stop it.
Contact your service provider.
Notify the police, especially if the bullying is making serious threats.

22. President Trump and First Lady Melania

23. References
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Cyberbullying and social media. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from
Cyberbullying statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from
French, D. (2017, April 12). A suicide in Texas. Retrieved April 17, 2017, from texas-university-student-commits-suicide-after-being-accused
Grossman, A., & Rapp, S. (2016, October 31). Stopbullying blog. Retrieved April 17, 2017, from enforcements-reminder-negative-effects-cyberbullying-and-what-we-can-do-prevent-it
List of social networking websites. (2017, April 15). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from
Moreau, E. (2017, April 17). The top 23 social networks people are using today. Retrieved April 17, 2017, from networking-sites-people-are-using
Social media bullying has become a serious problem. (2016, October 13). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from has-become-a-serious-problem/
Stahl, L. (2016, November 13). President-elect Trump speaks to a divided country on 60 Minutes. Retrieved April 17, 2017, from
Teensafe (2016, October 05). Cyberbullying facts and statistics. Retrieved April 17, 2017, from statistics/
The top six unforgettable cyberbullying cases ever. (2017, March 27). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from bullying-cases/
What is cyberbullying. (2012, March 07). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from