Cyberbullying is a challenging issue for teens and young adults. According to research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, a majority of teens say their own reaction has been to ignore mean behavior when they see it on social media. Two-thirds of teens who have witnessed online cruelty have also witnessed others joining in - and 21% say they have also joined in the harassment.
Reachout.com - an online support community for teens and young adults - has just launched the "Don't Just Stand By" teen Facebook app developer competition to help provide information about cyberbullying and encourage action.
In today's convo, I speak with Anastasia Goodstein, Director of Digital Programs at the Inspire USA Foundation, the non-profit organization behind Reachout.com. "We believe that teens will be most responsive to solutions created by their peers, and that the Facebook apps submitted will hopefully inspire youth to speak up and take action against cyberbullying when they see it," said Goodstein. "We feel that since most U.S. teens are on Facebook, it's the natural platform to have them build these apps on and share them with their friends."
The competition runs through May 25, challenging developers between the ages of 13 and 17 to create apps that include a specific call-to-action for potential cyberbullying bystanders. Prizes for the top three entrants include cash and virtual mentorship by an adult programmer. Full rules and online contest entry can be found on Reachout.Com's website.
This convo is sponsored by:
Vitrue, an original Facebook Preferred Developer Consultant, is the leading social marketing platform facilitating relationships between brands and their fans across multiple social networks via its software-as-a-service solutions. Social marketers and agencies world-wide use Vitrue's Social Relationship Management (SRM) platform and its Publisher, Tabs, Shop and Analytics products.
Brandwatch is one of the world's leading social media monitoring and analysis tools, with offices in the UK, US, Germany and Brazil. Global brands and agencies use our tool to cut through the noise on the social web and find the conversation that matters, empowering decisions that improve their business.
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Neil Glassman is principal marketing strategist at WhizBangPowWow, where he delivers integrated social, digital and linear media solutions. Join his conversations on Twitter and Google +.