She was Bullied to death R.I.P

HERE IS WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CHILD IS CYBERBULLIED:

Hold "the talk."

If your child isn't talking about cyberbullying, don't assume he hasn't been affected. Start the discussion: "What have you heard about?" "What are other kids saying?" Let your child know you're aware of this new trend and you are on the alert and are monitoring your computer.

State your values.

Never assume your child understands why cyberbullying is cruel and wrong. Take time to explain: "In this house we believe in kindness. I expect you to be kind." Be clear on your values.

Dig deeper.

Inform school officials or contact the police if it continues. Get the facts so you can create a safety plan for your child: How often is this happening, when, where, and by whom?

Set clear "electronic" rules.

"Never put anything on a cell phone, I-Message, website, email or pager that is hurtful." "Never send anything you wouldn't want said about you."

Save evidence.

Tell your child if he ever receives something that is hurtful, slanderous, hateful, to save or print the message. You may need it to identify the bully or contact their parents with evidence.

Block further communication.

If your child is victimized change your phone number or e-mail account, and talk to your provider. Contact police for threats of violence and extortion.

Monitor that computer.

Keep your computer in a central space and out of your kid's bedroom.

Pull the plug.

If your child ever uses a cell phone, pager, answering machine, or fax, to send vicious gossip or hate, remove the electronic gizmo from your kid and pull the computer plug from power surge.

Teach assertive skills.

Research finds that kids who learn how to be assertive and appear more confident are less likely to be targeted by bullies. In fact, studies show it's often not how "different" your child looks or acts but rather her victim-like demeanor that makes her an easy target. So teach your child an arsenal of strategies she can use to defuse a bully and then practice with her until she feels confident in using them on her own.

Take your child seriously.

This is painful stuff and your child needs your empathy and support. Watch your child carefully and tune into his or her emotional signs. Don't let your child be victimized.

How to Bullyproof Yourself on Facebook

In October, we called attention to National Crime Prevention Month in the United States to raise awareness about cyberbullying. This week is National Anti-Bullying Week in the United Kingdom, and we've teamed up with media outlets BBC Radio 1, BBC 1Xtra, and other sites like Bebo, Habbo, MSN, MySpace and YouTube to address this important issue again. While only a small fraction of people will ever experience abusive behavior on Facebook, we're committed to promoting an environment where everyone can connect and share comfortably.

For more information on how to handle bullies, check out the BBC's new Facebook Page andwebsite. You can show your support for the "bullyproof" movement and receive a free badgeto post on your Wall or send to a friend.

We want to ensure that people understand how to address cyberbullying if it occurs on Facebook, so here are some useful tips from our Help Center: 

Accept Friend Requests from People You Know
In order to prevent harassment from strangers, be careful to accept friend requests only from people you know in real life and remember to report any messages or profiles that look suspicious. Facebook is based on a real-name culture, and fake profiles are regularly disabled when they're reported to us. Only confirmed friends can post to your Wall or contact you via Facebook Chat, so if you're worried that someone will make inappropriate posts or send offensive messages, just ignore that person's friend request.

Use the Block Feature
A block prevents specific people from viewing your profile. When you use this feature, any ties you currently have with them will be broken, and they won't be able to contact you through Facebook. You can block another user by listing his or her name in the "Block People" box at the bottom of your Privacy Settings page. 

Report Abusive Behavior 
The most efficient way to report abuse is to do it in the same place it occurs on Facebook. For example, if you receive a harassing message in your Inbox from someone who is not your Facebook friend, you can report it by clicking on the "Report" link next to the sender's name as you are reading the message. If you receive an harassing message from a Facebook friend, you should remove that person as a friend and report the message. Reporting a message will automatically add the sender to your Block list. You can also use the "Report/Block person" link that appears at the bottom of the abusive user's profile. Reports are confidential and the user being reported does not know about the report. After a report is submitted, we will investigate the issue and make a determination as to whether or not the content should remain on the site based on our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

Customize Your Privacy Settings
Facebook offers granular privacy settings that allow you to customize what information you share and with whom. By customizing the settings on the Privacy Settings page, you can control who views your information, dictate who can find you in searches, and see your Wall, profile and photos, among other things.

Respond to Abusers in the Right Way
Cyberbullies often seek a reaction from the people they harass. When they fail to get one, they often will give up. Rather than respond to a bully via an Inbox message, a Wall post or Facebook Chat, you can delete offensive posts from your Wall or messages from your Inbox and then use the Block or Report functions to resolve the issue. To delete an offensive Wall post, select the "Remove" button that appears in the upper right-hand corner. To delete a message from Inbox, simply click the "Delete" button at the top of the message. Only confirmed friends can post to your Wall or send you a message through Chat. If you are receiving posts and Chat messages you don't like, you should consider removing the sender from your friends list.

Watch Your Words: Steps to Preventing Cyberbullying

Michelle Boykins is the director of communications and marketing at the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC), a U.S.-focused nonprofit devoted to helping people keep themselves, their families and their communities safe from crime. The organization is best known for McGruff the Crime Dog, who has been helping people "take a bite out of crime" for over 25 years. In honor of October being National Crime Prevention Month in the U.S., we asked Michelle to share her thoughts on how to prevent cyberbullying on the web.

Words can be weapons if people are not careful about how they use them. They can pierce our hearts and hurt just as much as any punch. Today, as all of us interact and engage with people on the web with greater frequency, we need to be even more aware of how we use our words. We also need to understand how we can respond to others who use harmful words or take abusive actions toward us.

Cyberbullying is defined as abusive or harassing behavior online, which includes sending or posting text or images that are intended to hurt or embarrass another person. A common misperception of cyberbullying is that it only affects teens. In fact, adults adopt cyberbullying behavior just as easily as young people. The problem transcends age and is due to a lack of respect for another person. Healthy friendships and relationships, at any age, are built on mutual respect, and a person who resorts to cyberbullying or asks you to participate is being disrespectful.

Already, Facebook allows you to easily report abuse on the site by selecting the "Report" link located near photos, videos, notes or other content you find offensive or inappropriate. This is just one step in discouraging people from behaving poorly online and potentially hurting other people. It's up to you to address cyberbullying if it occurs to you or people around you.

More Cyberbullying on Facebook, Social Sites than Rest of Web

Thirty-two percent of online teens have experienced some form of harassment via the Internet, a problem also known as "cyberbullying." According to recent data, 15% of online teens have had private material forwarded without permission, 13% have received threatening messages and 6% have had embarrassing photos posted without permission.

In light of the recent discussions surrounding Facebook and privacy issues, it's important to note that Facebook's new push towards becoming a more open, public network won't just have an effect on an adult population concerned with worries of "friending" bosses and colleagues or adjusting the privacy settings on their children's photos - it will affect the children themselves, as well as teens and young adults, all of which combined make up over a quarter of the social network's user base.

In December, Facebook began a major push to open up people's profiles and make the network more public. Although originally pitched to college teens and later to high school students as a private way to connect with friends where mom, dad, teachers and bosses couldn't find you, the social network grew over the years to not only allow those adults in, but it has created a culture where it's now appropriate to friend the boss and the parents, too.

Earlier this year, Facebook's push for openness went even further, allowing for revamped profiles where all your interests are public, everything you "like" is public and certain websites are allowed to immediately tap into your data for "instant personalization."

The problem with all these changes is not only that they've come so quickly people are unable to keep up, but also the way they've been introduced to users. Facebook prompts you to accept a change, a recommendation of new privacy settings for example, and you do so - usually without reading the fine print.

And the fine print reads - to paraphrase - everything you do is now public!

For teens and tweens who clicked through on the network's "recommendations" without understanding what they meant, the impact to their online social lives will be broad. All of a sudden, they can read others' Facebook Wall posts and browse through their photos; they can see who friended who and who said what. They've essentially been given an all-access pass to the fodder needed for rumor-mongering, gossip and slam-book-style attacks re-imagined for an Internet age.

Cyberbullying: We Can Solve It!