The social network announced this during President Barack Obama’s summit on cyberbullying today, when he also unveiled a new website called stopbullying.gov.
While Facebook users have always had the ability to report on offensive photos or wall posts, the new features will add more reporting buttons and links. You’ll be able to report content on profiles, groups, pages and events. And there will be the option to notify a parent or a teacher about bad behavior on the social network.
Clicking “report” on a photo, for example, will allow you to designate whether or not the photo is about you and state whether you dislike an image or feel it’s a form of harassment. Selecting the latter option will allow you to forward the photo to a trusted friend such as a parent or teacher, who can take appropriate action in the real world, in the case of where a photo is posted by a classmate.
According to a prepared statement by the Facebook:
Social reporting is a way for people to quickly and easily ask for help from someone they trust. Safety and child psychology experts tell us that online issues are frequently a reflection of what is happening offline. By encouraging people to seek help from friends, we hope that many of these situations can be resolved face to face… In the next few weeks, we will incorporate new educational videos, external resources from renowned experts, downloadable materials for people to share and discuss, and more…We’re also looking to teens to get their perspective and advice on using technology wisely.
We like how Facebook is calling these features “social reporting” instead of including a word like “cyberbullying” might make them more user-friendly and accessible to larger number of people on the site, ultimately helping to rein in more types of verbal abuse.
Readers, what do you think about the coming expansion of reporting options on Facebook?
Source: All Facebook
Thursday, March 10, 2011