Cyberbullying At Schools. Can Yoursphere Prevent Bullying?

An administrator from a school recently asked me:

How can, or does Yoursphere protect kids and teens online from cyberbullying cases like the Megan Meir/Lori Drew case? 
(Lori Drew, parent, signed up as “fake” 16 year old boy, became Megan’s online boyfriend, then bullied and harassed Megan telling her “the world would be a better place without you.” Tragically Megan killed herself.) Read more.

Lori Drew was allowed to do what she did to Megan because she thought she could get away with being anonymous. Lori was anonymous while she was bullying Megan on MySpace.  At Yoursphere not a single member is anonymous.  Anonymity is eliminated by requiring identity verification and a sex offender check of each and every member.

As a result, Yoursphere is in the very unique position to be able to actually hold members accountable for their actions because we know who they are. No other social media site, including Facebook, verifies members identities.

In January 2009, California joined Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina and Washington states in passing a law against cyberbullying. Cyberbulling is defined as harassment inflicted not by physically menacing bullies at schools, but through social networking sites, instant messenger programs, and other forms of digital communications. http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-education/2009/01/07/california-law-targets-cyberbullying.html.

Though laws against cyberbullying represent progress toward preventing it in the future, cases of cyberbullying are difficult to investigate because of the web’s anonymity.  It is often tough for school officials to track bullies.  Enter Yoursphere. No anonymity.

While nothing in life is preventable 100%, we do know that kids and teens – even adults – often act differently, behave differently, when they are not anonymous.

Learn more about how Yoursphere.com eliminates anonymity.

Category: Cyberbullying, Yoursphere