U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle popped up on Facebook to deliver a message about cyber-bullying. The video, exclusive to Facebook, serves as a promo and curtain-raiser for the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention, which takes place Thursday.
Facebook isn't just the messenger, it will take an active role in the summit, along with the Department of Education, the Department of Health, and concerned students, parents and teachers. Facebook will host a Facebook DC Live event at 12:20 p.m. ET.
The live conversation will tackle how we can make the Internet safer and how to promote a shared sense of digital citizenship. It will take place across several pages on Facebook and include big-wigs from Facebook Security, MTV and the White House Office of Public Engagement.
In the video, President Obama jokes about not bugging the viewer for a friend request but instead bringing to light the upcoming conference. "This isn't an issue that makes headlines every day, but it affects every single young person in our country," he says in the video.
The topic also hits a personal note as Michelle Obama mentions their own daughters. Bullying used to be considered a part of growing up, but President Obama refers to the reach of cyber-bullying that can exist between school, your phone and your home life.
Cyber-bullying has been of growing concern to both the White House and Facebook. Facebook has put renewed resources into stopping online bullying, including by creating a Safety Page and Safety Center, while the White House has created its own portal, StopBullying.gov.
This isn't the first video President Obama has made addressing the dangers of bullying. In October, he created a YouTube video in support of "It Gets Better" to address bullying directed at homosexual youth.
It's easy to shrug off cyber-bullying the same way that name-calling often registers below physical violence. However, it can be just as painful and even more dangerous. More and more people, especially youths, are putting their lives online, and cyber-bullying is becoming harder and harder to ignore.
"Out of 15 million children's IM accounts analyzed we found that 5.6 million children received cyber bullying messages," said Adam Hildreth, founder and CEO of Crisp Thinking, a digital watchdog agency concerned with behavioral analysis and Internet safety. That estimate might even be conservative, according to the National Crime Prevention Council. It claims cyber-bullying affects almost half of all American teens; 19,000 attempted suicides occur each year in the U.S. because of cyber-bullying, according to the Cyber-bullying Research Center.
What do you think of using the Internet to fight cyber-bullying? What do you make of the White House and Facebook joining the fight? Let us know in the comments below.
More About: barack obama, bullying, charity, cyber-bullying, michelle obama, non-profit, potus, President, president obama, social good
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