F Is For Facebook

Facebook is introducing a new measure to help prevent bullying online.  A child who was having problems can now reach out and let supporting adults know they are having a problem.  Obama has a video on the main page, and he gets right to the root of the problem, which is that kids who were bullied at school had a safe home to go to, or other ways to get away from the problem.  Now, in a world that is connected to the very second, there is less opportunity to get away from the stress, and harder to keep  the bullying in perspective.  Times are changing, and we're not talking about pulling on pigtails any longer.

"For a long time, bullying was treated as an unavoidable part of growing up," President Obama says in the video. "But more and more we're seeing how harmful it can be for our kids, especially when it follows them from their school to their phone to their computer screen."

Facebook said the "social reporting" feature is intended to get reports of bullying to the people with the best chance of stopping it.

Under the new system, a user could identify a photo, status update or other item as bullying them, then privately send a message to someone in their friend network about it.

"Safety and child psychology experts tell us that online issues are frequently a reflection of what is happening offline," Facebook wrote. "By encouraging people to seek help from friends, we hope that many of these situations can be resolved face to face."