As digital media has become increasingly social and evermore accessible, the democratization of the ability to publish has also led directly too the ability to do something else: hate. What’s more interesting to me than the presence of hate itself, though, is the varying degrees to which hate is accepted by the Internet population at large.
In order to gain a bit of perspective on the spread of hate online, I’ve broken it down into four major categories: Celebrity Hate, Brand Hate, Person-to-Person Hate and Anonymous Hate. This third post of the four-part series will address Person-to-Person Hate.
Person-to-Person Hate: Prevalent & Problematic
Back in April, I attended the One Show’s Creative Unconference and Facebook Studio Live. The marketers who attended were lucky enough to have the opportunity to work on a non-profit hacking section with the team from the GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) and its Think B4 U Speak campaign. During the session, we were all briefed by GLSEN about a startling trend, especially prevalent in youth: peer-to-peer cyber-bullying.
The statistics from the Cyberbullying Research Center’s research highlight the potential for damage related to the proliferation of technology among increasingly younger users:
- 20.8% of the kids have been cyberbullied in their lifetime
- 17% have been cyberbullied at least once in the previous 30 days
- 13.3% have been cyberbullied by rumors online
- 14.3% have been cyberbullied by mean or hurtful comments online
- 7.2% have been threatened online
In short, the trend towards cyberbullying through the plethora of available channels is prevalent and highly problematic, as exemplified by the string of suicides by bullied youth in 2010. Since this issue was brought to light, several organizations have confronted the bullying head on through the same channels that facilitated it.
Clicking this image will launch the video of the results of the Facebook Studio Live hacking session in which I participated (and even includes a little cameo with me).
GLSEN has since launched a new phase of its Think B4 U Speak campaign in partnership with the NBA:
The Trevor Project’s It Gets Better campaign enjoyed broad participation and sharing by celebrities and average internet users. Google launched an online campaign in support of the project and, ultimately, even the President of the United States chimed in:
What have you done lately to combat online hate? Do you think the anti-cyberbullying campaigns that have been launched, to date, are effective?