The Inspire USA Foundation, the non-profit organization behind the youth mental health site ReachOut.com, with the support of the ESA Foundation, launched the National “Don’t Just Stand By” Teen Facebook App Developer Competition during the Reaching Teens on the Digital Streets panel at SXSW. This competition calls on teens 13-17 to create a Facebook app that will help inform and empower potential bystanders of cyber bullying to take action.

Cyber bullying continues to be a challenging issue for teens and young adults and takes place through email, chat rooms, online social networking, instant messaging and web pages. Cyber bullying can happen to anyone, and the bully can act anonymously. People can also be bullied online by groups of people, such as classmates or members of an online community. According to Pew Internet’s August 2011 Tracking Survey, a majority of teens say their own reaction has been to ignore mean behavior when they see it on social media. Two-thirds of teens who have witnessed online cruelty have also witnessed others joining in and 21% say they have also joined in the harassment.

Check out the article:

http://teensintech.com/blog/2012/03/breaking-reachout/