Social Network sites NOT the favoured haunt of cyber bullies

While MySpace is currently in the spotlight regarding the suicide of a thirteen-year-old American girl who was receiving abusive messages on her personal profile, a new study claims that social networking Web sites are not the platform of choice for those looking to practice cyber bullying. WHOA study reveals that e-mail and instant messaging are more responsible for online bullying than social networking sites: Credit: MySpace.

WHOA study reveals that e-mail and instant messaging are more responsible for online bullying than social networking sites: Credit: MySpace.The research, carried out by Working to Halt Online Abuse (WHOA), revealed that during 2006 some 31 percent of all reported instances of online abuse and bullying were actually instigated via conventional e-mail, while 17 percent began through instant messaging programs such as Windows Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM).When it comes to children, other research conducted by Dr. Christine Suniti Bhat of Ohio University returned that children looking to bully their peers gravitate more towards instant messaging applications, reports FOX News."Instant messaging was the top culprit, and then in the middle range were e-mail, MySpace, and other social networking sites," commented Dr. Bhat, a professor in the university’s counselling and higher education department. "At the bottom of the list were blogs and [malicious poll] voting booths."

According to the WHOA survey of 2006 (which is the latest research on offer), a mere 5 percent of online bullying was found to be started through News Corp.’s MySpace social network, with only one case attributed to Facebook. It is, of course, worth noting that Facebook’s online popularity has skyrocketed over the course of the last 12 months and that figure could now be much higher with it boasting around 55 million users.It’s also worth noting that WHOA’s study figures were not based on the total number of cases found but rather on the amount of cases where total demographic information regarding victims over the age of 18 was available.WHOA reports that it deals with between 50 to 75 cases of cyber-bulling every week. Recorded cases have been fluctuating over the past few years, with 196 cases in 2004, 443 in 2005, and 372 cases in 2006.Young Megan Meier from Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, took her own life in 2006 after a neighbouring family created a fake MySpace profile belonging to a fictitious 16-year-old-boy and then proceeded to bully her with abusive messages. In that particular case, which has recently been subjected to intense media coverage, Missouri prosecutors have this week said no criminal charges will be filed.