President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama today convened administration officials, parent, children advocates and others for a White House summit to discuss a coordinated effort to prevent bullying.
And the cyber dimension of the problem was no small part of the discussion, which naturally brought online social hub Facebook into the mix.
Facebook hosted one of the breakout sessions as a live chat, with two White House policy advisors, Facebook’s chief security officer, and others taking questions from the online audience.
Additionally, the president and first lady posted a video speaking directly to the membership of the social network talking about the initiative, which comes with its own website, [StopBullying.gov](http://stopbullying.gov/).
And to go along with its participation in the White House campaign, Facebook announced a pair of forthcoming additions to its site that aim to promote a climate of respect and mitigate the effects of bullies.
Facebook is working on a new reporting mechanism that, “social by design,” will enable users to report objectionable content to someone in their network. “It is our hope that features like this will help not only remove the offensive content but also help people get to the root of the problem,” the company said.
The company is also adding new multimedia content to its Safety Center, expanding the resource hub to educational videos and other materials.
