5 Different Types of Cyberbullying

      Given that the previous post had mentioned what actually is cyber bullying, this post is going to discuss further in depth on the different types of cyber bullying.

Just like how traditional bullying exists in many different types such as verbal abuse and physical violence, cyber bullying is a form of bullying that takes place using electronic technology as a medium. The following would be discussing on a few common types of cyber bullying.

Harassment

      It involves the bully sending offensive and malicious messages at a specific individual focusing for example on race, religion, nationality, and sexual orientation. This often occurs in chat rooms, newsgroups, or by sending hate e-mails to interested parties. Any comment that may be found derogatory or offensive is considered harassment and is often repeated multiple times. Cyber stalking is one form of harassment that involves continual threatening and rude messages, which can potentially lead to physical harassment in the real, offline world.

Flaming 

         Flaming is similar to harassment, it is a form of hostile and insulting interaction between Internet users. It refers to an online fight which often involves the use of profanity. Flaming usually occurs in the social context of an Internet forum, via emails, instant messaging, chat rooms, and on video-sharing websites such as YouTube. These incidents frequently occurs as a result of discussion on real-world issues such as politics, religion, and philosophy, or of issues that polarize sub-populations. It is a type of public bullying that often directs harsh languages or images to a specific person.

 Exclusion

 Exclusion is the type of bullying that occurs whenever someone is singled out and subsequently excluded from an online group. Most social networking sites such as Facebook work as gated communities, only allowing contact between members.  It is possible for a group of students to set up a closed group, which can protect them from unwanted contact.  It also means that they could exclude someone – by refusing to return acknowledged messages or deleting them from their friendship lists. Furthermore, this group in turn may then do whatever they can online to taunt the excluded person through rude text messages and emails.

Outing

 Outing occurs when individuals shares unique yet private information, pictures, or videos about someone publicly through mobile phone or online communication methods. This can be include public display or forwarding of personal communications such as text messages, emails or instant messaging. Many bullies print out instant messaging conversations, often containing personal or sexual information and show them around to other people. This person will then be “outed” once his private information has been shared publicly through the Internet.

Masquerading

          Masquerading is also a very common type of cyber bullying. Masquerading is a situation where a

bully creates a fake identity to harass someone anonymously. In addition to create a fake identity, the bully can even impersonate someone else to send malicious messages to the victim. This would make it appear as if the threats have been sent by someone else while keeping the bully’s identity hidden.



Source: http://www.endcyberbullying.org/5-different-types-of-cyberbullying/

Written By:

Choo Ei Von

Bachelor of Public Relations (Honours)
Tunku Abdul Rahman University College