Hiya, Recently I put a picure on facebook of me with shorts on. At the time lots of people liked itand wrote nice comments but now people are taking the mick out of it and doing offensive copies that are meant to look like me. Its really upsetting! What should I do?
Sam
Hi there,
Thank you for your email.
It sounds like youve shared a picture with friends on Facebook and now some people have started to make fun of you. From what you said it sounds like you are being cyber bullied and this can be very scary and upsetting. What they are doing is wrong - no one has a right to make you feel embarrassed or scared.
There are some things that you can do to protect yourself. It might help to make your Facebook profile temporarily inactive while you decide what you want to do. You might want to block the people who are making nasty comments, so that they cant contact you any more. It would be also good idea to think about changing your privacy settings so you can have more control over who can see your pictures. You can choose to report the people making unkind posts and offensive pictures. If you click on a post or picture that is upsetting you, you will get an option to tell Facebook about it directly. You can also choose to share it with another Facebook friend that you trust, and ask them for support.
You can find more information about how to do this on Facebooks help pages. There is also a great website called thinkuknow which gives you lots of advice about the safest ways to use social networks like Facebook. Bullying UK have got some specific information about being bullied on Facebook.
Remember being bullied is always wrong and can be very upsetting. You do not have to deal with this on your own. You might want to consider telling someone that you trust such as a teacher or a parent. It might help to keep copies of the nasty posts and pictures so that you can show these to an adult. Having someone supportive to talk to about your feelings can seem like a big relief. It might also help you feel more sure about what to do next.
If you feel like youd like to talk to someone in confidence, one of ChildLines counsellors would be happy to listen. You can contact them in many different ways. You can call free on 0800 1111, log in for a 1-2-1 chat or send an email.
Take care,
Sam
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