Support for Cyberbullying Victims and Actors

Abstract

This study analyses the post content and the emotions reflected in 10 open Facebook groups associated with cyberbullying, with the highest number of group members. Automated extraction via Facebook API was used to gather the data. Altogether, 313 Facebook posts were extracted and coded for content analysis. Sentiment analysis and parts of speech (POS) tagging was used to explore the emotions reflected in the content. The study findings revealed that (1) the content of the posts was mainly opinion-based in comparison to expressing personal experiences of cyberbullying. This indicated Facebook groups require stronger moderation due to digression of topics discussed. (2) Only 3% of posts in this study contained advice about cyberbullying. (3) Sentiment analysis of the posts showed that the Facebook groups focused on cyberbullying, reflected more positive sentiments in their posts. This is encouraging to cyberbullying victims to share information on cyberbullying. The findings in this study lay the foundations for more research into support for cyberbullying victims.