OMG U #Cyberbully! An Exploration of Public Discourse About Cyberbullying on Twitter

Cyberbullying, defined as bullying that takes place using technology, includes similar tactics found in traditional bullying as well as unique approaches such as viral repetition. Nationally, prevalence rates for cyberbullying range from 10% to as high as 40% of school-aged children, depending on the definition and measurement tool applied. The current study examines public tweets with keywords and hashtags related to cyberbullying posted during May 2016, using both human evaluation and computer examination to answer the following research questions: (1) What is the sentiment of tweets using cyberbullying keywords/hashtags? (2) What is the thematic content of the tweets? (3) What is the relationship between coding by researchers versus automated coding by Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software? and (4) What is the content of the URLs attached to the tweets? A unique aspect of this study is the examination of the content of URLs included in the tweets, with the finding that the majority of the accessible URL references were to material that was positively focused. The majority of sample tweets referred to a cyberbully situation, contributed to a negative atmosphere, included references to known individuals, and suggested ongoing cyberbullying events. Results from this study suggest an opportunity for researchers, educators, and public health practitioners to use discourse on social media to inform interventions, to educate and share information, and to promote social well-being and mental health.