Cyber bullying has received a lot of media attention lately. In fact, some girls have become so distraught over online taunting and teasing that they’ve committed suicide. In most of these cases the girls didn’t provoke the bullying. They were bullied by others who knew they were easy targets. Formspring.me, a social question and answer website, lets people ask you questions anonymously there’s also the option of using your name). If you’re a member, you can pick and choose the questions you want to answer and then share your responses on your favorite social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook. This website is providing a forum for cyber bullying with open arms.

I have a Formspring account and personally I think that if you can deal with people’s comments then you can keep it. However, there are people who are very sensitive and can’t deal with negative feedback. If this applies to you, then you’ll have to understand that creating a Formspring account might put you in a vulnerable position. People can ask you questions that you may feel uncomfortable answering. Both the questions and comments may hurt your feelings and negatively impact your self-esteem. A couple of my friends have accounts with Formspring and they have received ridiculous questions asking nasty and inappropriate things about them. You have to understand that being a member of this kind of social networking site has consequences. If you want to try it out, you’ll just have to learn how to deal with it properly. If you receive a negative or inappropriate question or comment, don’t respond. Bottom-line; if you realize that you’re uncomfortable with this type of website, you should deactivate your account.

-Erica