Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, Head of Diversity & Inclusion Sara Sperling, and colleagues at Facebook’s headquarters and offices around the world participated in Spirit Day today by wearing purple to speak out against bullying and support LGBT youth!
Facebook launched a new bullying prevention resource page and a new video for Bullying Prevention Month. The new resource is located within the Facebook Safety Center.
Facebook also supported Spirit Day by turning select national pages purple, including Facebook's StopBullyingSpeakUp, Diversity, and Safety pages, as well as encouraging employees at offices around the world to wear purple on October 19. Facebook has participated in Spirit Day since 2010, when an event page was created to promote the first Spirit Day, attracting hundreds of thousands of RSVPs. GLAAD worked with Facebook to remove hateful comments and images posted to the event page. In 2012, Facebook became the first social media company to be receive a GLAAD Media Award.
Participation in Spirit Day, as well as the new bullying prevention resources, are just the latest ways in which Facebook has demonstrated its strong commitment to supporting its LGBT users and preventing bullying. In June Facebook added same-sex icons for married couples.
"When young people find a sea of purple profile photos and supportive voices on their favorite websites and apps, it sends a powerful message that it's okay to be who you are," said GLAAD president Herndon Graddick. "Tech giants like Facebook and Yahoo! are leading the way in taking steps to address bullying and bringing Spirit Day's message to young people year round."
Social media is critically important to spreading the word about Spirit Day, and supporters are encouraged to make their Facebook and Twitter profile photos purple using the tools on the Spirit Day website, www.glaad.org/spiritday. Even the White House went purple on Spirit Day.
Other tech companies supported Spirit Day as well.
Tumblr supported Spirit Day on its social media channels and posted a video on its Storyboard blog about the importance of standing up against bullying.
Mobli participated by creating a special Spirit Day channel where users can share photos of themselves wearing purple to stand up against bullying.
Yahoo! Participated in Spirit Day again, kicking off by posting about Spirit Day to its Yahoo! Pride page. Last year the company went purple on their social media sites, posted about Spirit Day to the Yahoo! OMG Blog, and enouraged employees to wear purple.
GLAAD provides graphics that can be shared on social media sites.
Supporters are also encouraged to upload photos of themselves wearing purple to Twitter, Instagram, andTumblr using the hashtag #SpiritDay.