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"Hollyoaks bosses are launching a special online project to tie in with Esther Bloom&amp;#039;s ongoing bullying storyline. Esther, played by Jazmine Franks, is currently experiencing a tough time at sixth form college as her so-called friends continue to tease and isolate her.   The plot develops further this week as fellow student Dylan Shaw (Mikey Riddington-Smith) innocently creates his own micro-blogging site DocYou to enter a filmmaking competition.  When the other sixth formers begin to misuse Dylan&amp;#039;s creation, it soon becomes a public forum to broadcast humiliating content about Esther, which makes her situation even more unbearable. Hollyoaks are now teaming up with Channel 4 Education and Beatbullying to bring the fictional micro-blogging site online for real. DocYou will allow viewers to further explore the emotional storyline through a range of exclusive content, including videos, photos and text posts. Show chiefs hope that the project will help to highlight the impact of social media on everyday life - including the issues of cyber bullying, privacy and the pitfalls of revealing too much online.   A Hollyoaks statement said: &amp;quot;The project is supported by Beatbullying and will explore the impact of social media on everyday life, and what happens when somebody is constantly picked on in small ways. &amp;quot;This ground-breaking initiative will add a whole new level of depth to the story and highlight how easy it is to miss what is really happening on a site full of seemingly benign content, and how this content can become an additional source of bullying for some people.&amp;quot; Content will also include behind-the-scenes videos of the Hollyoaks cast talking about the issues raised and their own experiences with bullies. Additionally, Hollyoaks will work with Beatbullying offline on a series of other initiatives, which will see some cast members train and shadow as cyber mentors to raise awareness of the issues involved.     Esther&amp;#039;s bullying storyline launched in May but has become more serious in recent weeks as Maddie Morrison (Scarlett Bowman), Sinead O&amp;#039;Connor (Stephanie Davis) and Ruby Button (Anna Shaffer) have been making her life a misery at college. It has now been confirmed that the story will develop &amp;quot;right through to the New Year&amp;quot;, leaving Esther in a lonely and desperate situation as the &amp;#039;teasing&amp;#039; worsens.  Hollyoaks&amp;#039; executive producer Bryan Kirkwood commented: &amp;quot;Hollyoaks has always had a youth focus and we never shy away from tackling difficult youth issues. I am really proud of this story and how it realistically approaches bullying, which is so relevant to our audience.&amp;quot; Channel 4 Education editor Gemma Brady added: &amp;quot;We are delighted to be working with Hollyoaks on this project. The show has a strong track record of tackling difficult issues and feels like the perfect home to explore the complexities of bullying in a connected age.&amp;quot; DocYou will go live tomorrow evening (October 25) at 7pm after the Channel 4 airing of Hollyoaks. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/hollyoaks/news/a433081/hollyoaks-to-launch-online-anti-bullying-initiative/>