22
Don’t Feed the Trolls
THERE ARE NEGATIVE things that can happen when you become active on social media sites. I am not going to lie to you. I have made myself visible on these sites and I know what can happen—the good and the bad. When you jump into the social media world for your company, you invite the world to come. And all the world does.
Back in my über-geek days, I used to hang out in IRC chat rooms. These rooms were places where fellow geeks could hang out in different topic-based rooms, swap stories, MP3s,64 and generally connect with others. Every time, bar none, he would appear. The troll:
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.65
Usually, this sorry excuse for a human being would type something like “Your mom is hot” or “That’s what your mom said.”66
Nowadays, trolls have moved into the social media stream, leaving nasty blog comments, sending meathead tweets, or insulting Facebook comments.
Witness a recent tweet from someone:
1. DFTT (Don’t Feed the Trolls): This is by far the best piece of advice I ever received back in the day and it still holds true. I was getting grumpy about a guy baiting me in a chat, and someone sent me a private message with that line. Trolls feel horrible about their lives, their haircuts, and are angry that a bowtie has not become acceptable attire in society. And they are hungry. If you don’t feed them, they eventually go look for food elsewhere.
2. Don’t Expose Them: I’ll admit, my first reaction to these morons was to reply back with my sharp wit, but never forget this: If they tweet something to you, only their followers will see it (and they usually have 20 followers, my mom not being one of them, contrary to their apparent liking of said mom). But if you reply, if you take the bait, you now have the tweet on your main profile page, feeding the troll exponentially! Not only do you give them the satisfaction of being fed, but you’ve also given them a platform to be exposed to all your followers. The tweet above was sent to me yesterday. I didn’t reply, I just blocked and went on with my day. Sure, I don’t like seeing it, but I found it kind of funny and it isn’t entirely false. ☺
3. Pick Who Gets Your Emotional Currency: You only have so much emotion to go around. It should be spent on people who value it, who value you, and not someone who just finished a 36-hour bender on “World of Warcraft” and is angry that his wizard lost an epic battle on the island of Corinthian. There are way too many incredible people in this world, and on Twitter especially, who are worth your time.
4. Realize Where They’re Aiming: It is the troll’s lack of self-esteem that brews the hate. It actually has nothing to do with you. Does the troll know you? Does he have tea and crumpets with you? No. So screw ‘em.
This isn’t about living in a bubble and only listening to happy things. Constructive criticism is one thing, being a jerk is another.
You’re worth more than troll bait. Don’t listen, don’t acknowledge. Just be you, and do it at the highest level possible, because I think you rule.
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