Neoco

Trolling- noun: Posting derogatory, off-topic or inappropriate content on discussion groups or community forums with the sole purpose of provoking readers to heatedly reply.

A key perk of social media is encouraging social activism, offering power to the people in making a change for the greater good. But what if social media was in being used promote violent, bullying behaviour, with the instigator hiding behind the pseudonym of an anonymous username?

Mindlessly selecting their victims and hurling streams of abuse, trolls take a ‘moral vacation’ from what they find socially acceptable in the ‘real’ world. Labelled ‘deindividuation’ by psychologists, the term describes the withdrawal of social norms and acceptable behaviour we’d normally abide by offline, as a result of our identities being concealed online.

Whilst hating celebrities is now a social activity – programs such as Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor inviting viewer comments and tweets via designated hashtags and Facebook pages – social media makes it an awful lot easier for these pages to spread, thereby opening up a torrent of potential abuse. An ‘I Hate Katie Waissel’ Facebook page with a devoted following of over 12,000 fans was a prime example, with anti-fans hurling unfounded abuse at the singer.

Although Facebook users generally operate under their real names, Twitter still offers the possibility of anonymous. With many celebrities flocking to the site to regain their own voice in the media after losing it to weekly glossies and gossipy internet sites, they too are open to the wrath of the troll.

The threat of the troll throws up a couple of questions; now that we can completely identify ourselves online surely if our opinions are worth typing, they’re worth putting a name to? Why should anyone listen if they don’t? That way unscrupulous marketers and advertisers could no longer use the power of anon to market their own wares or slander their competitors, in a truly transparent media environment.

Arthur Schopenhauer summed the topic up nicely when he wrote on the subject over 160 years ago, “Anonymity is the refuge for all literary and journalistic rascality.”

“When a man publically proclaims through the far-sounding trumpet of the newspaper, he should be answerable for it at any rate with his honour, if he has any; and if he has none let his name neutralise the effect of his words.” Here here.

The moral of the story? With effective moderation and a switched-on team looking after your clients’ social channels, you can nip the baying trolls in the bud. Having a strict comments policy specifying what you will and won’t allow is just one of the many other tactics utilised to minimise brand bashing; just ask us how.

Tags  abuse Britain's Got Talent celebrity community Facebook forums social media troll trolling Twitter X Factor