There has been increasing conversation regarding ‘trolling’ in the last few weeks after some Australian public figures received threats via Twitter. Thus, several news outlets began campaigns to Stop the Trolls which has taken the conversation offline and into the mainstream.

The term ‘trolling’ is used to represent faceless, anonymous bullies who set up accounts on social media sites solely to find targets and attack them, which isn’t necessarily the definition that is known by online communities. Trolling usually refers to playing a bit of a joke on someone, being a prankster as it were and not maliciously attacking people.

Definitions aside, there may be times when you come across people in online communities and social networks who will relentlessly attack without logic or reason and who it’s not possible to engage with in a conversation.  There is a simple mantra when dealing with these people, ‘don’t feed the trolls’.

• Do not reply, it just gives satisfaction and additional ammunition
• Block and report. If they make a new account, block and report again
• Take a screen shot of the tweet, message or reply and keep it as a record if it’s needed

There’s a great quote, ‘the internet has given us the ability to be anyone we want to be, it’s a pity so many people choose to be stupid’. The reality is that there is a minority of people who enjoy causing hurt or humiliation to others these people exist in real life just as readily as they exist online.

Instead of adding to the issue simply don’t let the conversation even start.

Ellison Bloomfield is a Digital Content Developer at Deloitte. Her blog – Humane Resource has received world-wide attention and Ellison is frequently quoted as a thought leader on HR issues both within Australian and international publications. She can be found on twitter @EllisonAmy

By Ellison Bloomfield

There are two questions I get asked by people who are trying to work out whether they need to be using social media in their business: Why? And how?

There is a misconception that everyone should be using social media but the reality is social media won’t be relevant for every business. You need to determine what you’re aiming to achieve from using social media and how you’ll go about achieving it to work out whether it’s realistic for you.

It’s also incredibly important to know where your customers are and which channel they’re using so you’re targeting the right one. If you’re on YouTube but your current and potential customers aren’t then you’re wasting time and resources.

For a small business and for creatives managing their own labels or brands (often outside of a normal day job) there are a lot of reasons to use social media and a number of benefits that can be gained.

Twitter

Twitter is fantastic for building your personal brand and engaging with people. Using Twitter to share what you’re doing, making and who you are allows people to see who the person behind the label or brand is.

Your followers or fans can also amplify what you’re doing across their own networks. If you have a store on Etsy or your own website add the ‘follow’ button in a prominent place (such as the banner) to make it easy for people to follow and connect with you.

Twitter can also be used to link to your other social channels such as Facebook.

Things to remember

It doesn’t matter what social channel you’re using you have to be yourself. It becomes obvious if someone isn’t being authentic on social media and that can dramatically effect how credible people will think you are.

Generally, the only cost when it comes to social is related to time. Make the most of the tools that are available to manage your social streams such as Tweetbot for Twitter or Hootsuite to manage multiple accounts. This will cut down the time you’re spending on the administration side and increase the time you can spend sharing and benefitting from the tools.

Look at what other people are doing in your profession or speciality. There will quite often already be people doing it well who you can learn from. If you need some tips or help there is a huge amount of information out there and a couple of posts here that can help you too!

Ellison Bloomfield is a Senior Analyst in Social Media at Deloitte. Her blog – Humane Resource has received world-wide attention and Ellison is frequently quoted as a thought leader on HR issues both within Australian and international publications. She can be found on twitter @EllisonAmy