What is a Social Media Troll?

Someone who creates conflict on sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and blogs by posting messages that are particularly controversial or inflammatory with the sole intent of provoking an emotional (read: angry) response from other users. – Google

These social media trolls are lurking everywhere on the web and most are full of anger and jonzing to discourage people from just about anything they love. So according to google’s translation of a social media troll, these trolls create conflict with messages, but the trolls have upgraded to trolling a few more ways.

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Types of Social media trolls:

Comment trolls – They leave negative unnecessary comments anywhere they see the option to comment.

Post trolls – These trolls probably have subscribed to your blog just so they can be the first to comment under your post with links to their own websites, viruses etc.

Stalker trolls – They stalk your social media accounts everyday but never like or comment on any of your posts.

How do you catch/deal with trolls?

Don’t feed the comment trolls. On Twitter if someone is being Negative+Sarcastic, then you can reply in a Sarcastic+Funny tone to make light of the situation. If it’s on Instagram just delete their comment (you don’t need to see that comment again) and then do your IG fam a favour and block them.
Why do you post your site links when most commenting platforms allow you to make your name link-able after you’ve commented? It won’t help your SEO situation, so stop. Set yourself up with a spam blocker and a commenting system that allows you to approve the comment before it goes live.
Your like or comment won’t make that person insta-famous. Collectively maybe. I’ll be honest. I’ve seen some blurry IG pics or where the image should have been rotated to be right side up, but I still liked it. But then again I go a little like crazy and go on liking sprees. If you really want to know your stalker trolls, you can try to catch them by putting your account on private and see who sends you a follow request. Chances are your stalker trolls don’t follow you and will now try too. For those who do follow you and don’t like, favourite, re-tweet etc…relax, they either didn’t see your post or it sucks and you need to re-think your approach. Trial and error my friends.

Trollers gonna troll, so do you and carry on.

Did you know there’s a mute button on Twitter?

I know it’s old news. But have you used it?

Muting a user on Twitter means their Tweets and Re-tweets will no longer be visible in your home timeline. (They won’t know.)

Thank you Twitter for creating the Mute button. This is a great alternative to un-following someone. So when should you use it?

Ranters/Complainers

Your typical ranter or complainer on twitter is someone who ONLY rants/complains. You can usually tell when you visit their page and all you see is text. No links, no hashtags, no images… As a matter of fact they may be using Twitter as an output to blow off steam. In most cases I would recommend to just un-follow them, but if it’s a friend/family/co-worker then the mute button will do. Also, if the person you follow usually doesn’t rant and all of a sudden your timeline is full of this person tweeting about their recent break-up, muting them until they’re over it may come in handy.
80% Sales 20% Cool Facts

Tempted to name a few but nahh. These accounts are companies selling products or services. Usually they’re newbs to Social Media and they try to get followers by tweeting cool related facts or news. But when they start filling up your timeline with ads and sales pitches then it’s probably best to mute them. You can always head back to their page to scroll through to find the re-tweet worthy tweets. Here are some tips for bloggers on how they can navigate through twitter.
Avoid Live-Tweeters

These tweeters love to tweet about anything live. Truth be told I’m guilty of this as well. But I do consider my followers when live tweeting and spread my tweets out to at least 5-15 min intervals. You can catch a live tweeter before they get crazy and mute them by spotting the hashtag their using. Also great way to avoid a tv/movie spoiler.
Love you, but your tweets suck

It’s simple. Your good friend, co-worker or relative whom you love really sucks at tweeting. They use hashtags that no one uses (full sentence tags), broken web links and tweet about what they ate 4 times a day. So don’t un-follow them which these days translates to “I’m not your friend anymore” or “it’s over”, just mute them and remember to visit their page once in a blue moon. Maybe even reply to a tweet or favourite something.
Contest/Giveaway lovers

There is a known type of twitter user who hunts down for contests and giveaways and tweets them all. Trying to win anything and maybe everything hehe. Which is totally fine! But some people might find it annoying and some informative. I have a few friends who do this to different degrees. I don’t mind at all. For me it’s informative and I try re-tweeting some of those giveaways as well. If you find it getting out of hand, this is a time to use the mute button.