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Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Social Media 101: Beware Of Twitter Bullies

I'm a news junkie, so I love Twitter.  It gives me a variety of up-to-date information at lightening speeds.  I get tidbits of national news, local politics, business tips and pop culture in a matter of seconds.  If you're in PR and you're not using Twitter as a resource?  *side eye* 

Anywho... I enjoy Twitter.  But like everything, it's not perfect.  Case in point: A lot of people use Twitter to bully, degrade and harass folks.  They sit behind their computer (lurking, I imagine), spewing out mean and hateful comments whenever they want.  Twitter bullies.  *sigh*  Unfortunately, most them do this on a daily basis.  And what's more troubling is, a lot of Twitter bullies have a large number of followers, which essentially fuels their twisted egos.   

They think it's cool to make fun of celebrities, laugh at children's shortcomings and tell people they're ugly, fat and unwanted.  I personally don't know what's going on with your spirit that allows you to put someone else down on a regular basis.  You've got to be a sad bucket of broken dreams to do that, and enjoy it.  

In 2012, a study showed that there were 15,000 bully-related tweets posted every day. That's more than 100,000 tweets that pollute Twitter each week.  Terrible.  But there are things we can do to stop this Twitter bully nonsense: 
  • Don't engage with them or acknowledge them (Ignore them)

  • Block them (Prevents a person from following you or seeing your timeline)

  • Reporter them to Twitter (Twitter has a strict policy about bullying, abuse & harassment)
Most important, always focus on the positive.  Twitter is not a bad thing.  Don't let others ruin it for you. 


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