Today we have another guest post from our friend Ben Nesvig:A note to congress and companies engaging in social media: beware of the trolls.
Yes trolls. No, not the kind that supposedly live under bridges. I am referring to the online trolls. A troll as defined by UrbanDictionary.com is: One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument
What does this mean?
Anytime you open up your videos, blog, or website to comments from users, you will find trolls. This is true for websites, but especially for YouTube videos. Congress recently joined YouTube and created a channel. So far they have received some positive feedback, but they have also been a victim of the trolls on YouTube. A look at the comments on a recent video put out by Nancy Pelosi will give you an example of what I am referring to.
What should you do?
So how do you deal with trolls? You have three options: either block comments, moderate comments, or ignore the comments. I recommend slight moderation. You can moderate the explicit, racist, and spam comments, but leave the rest.
It is very important for companies to acknowledge that the internet is full of anonymous users ready to leave negative comments on anything they come across. Do not take it personally; it is just part of putting out content on the web.