When you visualize a “troll,” what do you see?
It probably isn’t a furry creature of folklore lurking under a bridge or a plastic doll with an unkempt hairdo from the 1960s.
The birth of the Internet and its subsequent population by thousands of bitter, crafty pranksters have significantly altered the meaning of the ages-old word “troll.”
Does a blog reader keep posting negative comments? Troll.
Do you click on a link expecting to find a risqué website and find a sub-par music video instead? Troll.
Although “trolling situations” sometimes make for good conversation (and a pretty funny meme, pictured above), anonymous trolls sometimes take seemingly harmless insults too far. And with its global reach and quick, easy-to-use platform, Twitter is the perfect tool for trolls to attack their feeble targets.
On a college campus, where free time is abundant for some less-than-average students and wit is in high supply, campus-themed Twitter accounts sprout up like springtime daisies. The anonymous students manning the accounts quickly gain a reputation with the student body, utilizing inside jokes and quirky insults to poke fun at college-specific characteristics.
Some people may think they’re funny. But to me, most of them are just trolls.
The trolls have invaded Bowling Green State University, with accounts @Falcon_Problems and @OnlyatBGSU dominating for at least a year and @BGslutz, @Vagina_Rock, @BGSU_Squirrels, @FrattytheFalcon and @McFAILCenter playing catch-up in comparison. A handful of other accounts exist.
While the first two accounts often make me chuckle — admittedly, I follow them to my phone — the rest rarely do. Often, they’re just outlandish. Sometimes, they’re sexist and politically incorrect. Frequently they’re just plain mean and trying way too hard.
I don’t blame them for trying — after all, seeing the two successful accounts gaining so much respect on the Internet must fuel a desire for a piece of the egotism pie. And with Twitter’s shield of anonymity preventing any real-world backlash, what’s the harm?
Unfortunately, these anonymous accounts can inflict much more damage than their fledgling operators realize.
The victims: The older man, a non-traditional student whose picture is circulating as you mock him. The school Quidditch team and Anime club, as you poke fun at their passions. The women, Greeks, gays and freshmen whose stereotypes you perpetuate. The student journalist who wrote a story you criticized without even reading.
(Yeah, the last one is me.)
To me, a successful joke doesn’t require insulting someone in the process. I think this is why @Falcon_Problems and @OnlyatBGSU succeed among BGSU students, while the other BGSU-themed accounts, relying almost solely on insults, fall short.
As we’ve discussed in this class, to successfully utilize social media, the golden rule is “think before you post.” Even if your account is anonymous, this rule still applies.
I plan to expand on this topic in my weekly Wednesday column for The BG News. Comment with any feedback, questions or suggestions that may be helpful for the final product.
Tags: anonymous, BGSU, generation, professionalism, social media, The BG News, troll, Twitter
3:57 pm - 10-8-2012
You chose a very interesting topic and I completely agree. I admit I follow @falcon_problems, @OnlyatBGSU and some of the other accounts. Most of the time I laugh at what they have to say but it is usually only the first two accounts I listed that I laugh at as well. I think the other Twitter accounts are too insulting and do not know how to capture an audience in the right way. The student(s) running the first two accounts know how to get followers without having to insult other students or encourage stereotypes on campus. Even though @Falcon_Problems and @OnlyatBGSU can sometimes get out of hand, they are never as insulting as the other BGSU accounts. Expanding on this topic in The BG News is a great idea because if you can get students to read about the troll websites maybe they will unfollow them and not encourage or support them anymore.
7:18 pm - 10-8-2012
Alissa,
This post is very interesting. I agree with you in the fact that these accounts inflict more harm than good, to a serious extent. I have looked at these various accounts, and am disgusted with the way they speak about various women on campus along with several organizations. I, being a member of a sorority on campus, am in aw when I see derogatory remarks being made about my organization. How can people get away with this? And the worst part, you can’t delete or report these posts!
11:23 am - 10-17-2012
Agreed completely with this post. I mean, @Falcon_Problems and @OnlyAtBGSU poke fun at our University, but they also give us something to be proud of. We have a goofy statue on campus and people laugh at it? So, what? They took the route of being proud of our little quirks and whatnot. These two accounts represent a unification of the University; the others create a separation.
I enjoyed seeing the feedback of your column on Twitter. You hit the annoying accounts hard and they knew it, but you gave the two legitimate accounts the idea to keep tweeting about the cool/good things we see at BG.