As I spend more time working on Social Media projects at work and at home, one of the most recurring topics is “Trolls.”
It’s a broad topic. Trolls can be anything from vociferous-but-reasonable dissenters to people with an agenda of annoyance and an axe to grind. Each species merits a different reaction.
The Air Force created a terrific Web Posting Response Assessment – effectively, a Troll Taxonomy Tool & Decision Tree – to aid in selecting a response. (Here is a PDF of a recent version, for your reference.)
It’s a great tool – it distinguishes between several layers of negative responses. There are true “Trolls” (negative purely for the sake of it), but also responders are who “Misguided” (negative based on incorrect info) and “Unhappy” (negative based on a corresponding negative experience).
This simple, one-page chart has been a sanity-saver on a few projects in 2009. It forced my teams to stop a cycle of second-guessing – evaluate, respond if-needed, and move on.
That’s why my thoughts went to the assessment last night, when I received a comment notification on one of my videos. The comment was to the effect of “this dude can’t hit a note.”
I tried to objectively place my responder in the tree. Clearly he had a negative experience listening to me. He’s also misguided, because I’m definitely hitting many notes quite well in the video, and his comment wasn’t subjective.
Ultimately, though, he’s just a garden-variety Troll – spreading negativity for some intangible reason it’s impossible to dispute. So, per the Air Force, I’ll monitor it, but won’t respond.
That’s the success of more than my crack Air Force training. Three or more years ago that sort of comment would cripple my confidence. I would probably apologize for his negative experience without ever assuming he was misguided. And I would stop playing the song, probably for months!
Yesterday, he just made me smile. These days I’m a lot bigger than one or ten trollish comments. I sound how I want to sound; if I didn’t, I would have never posted the video.
That’s the same confidence you must have in your brand to make good use of the Air Force tool. If you’re unsure of the product or service you’re offering, every dissent turns into a potentially reasonable complaint.
From there, it’s all apologies, and you’ll be overrun with Trolls.
great post! love the troll scale. brilliant. and do you want me to cut that mofo?
I love the positivity of this, but I also LOVE thatit was auto-associated with the SOS, T for Troll post.
Excellent analysis and resource. Thanks for mentioning it and posting and walking us through the steps.
ps: Your self-confidence is attractive AND inspiring.
Long ago, I came to the conclusion that if I stopped doing what I was doing every time someone hated me, misunderstood me, or just didn’t get what I was doing..well, I’d never do anything. I’d never allow myself to be me, because I’d be too concerned with being approved of or liked. And the periods in my life when I’ve taken the criticisms to heart have been the least productive, and the most inhibiting.
Studies show that 8 out of 10 people lack self-confidence, in some way, shape, or form…including many performers, innovative thinkers, leaders, and truly unique people. To be in the last four categories, you can’t let it all get to you, and you don’t, and I think that’s awesome. :)
This Air Force flow chart keeps coming in handy. I earned some major “looking smart” brownie points today for passing it along to the manager in a budding online community!