It is estimated that that the Internet has about 3.17 billion users, almost half the population of the world (Smith 2016^[1]). With the growing number of internet and social media users, we are witnessing an increase in antisocial behaviour online.

In this section, we explore the phenomenon of internet trolling and strategies for managing this disruptive online behaviour taking the communication context into account.

Read the following definition:

Internet troll

An Internet troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into an emotional response, or of otherwise disrupting normal, on-topic discussion, primarily for the troll’s own amusement.

Reading

Read the following, paying particular attention to strategies for dealing with trolling behaviour.

• The Wikipedia article for internet troll
• An essay published on the Wikimedia site: What is a troll?
• Types of internet trolls, published by Lifewire.

Media

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Annotation - Research on trolling

Read the following articles and add or reply to annotations using on the Hypothes.is focusing on how the research relates to your own online experience. Remember to tag your posts using the course code: LiDA102. (Consult the OERu support site for help on using the Hypothes.is annotation tool.)

March, E. (2016). ‘Don’t feed the trolls’ really is good advice – here’s the evidence. Retrieved July 3, 2017. (Direct hypothes.is link.)

March, E. (2017). How empathy can make or break a troll. Retrieved July 13, 2017. (Direct hypothes.is link.)

References

1. ↑ Smith,
   K. (2016). Marketing: 96 Amazing Social Media Statistics and Facts. Brandwatch