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Identifying Trolls
Another important lesson is being able to spot trolls since they are usually the #1 topic starters on forums and in communities. Let's also be serious they start the most drama and stir the pot.
The art of trolling is lost on most - the community sees them as rather annoying, but in reality they are not only necessary they are probably the ones having the most fun in the community. One of the lessons we are doing is the art of trolling, identifying trolling, and creating our own troll accounts to interact with audiences - free from worry about backlash. The reason we need this is to see where the boundaries are of a community.
One thing a lot of people haven't realized is trolls are the best marketers, since they push buttons, cause drama, drop mis-information in order to CREATE knowledge, and if done right people eventually have an all around good time of the light troller.
Now I'm not talking about the malicious trolls, those do exist, and their sole purpose is to cause chaos - but if you have enough skills you can turn any amount of chaos into a marketing opportunity. So for this exercise I had the 9 create troll accounts within their niche, now these troll accounts should never interact with their website, brand or anything - the whole point is to see where the line is drawn in the sand for each community and see what buttons can be pushed. It's one thing to engage and wait and see how others interact with a community, it's another thing to drop a rhino inside a China dish dinnerware store and have it running around - but by pushing buttons then you'll really see what the ends of a community are. We haven't started trolling yet, we still have to get everyone's homework back, and have to talk about the different tactics used.
Here is a real troll live in action - Berta Lovejoy:
Berta:
Her Google+:
https://plus.google.com/112221225063660781289/posts
I've ran into her youtube comments tons of times, and one retarded comment got over 500 replies - it was clearly a troll, but something about feeding the trolls people can't get enough of.
This was the recent video I saw her trolling:
Berta's Comment:
This is her comment page for it: https://plus.google.com/112221225063660781289/posts/B8F2ZApV7Lk
Over 500 replies...
To anyone watching the video - it's clear the girl in the video is loving it. Then reading the comment, us marketers - at least I hope, should be able to spot the flaw in Berta Lovejoy's reply and what was seen in the video, but for some people they just have to comment - that's the power of polarizing content.
So many obvious clues in her comment that it's a troll:
- she states "the female got verbal rape"
- she claims to have a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu... you seen the picture she's using?
- she uses Anonymous's "Expect Us" slogan
If you sit back you realize it's an obvious troll - you know the person is having fun with it, they are literally trying to push any button, so she hit all the top ones for feminist, sexism, and even threw in Anonymous. What's great is the troll is able to practice making content and engaging users, the skills this person has acquired are obviously an advanced level - its' critical to understand trolls, how to defeat them, and even take advantage, cause in online debates - they will appear, so it's best to be one yourself in order to not get caught in their whirlwind - but use their energy they create for your benefit.
Homework: Find 3 trolls on the internet and create a troll account within your niche (Already assigned via Group PM)
Resources: http://www.wickedfire.com/enlightened-members/174376-market-research.html