Twitter

Keeping Social Media Trolls Under The Bridge: A Six-Step Approach

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Everyone has an opinion. One of the unflattering aspects of social media is that those opinions, no matter how crude or baseless, can be amplified to the masses. Sometimes they’re valid, other times… not so much. Social managers should consider this six step process to avoid troll encounters and to handle uncomfortable situations when navigating the darkness under the bridge.

1. Monitor Your Social

Regularly monitoring the conversations occurring around your brand gives you the opportunity to stay in control of the dialogue. Take a look at your mentions on a daily basis to identify and respond to negative feedback that requires attention. The longer a brand ignores threatening posts or unsatisfied customers, the more their anger festers into something larger. Remember, the internet doesn’t take weekends off.

 

2. Stay On Task

Your time is precious. Don’t get trapped into arguing with every troll who wants your attention. Focus on responding to customers who voice real concerns and do so without using foul or hateful language. Block, delete and report anyone who jeopardizes the safety and inclusiveness of your online community.

 

3. Ask For Clarity

Sometimes the line between a sarcastic aside and a valid grievance gets blurred, especially within the confines of character limits. Give your audience the benefit of the doubt and kindly ask them to clarity their comments if you’re not sure of their intent.

 

4. Consider The Timing

During a crisis, you can never be too careful in your approach to formulating a response. After a national disaster or tragedy, delay any scheduled social posts or e-blasts and wait to respond to online messages. It’s impossible to know everyone in the audience you’re reaching and how they might be impacted by imminent news stories. Carrying on with business as usual can be tone-deaf and might subject your brand to further negativity.

 

5. Respond With Care

Trolls love emotional reactions. Use reason instead. If the intent of a comment was to bait you into an uncomfortable situation, de-escalating the conversation in a non-hostel tone will usually curb additional responses. If the comment was from a true customer, they’ll appreciate the professional nature of your reply. A cool, level head will always prevail.

 

6. Fix Your Mistakes

Everyone slips up occasionally. When a mistake is brought to your attention own up to it, provide a transparent explanation, and make a genuine apology. People are usually quick to forgive when a brand is honest about their blunders – especially if there’s a discount or other perk attached to that apology.

 

If you’re looking to establish a set of policies for handling social feedback, let Deph Digital guide you in the right direction.

A Detailed First-Look at Twitter’s New Desktop Layout

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This week, select Twitter users were given an opportunity to preview the platform’s new desktop layout. The clean, fresh display replaces the current three-column view in favor of a simple two-column design, with an emphasis on sharing original content. A static Compose Tweet button rests at the bottom of the screen, regardless of how long users scroll through their timeline.

In addition to a fresh appearance, the layout also comes with a host of new features. Night Mode, a popular dark-toned interface on the mobile app, is now easily accessible via a profile dropdown menu. Bookmarked content and Data Saver mode (which prevents videos from auto-playing and loads images in a lower resolution) are also now available via that same dropdown.

Account settings have also undergone a renovation. Twitter’s 15 individual setting tabs have been condensed to seven. Many, such as Email Notifications, Web Notifications, Muted Accounts and Muted Words, have been combined into more broad categories like Notifications

Having trouble locating a specific option? Users can revert to the classic layout, now known as Legacy Twitter, via their account settings.

Twitter Fights Rampant Abuse

Every day when users open their Twitter accounts they are subjected to spam and harassment. In recent months, while under increasing scrutiny, the platform has ramped up efforts to fight against spam and other unhealthy behaviors that jeopardize the user experience. Although it has cost them a loss to the tune of three million active monthly users, Twitter’s showing no signs of slowing down.

The implications are vast and varied for brands using the network. In July, Twitter removed tens of millions of accounts from the platform that were previously inactive, locked due to suspicious activity or repeat violators of their terms of service. While the initial drop in followers may have been a shock, some are viewing the move as a boost to the credibility of the platform. No longer can an account rely on bots and spam accounts to inflate their follower count.

Bot accounts aren’t the only ones at risk. Attempting to curb attention from the congressional investigation into Russia’s attack on the 2016 U.S. elections, Twitter has suspended 70 million accounts tweeting politically divisive content. Those accounts, often pretending to tweet from a country in which they aren’t located, are given a chance to challenge their suspension by way of phone verification. While your brand account may not be fake, don’t fall victim to being misleading. As a best practice – especially if you’re tipping your toes into partisan issues ­– verify your phone number before the Twitter prompt.

To crackdown on harassing and threatening behavior, the platform has begun to aggressively enforce their User Agreement. Although there’s debate about whether they’re doing a good job of that or not (we don’t think so), it’s undeniable that strides are being made.

In the past, it was commonplace for live video streamers to overlook annoying and vulgar commentary during a broadcast but a new policy for Twitter’s live video platform, Periscope, suspends accounts that make abusive or offensive comments in the chat section.

Researchers from the universities of Oxford, Leiden and Amsterdam have also teamed up with Twitter to help the network determine, algorithmically, which potentially contentious conversations hold meaningful, complex reasoning vs. those showcasing incivility and intolerance.

Concerned about the content you’re tweeting? Deph Digital can ensure that your Twitter account complies with the latest policies, rules and regulations.