Twitter trolls and How Not to Handle Them

Conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro recently responded to Twitter user @benshortpiro “You’re stupid and poor. But I can wear lifts.”

The original tweet can be found here: https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/747274487540809729

Unbeknownst to him, the Twitter user was a “tweet bot,” or a Twitter account run by software that autonomously can send direct messages, respond to interactions, or even write original tweets.

@benshortpiro Tweeted daily “You’re short @BenShapiro” presumably to irritate and make fun of Shapiro’s short stature.

This peculiar Twitter interaction, while mocked by many, can serve as an important lesson on the etiquette of not only Twitter, but social media as a whole, not because it is a good example, but because it is quite the opposite.

It is important to interact with those who are consuming your journalism in order to get a better understanding of what your audience is interested in, especially in the world of politics, however, it should be noted that social media, though a wonderfully convenient way to do so, also allows for “trolls.”

While the Twitter account has since been suspended, likely for spam, accounts such as @benshortpiro are set up or run by “trolls.”

A “troll” is Internet slang for a person who is intentionally antagonistic and whose purpose is to irritate and are a prime example of who not to respond to.

The goal of Internet trolls is to get people angry, and ultimately, to get attention, so by responding to one specifically geared toward him, Shapiro fell into the trap that many public figures do.

While there may be a way to respond to a troll that can be constructive, responding to a bot that has no actual human behind it is a waste of time, and (in this case) revealed what Shapiro believes to be most important about his followers: because he’s rich, he’s better than you.