KOCHI: It’s the era of trolls. And thanks to the apps that are flooding the internet these days, everyone is making trolls on just about anything. And what are making these trolls click is because people are able to get the message across with just a few sentences.
“Nobody has the time to sit and read about events taking place around them. Instead, trolls give them the message. And in today’s world, when the youth have no or little space for discussion- trolls are a platform for them.
However trolling an individual for his appearance and style of talking is ridiculous,” said V K Adarsh ,technology writer and social media evangelist. Promotions, advertising and marketing professionals are embracing trolls because they are cheap and trendy not to mention they spread like virus!
Apart from that trolls function as adapted cartoons and are more of a necessity as a social satire. They can present serious issues on a lighter note.
Reliability
What trolls feed on is attention. However, are they reliable enough?
“When a user logs onto social media, he loses his identity leading to a virtual identity which enable him to express his opinions anonymously. This results in defamatory trolls,” said Joseph C Mathew, ex-IT Adviser to Chief Minister and CEO of Standout IT solutions.
And most of the times, trolls are made through hasty decisions. Trollers may react too fast without even judging the matter. The recent attack on the snap chat CEO can be cited as an example.
At times, trolls can be grossly offensive and have the capability to defame celebrities. Some groups even use trolls as part of planned strategic attacks to demean certain public figures because of their stand on controversial topics.
Seventy percent of trollers are responsible but the rest are merely doing it with some negative motive, said Aashin Thampy, social media analyst and founder of 7 pm status, an activism media, a non-profit platform seconding the rights and voice of commons.