How the Crowd Can Slay Cyber Trolls
Internet trolls can make life a misery for people on social media. The cyber bullies hide behind their computers screens smothered in clouds of negativity spewing forth inflammatory and abusive messages.
Some countries are cracking down on the online abuse by introducing new laws, and now Twitter is giving its users a new weapon against malicious folk. And it comes courtesy of the crowd.
Thanks to a new feature, Twitter users can share with each other the lists of accounts that have been blocked by them.
Users will be able to export and share their lists with those who are experiencing similar negative interactions, and import another user’s blocked list into their own account.
Slaying the Trolls
This means that instead of having to block each individual troll, Twitter users can collectively block a large number.
Currently the feature is only available to select users, but it will be rolled out across the entire social media channel within the next few weeks.
It’s dividing and conquering and could become an effective way for people to clear up their Twitter streams.
Twitter hope their move will inspire others to think of new ways of enhancing user safety. In a blog post, Twitter spokesperson Xiaoyun Zhang, wrote: “We also hope these advanced blocking tools will prove useful to the developer community to further improve users’ experience.”
If this crowdsourced method is successful, it may also inspire other social media companies to follow suit and turn to the crowd for ideas of how to tackle online harassment.
Add your Comment
[LOGIN FIRST] if you're already a member.fields are required.