Peter Fletcher

How to spot an online bully and what to do when you find one

by

A schoolyard bully kicks a soccer ball at some younger children

Bullying is never OK. Image: trix0r http://www.flickr.com/photos/trixer/3531445744/

What is bullying?

Bullying is behaviour that:

  • is meant to be hurtful;
  • targets a certain person or group of people;
  • happens more than once; and
  • embarrasses, threatens or intimidates the person being bullied.

Bullying isn’t:

  • single episodes of social rejection or dislike;
  • single episode acts of nastiness or spite;
  • random acts of aggression or intimidation;
  • mutual arguments, disagreements or fights.

Types of bullying

According to the National Centre Against Bullying Bullying there are four types of bullying behaviour.

  1. Physical bullying that includes punching, hitting and kicking. Obviously this doesn’t happen online.
  2. Verbal bullying includes name calling, insults, racial and homophobic slurs, and teasing.
  3. Covert bullying which includes pulling faces, spreading lies and rumours, mimicking, and encouraging others to exclude someone.
  4. Cyber bullying includes elements from both of points 2 and 3 above.

The cost of bullying

  • Bullying can lead to mental and physical health issues in the victim;
  • Bullying at work costs businesses billions in lost productivity;
  • Bullying leads to people being less engaged and anxious;
  • Young people who are bullied often go on to be bullies themselves;
  • Young people who are serial bullies often go on to participate in criminal activities.

How to spot an online bully

There are several ways to spot an online bully. These include:

  • They attack someone for expressing a different point of view;
  • They ignore people in conversations;
  • They exclude people e.g. by not tagging someone in a photo or post;
  • They talk about someone so that others know who they’re talking about but not mentioning their name;
  •  They talk about someone as if they’re not present even though they know the person would be aware of their comments;
  • They gang up on people;
  • They overtly or covertly threaten;
  • They ‘shout’ by using ALL CAPS;
  • They use sarcasm inappropriately.

What to do if you spot a bully

There’s lots that can be done. Here a few ideas.

  1. Decide if the person really is a bully.  Sometimes people who come across as nice people can be the worst bullies. In other cases some people who are blunt aren’t bullies – they just lack good social skills. Take the time to get some perspective and decide if the person’s behaviour warrants being labelled as bullying.
  2. Don’t respond if you’re angry or upset. Take some time to let your emotions settle.
  3. Take a stand. Bullies thrive on bystanders. Even if you’re not the target of the bullying it’s good to say something.
  4. Avoid participating in the bully’s conversation. Hitting the Like button or engaging in the conversation, even if you’re not actively supporting the bully, can be construed as endorsing their behaviour.
  5. Don’t feed the trolls. Bullies are often trolls and trolls love nothing more than a good scrap. Don’t give them what they want.
  6. Offer your support to those who are targeted by a bully.
  7. Consider unfriending or blocking the bully.
  8. If their behaviour persists and you don’t feel safe, report them to the site administrator.

How the Obama Whitehouse uses social media

by

20130217-073157.jpgIn A look inside Obama’s (social) Whitehouse, Kori Schulman, Director of Online Engagement at The Whitehouse, explains how the Obama administration uses social media to create dialogue between the President and the people.

Our goal is to connect with people where they’re already engaged and consuming information.

I’ll give you a couple of examples: to raise awareness around the President’s plan to help homeowners refinance, we teamed up with the real estate site Zillow.com to discuss refi with homeowners from around the country. Zillow moderated a Google+ Hangout with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and more than 70,000 people tuned in live.

Obama leads by example.

Last month, the President took some time to answer questions on Twitter about extending middle class tax cuts. During the chat, President Obama was responding to a question and noticed that the twitter user had blue hair in her profile picture. In the response tweet, the President noted that he liked her hair. It was this wonderful, authentic, dialogue on Twitter between the President and someone in their living room. From the President all the way down,

The takeaway here is social strategy starts at the top. It’s not something that gets bolted on like an aftermarket accessory. Rather, it fundamentally changes the way brands are experienced in the lives of its audience and therefore warrants deep and careful consideration in the strategy development process.

Why now is the time to lead, not react

by

Presented by @briansolis.

It’s 2011 and we have lots of new tools. If you took all the advice we wouldn’t have a life.

The big TV networks have captured our attention for years. Now that’s happening online. Now we have to deal with G+. What’s next? Everything is changing, there will always be a new challenge, a new network.

Consumers have a lot of decisions to make. They need help.

Google went to 20 million users in 3 weeks, and that wasn’t at the expense of other networks.

Digital Darwinism is changing business. Companies fail to see how disruptive technologies might affect them.

We know this is a new game, it’s time to create our own rules.

Use the tools we have to listen and learn how we can help others.

Clients are confused, they need clarity and direction.

People want information to come to them. They don’t want to go to a destination to find it.

Consumers occupy different places on the adoption bell curve.

Weight where your best off spending your time and money. Find out your path to relevance.

Traditional consumers get info through paid TV and print. Digital consumers. Connected consumers is enthralled in their own egosystem .

Word of mouth is shifting to digital, to mobile, to social.

The traditional marketing funnel is gone has replaced by a decision ellipse. It’s a process that doesn’t end. They use technology to confirm their decision.

5 I’s
Intelligence – finding the answers, getting insights
Insights
Ideation
Interaction
Influence

What happens after we engage people? There is no box to think outside of.

Making money with social media

by

Clients are finding Facebook as a way for people to connect to agents. Place for agents to share hyper-local content.

Put together a business plan first. Use Trulia voices to build credibility.

Agents using groups on LinkedIn. Match your style with the platform.

If they enjoy creating a blog start a blog. If you’re not a writer find free content and become a content curator.

Follow local people on Twitter. Search for people with interests outside of real estate.

Think relationship not transaction.

Use Alltop or Google Sparks on G+ to find relevant content.

Having someone do your social media is like outsourcing taking your wife out for dinner.

Have tasks that you do daily.

Don’t build something unless you’re willing to live in the space.

Create a LinkedIn profile and a Google profile.

How Queensland Police used Facebook to deliver news in a crisis

by

Caravan floating in Queensland flood water

On The Australian the Queensland Police Service outlines how they used Facebook to proactively deliver news during the recent Queensland floods.

What stands out is the way the usually conservative QPS embedded social media into their daily processes. Social media was no longer an afterthought to keep Gen-Y’s entertained but a part of their core news delivery strategy. From these processes came faster delivery of news in a rapidly evolving crisis.

Managing Facebook and Twitter didn’t cause a spike in the media unit’s workload, but changed its responsibilities to include monitoring user-generated comments. “We’ve integrated social media into our ordinary (daily) 24-hour processes,” Charlton says.

And that’s something I’m yet to see agents achieve. All too often Facebook and Twitter is left to the whims of sales people or the receptionist when it could be used as a way to create efficiencies and improve customer service.

Have you seen an agency using social media for more than just pimping out listings? If so please share the story in the comments below.

Photo: martinhoward

How real estate agents use social media

by

An online survey, conducted by Postling, of more than 500 real estate professionals in the USA has found:

  • 84% of real estate agents use social media.
  • 79% use Facebook and 48% use Twitter.
  • Most (55%) feel comfortable using social media, while 26% are only somewhat comfortable.
  • Agents are missing opportunities by not using video for property marketing.
  • 29% of internet searches result in a prospect contacting an agent.
  • 45% of searches lead to a prospect walking through an open for inspection.
  • Real estate agents are ahead of other industries in the use of Facebook but they’re behind in the use of Twitter and WordPress.

These stats demand agents rethink their web and video strategies.

How real estate agents use social media [infographic]

 

This Week In Social Media

by

Social Media Day logoHere are the links I’ve shared during last week.

The Five Elements of Authoritative Content. It’s one thing to produce content but another altogether to produce content that moves people to action. Through personal reflection a writer conveys how information has affected them and how it’s changed or reinforced their point of view. It’s this reflection that resonates with an audience.

Charlie Sheen Not Dead, But Virus Spreads On Facebook. Charlie Sheen’s meltdown has been well documented so when news of his “death” surfaced many found it plausible, clicking on a link supposedly containing a video. The only problem was the link contained a virus affecting a large number of computers. The takeaway here is to be careful about clicking, especially on stories that haven’t broken on credible news sites.

Introducing LinkedIn Today. LinkedIn just released a newspaper style page that brings together all of the most popular content shared by connections and influencers. It has a paper.li/Flipboard feel to it but it does make using LinkedIn more interesting and interactive.

12 Things To Do After You’ve Written a Blog Post. There’s nothing really new here but I liked the reminder to tailor the comment made in a status update to the intended audience. Sharing an article a number of times makes sense too, so long as this is done with a little restraint to avoid becoming spammy.

26 Ways To Use Social Media For Lead Generation. One of the main problems facing C Suite managers is the ROI of social media. Many believe it’s a good strategy but the execs in the A and B Suite keep asking “where are the leads?” In reality this article doesn’t address the issue of gaining more direct customers but it does a great job of explaining how social media can make a brand more accessible and attractive to customers. The premise then is that brands that are well regarded will attract more business.

How To Get Thousands of Facebook Fans With a Single Video. OK, the headline is probably an exaggeration, but the point is well made. Videos are an important way to generate interactions on a Facebook Page and those interactions often lead to new Likes. That’s what marketers want, right?

Cracking The Facebook Code. This is an oldie, but a goodie. It describes the results of field research done using a new Facebook profile and outlines the ‘tricks’ to getting into the Top News tab. It’s no surprise that new accounts take a lot of work to get noticed. Surprise, surprise, interaction is the key.

EdgeRank: The Secret Sauce That Makes Facebook’s News Feed Tick. This article describes in almost mathematical terms why some posts make it to Top News and why others don’t. The concept of objects and edges provide a theoretical basis for understanding how the system ticks.

The Mystery of The Facebook News Feed: How to Optimize The Hidden Jewel of Facebook. Another close look at EdgeRank that makes uses the analogy of a diamond to explain the concept of objects and edges. The more edges (likes, comments, shares) an object (a raw diamond, a new post) has the more valuable it is and the more likely it is to find its way into Top News.

21 Creative Ways To Increase Your Facebook Fan Base. Adding a comment box on a Facebook landing page is a pretty cool idea. There’s not many doing this so it would really set a Page apart from the rest.

How-To: Add An iFrame To Your Facebook Page As a Tab. A detailed tutorial from Reggie at MyTechOpinion. The process doesn’t look that hard. For a great example of it in action check out the MyTechOpinion Facebook Page. There are lots of options to get the most from the new look Facebook Pages and this is one of them.

Image Credit: Mashable.com on Flickr.

 

Location

You can find me at Residential Settlements in Burswood.

5/170 Burswood Road
Burswood WA 6100

Let’s catch up

If you're ready to take your business to the next level, get in touch with me now.

Send me an email using the contact form or call me direct on 0419 538 838.

Connect

Connect with me on one of these social networks.