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Social Media Turns Into A Weapon
on 17 December 2008 - 608 viewsI read a report that more teens are falling prey to online intimidation, which is seen to be escalating in intensity. There has been abuse of social mediums like MySpace and Facebook recently and some of them led to suicides eventually.
While we internet marketers use these social mediums to drive traffic and also build up our own brand, these people use these medium initimidate others. How do they do it? They create fake profiles on MySpace or Facebook and they use it to befriend those whom they dislike in their lives.
Once they are accepted, they start hurling nasty insults at their “enemies”. I remember an infamous case in 2006 whereby an American teenager Megan Meier killed herself after being taunted online. Traditionally, these online bullies target their victims through e-mail messages or forum postings and experts are saying that this effect has turned viral. Sounds familiar? Viral marketing! Even virtual bullies can get viral…
The rising popularity of social networking sites and even YouTube videos has made humiliation more widespread and the effect is more immediate. In my own experience as a student before, each time something happens in school and by the time I got home, everyone would be talking about it on MSN. Its crazy!
Now ladies and gentlemen, if you ever face such virtual bullies or getting strange messages from strangers on these social networks, DO NOT take them to heart. While you may think nobody hates you, the truth may be otherwise. Remember to use it wisely, for social media can be a weapon and it has taken always innocent lives.
Take it easy… Come talk to Ben and read my blog if you need to because.. I am always here for you guys! =)
Posted in: Personal Ramblings, Social Media
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 12:49 am and is filed under Personal Ramblings, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
This happens because of a technique called e-whoring and some other blackhat stuff.
With the economics downfall for jobless people, blackhat markets are getting bigger and popular nowadays.
e-whoring? now thats new to me!
e-whoring is kind of…
guys pretending to be a hot chick + affiliate links to AdultFriendFinder and co sites = $$$
Sometimes studying blackhats are pretty interesting.
Desmond - DesmondBlog.com’s last blog post..Forum Arbitrage Method - How a College Teenager Made $300 Every Month Using Forums
Ah I see that I have come across.. Didn’t know thats called e-whoring.
lol I add something to be vocab every day. The thought of it makes me sick though.
If i remember right Megan Meier was harassed by her enemies mother. A terrible act by a so called grown up. At this stage of my marketing career i don’t think anybody does hate me
…. maybe when i start to knock off the gurus…
Lol… Well, you can’t please everyone especially on the internet. One man’s medicine may be another man’s poison!
It’s pretty sad to see this happening. There are even news that socia media has turn into a platform for Terrorist planning. What has the world come to?
Wei Liang
Wei Liang | ABloggerBlog’s last blog post..Lesson 21: Blog Carnival
Now thats bad.. Bullies are bad enough, what more terrorist?
This started in chat rooms like Yahoo. Unfortunate as it is, it makes sense they would “move up” to social media like this.
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..How To: Evaluating Competition For New Site Niches
It’s the same ole ’school yard bully’ tactics just in a new form so I guess the old saying for it still applies:
“Sticks and stones may hurt my bones,but names will never hurt me!”
Caleb’s last blog post..Being Part Of A Group
Yeah! Never take these negative sayings to heart or you end up suffering alone.
Damn Caleb, I just said the same thing in my comment. That will teach me to read what others have said first. Sorry mate.
Sire’s last blog post..Wassup Blog’s Mean Woman Blues
This is the sad reality. Theres alway people to abuse things so it is always important to be careful and like you said. Don’t take it to heart.
Salwa’s last blog post..Why Your Blog Design is so Important
Sadly and unfortunately.. Internet can do so many things..
I was just thinking about this issue the other day. Isn’t there some 13-yr-old girl who committed suicide because of cyber-bullying through Myspace? Apparently this other girl pretended to be a guy and started bombarding her with abusive messages. It can be quite a serious issue just like offline bullying.
Yup there is.. Kinda sad huh. This is worse than offline bullying because its viral! The world will know about it in matter of mins..
The sad thing is that it even happens among so called friends and acquaintances, especially females. If someone feels slighted for whatever reason the go for the online attack. They even use mobile SMS as a weapon. What amazes me is that people let this sort of stuff get to them. Perhaps there should be an online ’sticks and stones’ mantra.
BTW Ben, there are some old posts that I would like to unsubscribe from but when I try this I get an error message?
Sire’s last blog post..Wassup Blog’s Mean Woman Blues
Oops you mean you subscribed to the comments? I have no idea about it dude. Whats the message that you got?
Of course I subscribe to your comments. That’s how I keep tabs on you.
The message is “Not Acceptable
An appropriate representation of the requested resource / could not be found on this server.”
Sire’s last blog post..WordPress 2.7 Rocks
I always get this msg too and I have trying to find out whats wrong with that. I am sorry for that Sire.
No worries Ben. I can live with it.
Sire’s last blog post..Can You See The Human Apparition In This Splash Of Water
It is a sad state of affairs. It just makes it easier for the bullies cos they don’t even have to confront their victims face to face.
Alan Thomas’s last blog post..The Hidden Advantages Of Online Education
Good post, it really is a crisis and especially with teenagers, so damaging all the garbage that goes on, but as we see time and again, as technology advances so do the the dire consequences of it, on so many levels.
JR @ Internet Marketing’s last blog post..Website Traffic that Converts - Are You Missing Out?
Ya show the kind of weaklings they are..
they should just block whomever’s harrassing them, its over the internet, unless that person comes to your house, you’re pretty much safe
Pheak Tol’s last blog post..Hit Bush With A Shoe