Structure 005: The Trolls are Winning

Welcome to this week's issue of Structure. As always, one topic, with the goal of providing you some extra insight into the themes you see online. If you enjoyed feel free to subscribe below!

I can’t speak for the rest of the population, but from a young age I was taught to be very selective in what qualifies as “trustworthy” on the internet. Once the internet was a regular tool for use in school we were quickly introduced to databases and scholarly sources that provided information we could trust. Teachers would not allow the use of Wikipedia simply because there is an aspect of user generation associated with it. It stuck with me internally that at least half of the internet was filled with garbage, so if you wanted to rely on something you had to be sure it was acceptable. Did that instruction get lost over time? 

This post is focused on some of the trolling or shitposting we see online. I can’t say whether or not the problem is getting worse, but I can definitely say we are seeing new creative ways to troll outside of the occasional rick-roll or rude reply-guy. Trolls used to be associated with toxic and aggressive users who would typically remain anonymous and torment comment sections online. The way I’m using that term more so in this post is about the accounts online who can get people to believe anything. I’ll be getting into a couple examples, but trolling now often resembles someone taking completely fictional content, posing it in a relatively non-fictional manner, and convincing people to take it as truth. I genuinely can’t tell if trolls have become more sophisticated or if people will actually believe anything they see online. Let’s look at two of my favorites. 

Ballsack Sports

Ballsack Sports (BS Sports) is currently enjoying a linsanity level run of trolling that I’m not sure will ever end. BS Sports is a Twitter account created to replicate a standard professional sports news source account. Think of Woj on Twitter constantly dropping headlines / inside information on the NBA or anything from Bleacher Report. You’ll typically see either a picture with some headline added as a large caption, or just a tweet with a quote accompanied by a source. BS Sports very simply replicates the template of these popular sports outlets and uses that to frame any fake narrative it wants. I will definitely give some credit to the wording and topic selection, as the account does a great job walking the thin line between fiction and reality (though always being on the side of fiction). 

That said, BS Sports has been absolutely dominating the internet with trolling. Anytime a major NBA story breaks there is often a BS Sports variant that may get just as much attention as the real story. We’ve seen major accounts, professional players, new sources, and ESPN itself all fall victim to a made-up story from BS Sports. BS Sports has made it onto on-air ESPN talkshows multiple times this year cited as a legit source. People who work full-time in the sports business are somehow failing to recognize the satire at play at a relatively high clip. Naturally if industry professionals can’t catch the satire then it makes sense why the rest of the population struggles to catch it as well. 

The account itself makes a mockery of this phenomenon on purpose. “Ballsack Sports” should be a big enough red flag that the source is not trustworthy, but it also has “BS” as a profile picture on Twitter. The account’s pinned tweet also provides some commentary on how easy it is to spread misinformation online and how to identify it. Whoever runs the account is literally trying to teach people online a lesson, but nobody wants to listen.

The trolls are winning. It ain't close.

Jack Raines

Jack Raines is the author of a popular newsletter (also written on beehive ) called Young Money. Anyone who follows his writing or his Twitter can quickly grasp a bit of his personality and how he interacts online. His writing often takes a lighthearted, but educated approach to financial topics, while on Twitter you can always spot him poking fun at current events or trolling various other users. He’s a great follow that provides a good outlook on real topics while also providing entertainment value. 

As mentioned, anyone familiar with Jack’s online presence would know he enjoys messing around online.

People that are unfamiliar with his presence apparently cannot fathom the concept that he is messing around online.

He has been targeting LinkedIn recently, likely due to the often obnoxious and self-congratulatory nature of the content there. TLDR: He is running a clinic on shitposting 101.

A lot of LinkedIn content already seems cringe or fabricated, so Jack fits his content to the mold and amplifies it to another level. I’m sure we’ve all seen the posts about interviewees stuck in the rain, CEOs patting themselves on the back, or people proud to say they worked for 72 hours straight. Again, Jack takes this template, uses is to frame completely fictional content and watches people take it at face value. My favorite was his post about how to hustle for free breakfast in NYC by just walking into hotels and taking food each morning. This was so obviously fake, but under his post he got hundreds if not more angry interactions from people telling him he was committing a crime, not to follow his advice etc…

Companies (or growing newsletters like the one you are reading) would love to enjoy half as much interaction as he is seeing on is troll posts. The best part, he is leveraging this activity into a substantial LinkedIn following and more subscribers for his newsletter. Again, the trolls are winning and it is not close. He’s playing chess while the rest of the internet plays checkers. 

Let's Go Back to the Basics

 I would say part of why trolling is so impactful right now is because of how ingrained social media has become into our lives. It serves as a primary news source for some people and a secondary news source for even more. Legitimate and often important communications are first passed through Twitter. We’ve grown accustomed to seeing important and real content online, so it makes sense people are losing sight of the basics. 

That said, even with all of the communication we see online now, all of the companies that advertise through social, all of the political figures tweeting about policy, and anything else. At least half of the internet is still filled with garbage. Keep that in mind. 

If you see trolling, laugh, but please stop being the people taking these jokes at face value. The internet is a lot more simple than people make it. A quick look at the account you’re viewing, a tone of voice diagnosis, and a google search for fact checking can make 90% of trolling efforts useless. The accounts mentioned above are my favorite examples because BS sports is relatively harmless, and Jack is a legend. However, there is a negative side of trolling that isn’t hard to imagine. Scams, Ponzi schemes, and hackers have all improved their methods in the past decade as well. It really is important to keep those internet basics in mind. 

Till next time,

Braxton

Song of the Week

As a thank you for checking out this week's edition of Structure here's a song I've been listening to lately:

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