Profession - Troll

[Витаутас. Частный детектив г. Вильнюс. Литва]

Profession - Troll. How much they pay to undermine the reputation of others
10/09/2012 | https://www.bezpeka.com/en/news/2012/10/09/troll.html

The impact on public opinion and reputation through online comments and posts, as well as the outright slander (of sites, ideas, reputations of companies, parties and people) - all this has long been a business. Market participants told LIGABusinessInform correspondent how much trolls earn.

Imitation of opinions

The market for services to influence network communities was formed when these communities gained power comparable to the media, said Petr Kuznetsov, head of the consulting company Slovesnik.pro. It is not possible to control opinions in standard ways (handouts, threats) - you can’t feed everyone, and threats can be expensive in the information sense. Therefore, an arsenal of less crude means is chosen. One of them is direct participation in the discussion, with the formation of a certain opinion or achievement of a given communication task. “But this requires a certain level - both in terms of ingenuity and in terms of attention to the language spoken by a particular community,” Kuznetsov says.

In online opinion management, it is necessary to distinguish between direct advertising messages, trolling and SERM (Search Engine Reputation Management, reputation management in search engines), explained Oleg Lvov, director of the Sarafannaya Reklama agency. SERM involves supplanting negative or untrue reviews about a brand, a company, a public person, or a political party from search queries. And tro? Lling (from the English. Trolling - lure, fishing for spinners) - this is the placement on forums, blogs, social networks and news sites of provocative messages in order to cause a "flame" (from the English flame - fire, flame; verbal skirmish on Internet resources), provoke conflicts between participants, mutual insults.

Paid trolling has the same goals - by using provocative and untruthful messages to denigrate a brand, company or policy. And the difference between SERM and trolling is about the same as between white and black PR. “It's like white and black, although there are, of course, half-tones in this matter,” says Oleg Lvov.
All leading Internet portals and social networks are infected with paid troll comments.

Orders for politicians

In Ukraine, trolling companies are mainly competing companies, fighting for customers, business niches and markets. And they usually do this on their own - at the hands of sales staff and PR managers. Businessmen in our country practically do not order professional trolling, and few people make money on this, assures the head of the Sarafannaya Reklama agency Oleg Lvov.

But as for politics - all the leading Internet portals and social networks are infected with paid troll comments. This is especially striking today, on the eve of the elections to the Verkhovna Rada. According to Lvov, it’s difficult to call it a political PR, since trolls cannot sensibly agitate or PR in principle. "Unfortunately, Ukrainian politicians have little understanding of Internet technologies - they are more interested in the overall process than its result," he said. Political parties, as a rule, do not apply for trolling services to professional agencies, but control them independently, recruiting young people who have mastered the Internet and social networks.

Peter Kuznetsov agrees that young people of dubious competence are involved in political campaigns, and sometimes very large funds are written off. “But in practice, people of middle age or in years turn out to be the most efficient and effective,” he said.

Judging by the number of custom-made comments on political topics, at least several hundred people from different forces are engaged in political trolling in Ukraine, otherwise such a volume simply cannot be raised, says Lvov. “Reading all these paid comments, you understand more and more why the ballot box was called an urn,” comments the director of the agency.

The tasks set by the trolls are different - to provoke users to rudeness with the subsequent "ban", to spoil an objectionable page with disgusting comments. But to block trolling the operation of a separate web page is almost impossible. Firstly, this requires too many trolls, and secondly, any serious resource is constantly moderated, and an experienced moderator can quite easily chop off a whole group of trolls. In order to knock down a site, more effective methods are used, such as DDoS attacks.

Professional trolls are very similar to Ukrainian politicians

A professional troll should be a good copywriter to quickly, easily and most importantly write the necessary texts yourself. Exposure and resistance to stress are also important: if you take other people's polemics to heart, then you will not work in this area for a long time. Knowledge of the subject is desirable: a commentator who swims in his topic will not be able to work effectively, Oleg Lvov is sure.

“The absence of complexes and moral principles is useful for trolls. Fiercely defending what you don’t particularly believe, not everyone can, and professional commentators are very similar to Ukrainian politicians,” he adds.

According to Peter Kuznetsov, the trolls have the same story as in sports: the best athletes are not those who were the strongest and healthiest in childhood, but those who had problems, overcoming which the person learned to make effective efforts. This helps a person to independently think, argue and defend his position, even if it is losing. "These are people for whom communication on the Internet actually compensates for the lack of something in ordinary communication. It is difficult to note any specific qualities - this is the same as explaining what the signs of a real writer are. You can only understand at the forefront," says Kuznetsov.

The average price on the Russian market for comment from a virtual user is around 70 rubles (about UAH 27.4 at the NBU rate - ed.), Says Kuznetsov. However, the lion's share of the money in this market is collected by well-known users in the community - "stars", whose prices are completely different.

According to Oleg Lvov, the cost of the services of a professional commentator, as well as the cost of creating an Internet site, is formed depending on the desired result. “The prices for creating a site and a trolling campaign are somewhere comparable. (From $ 500 - ed.) The main criterion here is the time spent, and it depends on the discussion area, it depends on how much resources you need to control and how intensively the topic is discussed . Well, and since these services are not entirely legal and ethical, the price is there, as on any black market - as you agree, "Lvov says.

Prices and principles

Trolling is a specific service that will be in demand for a long time, says the famous Russian blogger under the pseudonym Vovka. Among other things, he is involved in coordinating and training online commentators. Demand for such services is growing, and it is not difficult to find a suitable offer on the forums. One condition - prepayment.

There are not many real troll pros, Vovka says, many do not yet realize the prospects of these services and do not know how to succeed. Not only young people earn on this: among commentators there are both 15-year-olds and 40-year-olds. The most important qualities for a successful troll, "Vovka" calls patience and erudition. In addition, a good sense of humor, a rich vocabulary, and network communication skills will not hurt.

Orders come in different. “At one time, customers asked me to sink some competitor by tracking his ads on the Internet. That is, for example, there is some company that places its text ads on different network projects. My task was to raise discussion from different computers and nicknames and reduce their investment in PR to zero. But most often they order people who doubt the goods or brands I play on the side, "Vovka shares his experience.

The cost of services, according to him, depends on the level of the troll, on its portfolio, as well as on the complexity of the task. But no one names the exact market data for these specific services. “I can say one thing - carrying out one normal campaign costs at least $ 1 thousand.“ Mucking “one site - there are also no clear prices, it all depends on its development and attendance. I worked for $ 1.2-1.8 thousand,” says the professional troll.

The official price list on Vovka’s blog looks more modest: 1000 comments will cost 3000 rubles (about 770 UAH). The minimum order value is 500 rubles (about 128 UAH). For a one-time order with a total number of likes of more than 3,000, 10% discounts are offered, 5,000 likes - 15% discount, and for regular customers 5% discount.

The troll does not take some orders in principle "A couple of times they suggested trolling the policies of the country in which I was born and live. I am a patriot, sorry ... In addition, I never work with religious projects, sects and sites that fundamentally contradict my personal views" he says.

 

[Патрушев Михаил Владимирович]

Thank you. Interesting!

 

[Бюро Рысь]

Hmm, very funny and interesting ...!
Thank you for the article.

 

[Растаман]

Thank you interesting!

 

[Турабян Владимир]

Thank you, instructive!

 

[Плотников Юрий Михайлович]

Thanks, interesting!

 

[Детективное агентство Тула]

The issue of trollism on the Internet is now fashionable (only the lazy one does not speak about it), although it is very complicated and clearly not unambiguous.
And yet, we all hangers, with great pleasure, hang various labels ...
Themselves always remain white and fluffy.

 

[Частный детектив Нижний Новгород]

thank

 

[Андрей Захаров]

Thanks Vytautas))) Very interesting)))

 

[Частный детектив Киров]

Thank!!! Interesting information.