Guidance from our Digital and Social Media Manager
My name is Alex and I joined St George's in March 2021 as the Digital and Social Media Manager in the External Relations, Communications and Marketing Directorate.
St George's is the UK specialist health university and has been involved in several vaccine trials to help protect people from Covid-19. This is something I feel very proud of as a member of staff at the university, however in my role managing our website and social media platforms I have had direct experience in seeing how this has made us and our staff a target for trolling from "anti-vaxxers".
It is important to point out that although it may be frustrating to see people expressing hesitancy in getting the Covid-19 vaccine, however this is not the same as trolling where people leave intentionally provocative or offensive messages to gain attention or cause trouble and upset.
What to do if you're being trolled
Receiving unwanted attention and messages online can be intimidating, stressful and sometimes scary. If this happens to you, do not keep it to yourself.
I want to arm you with some useful tips and let you know that there are ways you can get help.
Do not respond
Trolls do not want to have a logical or constructive conversation, and they thrive on making you angry and frustrated. Therefore, it is not worth replying to their messages.
Also, some troll accounts are automated "bots", meaning that there isn't a human on the other side!
Make a record
Sometimes a person might try to change or delete a message they've sent to you if they realise that it could get them into trouble. Take a screenshot of the post and save it on your computer, phone or tablet as a record of what was originally posted.
Block the account(s)
If a user is being abusive or harmful you can block them to stop them from being able to send you unwanted messages. Each social media platform has a different way of doing this.
Please see the useful links below for more information about these from each of the main platforms.
Report the post(s) or account(s)
You can report the users post or their account to the social media platform. This will then be reviewed in case further action can be taken (e.g. the user may then be blocked from the platform if their behaviour is deemed in breach of the platform's community standards).
Talk to someone
If you have received the comments to a work/St George's account or device please speak to I.T, or contact the Digital Team. You may also want to let your line manager know, just so they are aware and can provide support if you need it.
As a St George's staff member there are a number of ways to get mental health and wellbeing support, including from our Counselling Service and Employee Assistance Programme.
See more about this on the Human Resources section of our website.
Take a break
If you are able to, you may also find it useful to step away from social media for a while, to protect your mental health.
Useful links and contacts
These sources of information and handy contacts may be helpful to you in you find that you are contacted by trolls.
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Information about Covid-19 vaccine research at St George’s
Here at St George’s, we are proud to have played an instrumental role in leading and running crucial Covid-19 vaccine trials, accelerating the country’s progress against the pandemic.
So far, the Vaccine Institute at the university, in partnership with St George’s Hospital, has run 11 clinical trials testing the safety and effectiveness of different vaccines in a variety of settings. Researchers at the University have also conducted policy and epidemiological research, helping to influence the response to the pandemic.
Our vaccine research includes: