Dear Farillio member,

On 27th April 2021, you asked our amazing expert Charlotte Armitage on the Go Far Fast Show:

“I posted a picture of me outside my new work last summer and got several really abusive responses from people that I don't know and who didn't work for the company. I don't know if they knew each other and had just decided to pick on me, but they really scared me and made me feel really rubbish about how I look. I stopped posting after that, but I know lots of other people post the same way and never seem to have problems. My boss encourages us to post for social media and I'm in sales, so I know I probably need to do this to be good in my job. I'm too embarrassed to explain why I'm scared to start posting again. What if the trolls start attacking me at work?”

And Charlotte said:

Be mighty always, Farillio

Transcript:

“That's bullying isn't it, and it's bullying in the workplace as well. From a practical level, it's about taking that to HR as that's a big issue. I think other things can be done to protect yourself – you can close your profiles and set your boundaries. It's another way of bullying, isn't it? It's another way of people saying ‘I don't like you’ or ‘I want to bully you’. It's a difficult one and I deal with this a lot when I'm working with clients in the film and TV industries. There are so many trolls out there. It's very easy to say that you need to block, ignore them, and don't look at the comments because that is really the process to follow. However, it's hard to cope once you've seen them. The best way of managing that on a practical level is to close your accounts so that they're not public.

At the end of the day, if this is uncomfortable for you but it's part of your job you do need to have a conversation with your bosses about this. I don't think anyone should be made to suffer on social media because of their employment. Also, think about how this has impacted you and why it's impacted you in that way. Some people get trolled and they'll just say ‘I'm not bothered’ but for some people, it will really hurt. Try looking at why has this had such an impact on you. I can completely understand why it’s had an impact on you because it sounds like they've been awful. I suppose it’s about looking at how can you deal with this more healthily.

I think the problem with social media is that if you've got your profiles open then you're open to anybody in the world. There's no filtering process like there would be if you're meeting friends – you know it's a friend or a friend of a friend. On social media, you've got the whole world, and anyone can get to you. That's very exposing and can leave you feeling quite vulnerable. If you're in a place where you feel vulnerable and the only reason you have your profiles open is for work, the best thing to do would be to speak to work.

Tell them ‘This is impacting my mental health. People have trolled me. It's made me feel awful and I don't feel safe leaving my platforms open. I want to close them and make them private”. You don’t necessarily need to close them down but do make them private so you can control who sees what's in there. I think taking control of your own arena is important and setting your own boundaries is important. It sounds a little bit like saying your boss is trying to control what you do outside of work. I understand that in some organisations it's important to be on social media for the job, but then you would have a separate profile, not a personal one. In that case, your profile would be much more business-focused and less personal, so that might be easier to deal with.”

Ask your question:

If you have any questions that you'd like us to ask in a future Go Far Fast Show, send us a DM on Twitter or on LinkedIn. We'd love to hear from you!

Want more from Charlotte?

You can also find Charlotte’s answers to other questions being asked by you and your community in our Dear Farillio Expert section on our blog site, and Charlotte’s great guidance on social media and mental health here. Download the full podcast here.

Please note: The contents of this blog are not tailored business advice or legal advice. This is guidance and information, which we do our best to keep current, relevant and helpful. If you need business or legal advice, please use our Speak To An Adviser service or you can get in touch via our LiveChat.