A staple in fantasy lore and children fictional stories is the troll. An ugly and evil creature that eats little kids and goats. But there’s another kind of “troll” that exists in the real world. I’m talking about the trolls that lurk on forums and boards.  Wikipedia defines this “troll” as someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional or disciplinary response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

To be clear, I am NOT talking about someone who may disagree (even passionately disagree) with a topic or opinion you have. Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m no stranger to engaging in or sparking provocative discussion and conversation. I have no problem with people who disagree with points of view I have. Those discussions make life interesting. But, there’s a way to do it where you’re not rude or mean-spirited. Trolls will tend to offer vapid comments like “that sucks,” or “you’re lame” or they’ll drop the F-bomb every now and then. Trolls basically suck.

My wife, Tasra, and I recently got an email from such an individual this week. We were honored to be on This Week in Photography with Frederick Van Johnson. We had a delightful interview that covered everything from our career history, social media, working as a husband and wife team, and Tasra’s foray into professional photography. The troll who contacted us sent a nasty email that seemed to come out of left field. We were at a loss as to why someone would go out of their way to send such an email in response to what really is such a neutral interview. We weren’t talking politics, or religion, or camera brands or what our favorite OS is. However, something we said really set this person off enough to shoot us that email.

Trolls seem to be alive and well.  World renown cinematographer and F-Stop Academy co-founder Philip Bloom recently posted a fun video shot with a pre-production Canon 7D. He got trolled by someone who basically said the video was lame and not a proper test of the camera (despite the fact Philip made a point to say this was not the real test, but just something he wanted to put up for fun). Celebrity portrait photograph Jeremy Cowart recently made a promo video for a great cause called Help-Portrait. Chase Jarvis blogged about it and some anonymous coward posted how Jeremy was just doing this to publicize himself and look pretty (Come on. Give me a friggin’ break). Last year I had someone send me a nasty email because he was upset with all the photographers I had on my podcast F-Stop Beyond (a podcast that is billed as a personal interview) who talked about their faith.

DEALING WITH TROLLS

Normally I would ignore such an email as the one Tasra and I got this week (see advice below). But, since this is a topic right in line with the kind of issues I discuss on this blog, and since I like to offer advice to y’all about such topics, this seemed like a great teaching opportunity.

Often times, trolls are people who in earnest may have valid points to make, but they just lack the social graces of making their points in a way that offers constructive criticism. It’s up to YOU to be the bigger person, look beyond their venom, and see if you can get to the heart of their response. If you can do that, and in such a way that can offer something of value to the other forum readers, you can turn a bad situation around. Sometimes, a troll is just a bitter person who wants nothing else but to make your life as bitter as theirs. And sometimes, trolls are people who are jealous.

Depending on how you interpret the “kind” of troll you’re dealing with, there are two main ways I suggest you reply to them. Admittedly, they are very hard to do, and I am NOT an expert at doing either. These are truly ideal ways to handle trolls:

1. Kill Them with Kindness: if someone sends you a mean email, or posts a mean-spirited comment on a forum or blog post, try this method. With as much sincerity as possible, thank them for their input and try to acknowledge some part of their communication that may go to the heart of what they’re saying. Jeremy Cowart replied to his anonymous troll by be self-effacing (joking about his “pretty hair”) and addressing specifically some of the troll’s comments.  It seemed to work. This was a case where the troll had some points that had merit, but the way he made them rubbed people the wrong way and seemed rude. By addressing the heart of this person’s point, Jeremy was able to make some headway. They same anonymous person commented again and his/her comment the next time was significantly less nasty.
2. Ignore Them: truthfully, most of the time the best thing to do about a troll is just to ignore him/her. These people often love the attention they get and if you reply to them (even if you try the “kill ‘em with kindness” approach) you’ll just be adding fuel to the fire. In the case of the person who responded negatively to mine and Tasra’s TWiP interview, there really was nothing I could gain by replying to his email. He/she seemed to have a subjective hatred for how we came across, and there was no objective response that would change his/her feelings about us. There would be nothing to gain by engaging this individual in a conversation.

Have you had experiences with trolls? If so, how did you handle it and what was the outcome. Please share.

This was a discussion I started on my F-Stop Beyond Facebook Group that I thought would be great to bring to the blog. In my last “new” episode of F-Stop Beyond we had new media masters Thomas Hawk and Robert Scoble. They each have a very laissez faire attitude about posting their photos online and various sites’ terms of service (ToS) with respect to use of photos/videos posted. Robert even puts all of his photos in the public domain.

Then, on the other side of the spectrum is another new media pro and photographer veteran Scott Bourne. He’s famous for his negative feelings about ToS that seem to give the site owner free reign on the use of any photos or videos you upload.

What’s your take on it? Do you care? Is the marketing exposure you get from posting your photos/videos worth giving another site rights to do what they want with your content? The issue is made a little more interesting by the latest Facebook  fiasco–using a member’s post photo in a Facebook ad (served by a third party) for singles. Oh, and that member is married! (Read about it here). Chime in.

Here’s the episode with Robert and Thomas:
http://fstopbeyond.tv/?p=632

Remember at the end of “Pretty in Pink” when that hot girl pointed to Jon Cryer’s character Duckie to ask him to dance? Then Duckie looked on either side of him to see if she was talking to someone else, then pointed to himself as if to ask her “Are you looking at me?” Well, that’s kind of how I felt last fall when Event DV and Streaming Media Editor Stephen Nathans-Kelley approached my wife, Tasra, and me about writing a book for the video business. (Only, I wasn’t wearing white shoes and Steve’s not a hot girl).  But, I did sorta feel like, “Are you talking to me?”  With so many amazing colleagues in the industry, we were both humbled and honored to be ask to write a book.

When asked why we were so lucky, Steve mentioned that he was inspired by how our company has evolved over the past seven years, and he wanted a book that spoke to that. There were already plenty of great resources on shooting, editing, the specifics of starting a event video business, etc. But he was hoping to put out something that touched on sales, marketing, branding, and social media. We were ready to take on the challenge. After being courted by two major publishers, we settled on PeachPit Press. These are the guys behind the books of Scott Kelby and brand superstar Marty Neumeier.  We were thrilled to say the least.

A QUICK BREAK DOWN
I am excited to announce that next Monday, July 20, is the official release date for ReFocus: Cutting Edge Strategies to Evolve Your Video Business.  The book is broken up into three main sections:

1. Choose Your Path: in this section we discuss the different sizes and forms of business you may want to engage in, the major areas of corporate and event video production, the latest trends in each, and the importance of choosing a primary path of expertise.
2. Sales and Marketing: here we get down to the nitty-gritty of assessing your current marketing situation, developing a brand, and implementing strategies to get paid what you’re worth. This is also where we discuss in-depth creative ways to use social media in your marketing mix.
3. Systematize Your Business: in the last main section we discuss real strategies for setting up your business in such a way so that you run it, not the other way around.

There are also an inspirational introduction and a closing Section 4 we hope will motivate you to take your business to a whole new level.

NOT JUST ABOUT US

One of the things I really like about the book is that it’s not just about us. That is, it’s not a story about how our business has evolved (although that is definitely part of it). But it’s more about what we’ve gleaned from those who’ve come before us. To that extent, just about every chapter has 1-2 real life case studies about other video businesses and how an aspect of their success relates to the associated chapter. So there’s the “text book” education, AND the real world schooling.

Lastly, we’re honored to have forewords by two respected and influential leaders in the film and video business: Steve Weiss, 20+ year video producer veteran and co-founder and partner of the camera gear manufacturer Zacuto, and David Hebel, founder and CEO of Digital Juice Inc.

We’re excited to have such a major publisher print a book like this for our industry, and we’re honored to have been the ones to write it. Here’s a trailer for the book. Special thanks to my friends Jason and Jason at ECG Productions for allowing us to film in their studio/office space, and for being our “talent.” Pre-order your copy today!

A few years ago, when blogging was just starting to make its way into the visual arts community, there was a lot of talk about whether or not it made sense to have a blog. They were considered a waste of time. Something for people who didn’t have anything better to do. Fast forward to today, and just about everyone has a blog. In fact, many photogs have abandoned their main website in favor of JUST their blog.

Well, a similar conversation is going on about social media resources like Twitter, Facebook, etc. I’m hearing people say things like, “Why in the world would any care about what I’m having for lunch.” I have two answers to that question (as it relates to Twitter):

• First, if you think that’s ALL Twitter is good for, you have a gross mis-respresentation of the scope of Twitter.
• Second, many people may care what you’re having for lunch because it gives an insight into you as a person. A personal look that may touch a nerve with a potential client. (Say, for example, if you’re a vegetarian like Jasmine Star).

The truth is, social media is an extremely important aspect of today’s business environment. So much so that Twitter was on the cover of Time Magazine of all things. Other major business mags like Fast Company, Inc, Wired, Entrepreneur, and even TV Guide, have all had cover stories related to social media and/or video on the web.  It, and all the other social media outlets, can NOT be ignored.

GETTING DOWN TO THE NITTY GRITTY

This August at Skip’s Summer School, I’ll be addressing the topic of social media and video, and how the two combined can be a powerful 1-2 punch in your marketing mix. I’ll get into some very specific ways of how to use various social media resources, and the supporting tools like TweetMeme, ShareThis, Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious, etc. I’ll also go into detail on how to conceive, produce and distribute a video podcast and a promo video effectively on the Web. And how to create one that caters to YOUR clients, as opposed to something that just gets other photogs to say “cool video man.” (Who cares what other photogs think of your video if it’s not moving the clients you’re marketing to. We’ll address this issue.)

And for the record, I will cover new topics that go beyond what I covered in WPPI this year. So, it will be a fresh learning experience for all who attend.

I hope to see you there. Register today.

Here’s a little commercial I threw together for my class. Enjoy.

Are you one of the 10+ million people on Twitter, tweeting your life for the whole world to see? If so, you at some point may have suffered “Twitter Envy.” You know the feeling. When you click on over to someones Twitter profile to see  how many followers they have, then you compare it to your number of followers you have. Do you find yourself secretly racing your competition to see who can reach some magic Twitter milestone first? Do you feel less about yourself because of your number of Twitter followers? Do you find yourself creating blog posts with provocative titles just to get people to follow you? Then you have “Twitter Envy.” And chances are, no matter how many followers you have, there’s someone out there with more. Meaning, no one is free from Twitter envy. Well, this video below will help put the whole thing into perspective.

By the way, follow me on Twitter and get a free inspirational download.

Today I will be part of The DV Show’s free webinar, from 9:30 am to 10:15 am EST. The podcast will show up late in the show’s usual line up. You can listen live by clicking here. Here are the details if you’d like to call in:

If you’re planning to attend WPPI’s annual tradeshow and conference next week, might I encourage you to drop by Studio B at the MGM Grand, Monday, February 16 at 8 am for a stellar presentation: Branding, Blogging, and Videos…Oh My! I’m teaming with world renown photographer and ShowIt Fast and ShowIt Sites founder/CEO David Jay for what should be a very dynamic presentation. We plan to talk about the power of social networks and videos in building your business and extending your brand. How can you use Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and videos effectively in your marketing mix. Topics will include:

• Planning and producing video podcasts: the how and the why
• Effective video promo production: why the MTV-style slideshow is a mistake.
• Using video distribution sites, like blip.tv, Vimeo, and even the iTunes store.
• Marketing strategies to get your videos seen.
• Building social networks.
• Effectively using blogs to market your brand.
• And more!

Whether you’re a pro photographer or videographer, I am confident you’ll find the information helpful.

GIVE-AWAYS
And to entice you, we plan to give away some goodies. I can’t tell you what they are now, but it’ll be great stuff.

BEST OF ALL…

It’s FREE! So come on by. I look forward to meeting you.