Australia - BeyondBlue takes aim at social media firms

February 23, 2014

A TOP mental health advocate has hit out at Twitter and Instagram after TV presenter Charlotte Dawson's death, saying they need to respond more quickly to bullying attacks on vulnerable users.

Dawson, 47, was outspoken about her depression and in 2012 publicly waged war on so-called Twitter trolls.

The New Zealand-born star was found dead in her Woolloomooloo apartment in Sydney on Saturday morning.

Amid the public outpouring of grief that followed, many on social media pointed at hateful comments directed at Dawson in recent months


* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467 or follow @LifelineAust @OntheLineAus @kidshelp @beyondblue @headspace_aus @ReachOut_AUS on Twitter

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...cial-media-firms/story-fnihsfrf-1226835282727

Amen to that!!

You know what, I watched the Charlotte Dawson thing play out on social media, and she did more than just bait the so called trolls IMO. Basically she got into fights with people who criticised her on Twitter, escalated it and provoked it as much as possible, then suddenly switched to victim mode when they went too far, attempted some kind of self-harm, then put as much publicity on the tweeters as she could.

This is how it was playing out:

• Charlotte makes provocative negative comment in interview
• Someone tweets nasty message to CD in response
• She retweets it to her 50,000 followers, thereby giving the nasty message huge exposure, which frankly only encourages the tweeter more, and also encourages her followers to turn on the tweeter
• The retweeting attracts every person on twitter who wants their remark retweeted to her 50,000 followers
• She start bemoaning Twitter and the hateful messages
• She posts a tweet threatening suicide, WITH an image of a handful of pills by the way
• Charlotte goes to the media, gets camera crew and shows up to confront the original tweeter in real life.

http://www.realityravings.com/2012/08/28/charlottedawsontwitteratt/
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/10/charlotte-dawson-strikes-back/

Who is the real bully here?

There is a smart way to manage your social media accounts, and Charlotte Dawson did NOT display good practice. If someone upsets you online, simply ignore them, if they keep going block their account, and if that still isn't enough .. log off. I think it was a terrible example set by Charlotte, if you look at this from a young impressionable teens perspective it seems as if taking a handful of pills after a bad night on Twitter is reasonable, and will garner you all the sympathy in the world. Twitter is not compulsory.

Mrs Norris, I do get where you are coming from. I too saw some of the drama unfold in the last year or so, and her behaviour was motivating the trolls. But she was genuinely bullied, and I think the way she acted was coming from her mental health struggles.

This is just IMO, but I have seen people with depression feel so confused by where the negative feelings and thoughts are coming from, that they need something tangible to blame the negativity on. Depression usually doesn't come from an external trigger, but the depressed person can sometimes rationalise it better if they can attribute blame to someone or something.

I think for Charlotte, her spiral down was getting worse, and it was probably easier for her to focus her energy on a cause (online bullying) than face the inner demons.

Those trolls still need to be held accountable, not for Charlotte's death, but to maybe remind them how fragile those people they abuse online may be. No matter how someone behaves on social media, no one deserves to be told they should kill themselves.

Yes, I see what you are saying Strangeworld, perhaps too it would be helpful to offer some kind of practical advice for what to do online to lessen the impact of negative experiences.