Understanding the Trolling Phenomenon: The Automated Detection of Bots and Cyborgs in the Social Media

摘要

Social media has become a place for discussion and debate on controversial topics and, thus, provides an opportunity to influence public opinion. This possibility has given rise to a specific behaviour known as trolling, which can be found in almost every discussion that includes emotionally appealing topics. Trolling is a useful tool for any organisation willing to force a discussion off-track when one has no proper facts to back one's arguments. Previous research has indicated that social media analytics tools can be utilised for automated detection of trolling. This paper provides tools for detecting message automation utilized in trolling.