"General guidelines to Cyberbullying"

Cyberbullying is hard to deal with. The bullies can be cruel, relentless and very personal. But you should never stop to their level. Nothing makes you look worse than turning around and attacking in return.

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Here are some guidelines to prevent or stop cyberbullying:

1. Pay Attention

If you’re not monitoring your social media accounts, you won’t be aware of a storm brewing or a mob with pitchforks on your doorstep. Make sure you’re checking social media regularly or have notifications set on your phone, so that you’ll be aware of what’s happening at the first sign of trouble.

2. Create a Response Plan

This is a strategy that professional social media managers employ for the accounts they manage. Your practice may not have someone professionally managing your practice accounts, but you should still create a plan of action for potential problems. Include information in your response plan like:

• who in your practice is responsible for responding in the event of a crisis • when to respond and when to stay silent • when to remove comments • whether or not to remove future scheduled posts

Being prepared not only tells you what to do in the event of a crisis, it also prevents you from making rash decisions or saying things you might regret later.

3. Respond Selectively

In the event of a cyberbully attack, you may find that you have too many messages to ever reasonably respond to, even if you wanted to. For the sake of being transparent, it’s a good idea to keep communicating, but also recognize that you don’t have to respond to everyone. In fact, you would probably go crazy if you tried.

4. Be Transparent

You can’t pretend that the cyberbullying isn’t happening, especially if it’s occurring repeatedly or relentlessly. Instead of trying to sweep it under the rug, be open about it, write posts acknowledging that it’s happening, and be prepared to defend your stance. Make sure you know what your practice’s viewpoint is on whatever issue you’re being harassed about, and be ready to stand up for yourselves. This will help clarify to your fans and real clients why you believe what you do, and keep you looking rational and clear-headed in the face of harassment.

Additionally, if you need to monitor or delete comments on your page, make sure you let your fans know that you are doing so and why. They’ll understand, especially if you make the reason and purpose clear. Transparency is often the best policy for dealing with irrational hateful abuse. Let’s turn our focus to your favorite social media platforms. If you want to know the difference between a hide, a ban, and reporting, then these tips are for you.