I’ve posted two TikToks so far under my recently created TessDrives account. My first TikTok was for my Pub 101 mini assignment where I needed to tell a story with no text. On this day November 1, 2022, that TikTok video generated 279 views, 4 likes, and 5 comments. The 5 comments came from my friends who decided on their own to comment on my post to promote it on the platform.
The second TikTok post I made was an instructional video on how to fix damaged Tesla rims with a product I found on Aliexpress. That video gained a lot more traction with 738 views, 84 likes, and 1 comment. Although there were significantly fewer comments on this one, that one comment came from a stranger I didn’t know—and his comment kind of bothered me.
The comment came from the username: RabbitQuadrifoglio. His comment was in response to my video description, “Quick, easy and affordable way to fix rim rash on your Tesla!” His response was, “Or just learn to drive and don’t curb them [laughing emoji], that ones free [grinning smile emoji].” I would also like to mention that his comment also got 13 likes, implying that there are also more haters behind the scenes.
I see haters all over social media, whether it be TikTok, Facebook, Instagram—you name it. Most of the time I am just consuming social media rather than posting. So, this is fairly new to me. At first, I looked at the comment and laughed. I was trying to be content and used to the fact that this is common across all social media platforms. I then went on with my day. As hours went on, I kept finding myself opening TikTok again, re-reading the comment from that individual—I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
I then planned to comment back to the individual saying something witty like, “Sorry Mr. Perfect” or “Sorry I’m not a perfect driver like you.” As I prepared to type my response, I paused. I thought to myself, “Well wait, this is exactly what this guy wants. He just wants a reaction from me.” I then backspaced on my response and did some snooping around.
I stalked his page. I wanted to see how active he was and if this was common for him to insinuate these “cyber fights” on social media. Upon opening up his page, I saw that he was also a car enthusiast—well perfect, looks like I did my job there by reaching the right audience. I went through the videos on his profile, he had quite a lot of random car videos. And, not to my surprise, there were a bunch of instances where he was going back and forth in the comment section with other car dudes, bragging about who has the better sounding car—how pathetic…
It only took those few extra minutes for me to say to myself, “Yeah, he’s not worth responding to.” I then went ahead with life. Planning my next video for my viewers.
From this experience, I learned quite a lot. I realized that if I actually did respond something nasty to that individual, I definitely would have looked bad in front of my viewers. I learned that, in the heat of the moment, it is important to take a moment and think to myself, “Is it really worth it?” 99% of the time, it really isn’t. So, on that day that is when I learned how to deal with haters on social media.
Photo from: https://www.unicef.org/end-violence/how-to-stop-cyberbullying
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