A social media troll-a-la-la-la

Social media has always made us very censorious and  2017 wasn’t any different. Be it grammatical errors or fashion faux pas, none of it goes unnoticed, especially when they are posted by celebrities. Most often, these posts are dealt with intense scrutiny and even sarcastic and sardonic comments. Even when the post comes as an innocent or honest mistake, twitteratis are seldom in the mood to let go of it, and the most recent celebrity to bear the brunt of it was none other than Bollywood actress Shraddha Kapoor.

She went on to tweet about the Indian Army soldiers posted at Siachen Glacier. The actress posted a picture of soldiers withstanding the extreme cold weather and she wrote, “They freeze to make sure that we are warm. They protect to make sure that we feel safe. Can never thank you Jawaans enough.”  The sentiment behind sharing such a picture was genuine but what she did not realise was that the picture she shared was a fake one. No sooner, a website called SM Hoax Slayer tweeted, “Good thought. We all agree but this particular photo is of the Russian Army. We are already proud of our soldiers; don’t need fake ones to escalate our respect.” Within no time, hell broke loose and Twitteratis went absolutely berserk with their comments on the actress.

We are about to wind up 2017 and Shradda Kapoor could be the last celebrity that twitterati's get to troll on. The year 2017 saw a line of celebrities undergo similar experience. If Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone. were trolled for their outfits, the Dangal actress Fatima Sana Shaikh got trolled for donning a black swimsuit during the holy month of Ramadan. Salman Khan got roasted on Twitter after he posted pictures from the launch of Being Human e-cycle along with some road safety tips. Actress Ameesha Patel got trolled for posting a photograph showing her armpits.

Bengaluru-based musician Adhir Punja says that it is sad to see people misuse social media.

“Social media is by far the best way to reach out and socialise with a bigger crowd but it’s sad to see people use it for all the wrong reasons. Even celebrities are human beings and they tend to make mistakes, but most of the time, people go overboard and tend to be hypercritical,’’ says Adhir

City-based radio presenter Sriram Sullia feels that all this buzz on social media is just like a 24-hour sandstorm. “It takes a great deal to reach that point and be a public figure. Once you’ve reached there, you are obliged to face the heat for what you say, and do. People look up at you, they discuss about you as a public figure, so you need to be sure about what you are posting. Social media is more like a double edged sword and you need to have a thick skin to face whatever comes your way,” says Sriram.