How to Deal with Keyboard Warriors

No matter how good you are at communicating, or how great your product/service is, as your business or influence grows you attract more people and are more likely to run into keyboard warriors. How do we understand and effectively communicate with keyboard warriors – the people who will argue, spew false information, and create negativity on the internet?

Be careful if you respond — and how you respond! Don’t get defensive, avoid acknowledging aggression in any way. Respond in a calm, simple, and intellectual manner. Only respond once and then don’t bother to engage with them, or it will turn into a debate.

Don’t lecture them, approach them as people. You can always block them from your page.

If you believe you have valuable feedback to offer, there are respectful ways to voice your opinion.

Here are four tips for dealing with a keyboard warrior:

• Have empathy – try to see things from their perspective. It is natural to feel the need to defend yourself.
  
• Stay calm – rant and rave to people around you if you must, but stay calm in any communication with the person.
  
• Stay away from drama – some people are just looking for drama, and they thrive on creating it and feeding it.
  
• Don’t take it personally! This is SO very hard when you have put your heart and soul into your business and someone gets negative with you or about you. You can’t change what some people think, but you can do your best to represent your business in a positive and polite manner.
  

Most importantly, there will always be keyboard warriors. Take time to depressurize, as you won’t be able to change the world — and sometimes it just isn’t worth responding.

For more information about dealing with keyboard warriors, please contact:

Oswego Area Chamber of Commerce : 25 E Jackson Street : Oswego, IL 60543 : 630.554.3505 : http://www.oswegochamber.org/