On The Subtle Art Form of Social Media Trolling

Photo by Buzzeum, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Normally getting the curtain pulled back on how the magic trick works, or a kid finding out those pro wrestlers aren’t really mad at each other and are cooperating, can kill the joke and enjoyment. But it sure can be instructional. For the uninitiated, the Three Year Letterman character and social media account is satirical, and the real person behind it was profiled by The Athletic as the “the diametric opposite of the character he’s created.” Thus, we get a lesson in trolling from one of the current pro-level practitioners.

This was in a long format post on Twitter/X, so for clarity here it is in text form:

Who is most likely to take the bait? It’s a question I get asked a lot, so here goes:

Self-importance – this is EASILY the trait that has the strongest correlation to taking the bait. People who take themselves seriously simply cannot resist the urge to tell someone else they are wrong

Age – The Boomers and Gen Z are the easiest to troll for very different reasons. Millennials and Gen X are the hardest.

Stans – if someone stans for a celebrity or a politician, they will take even the lowest quality bait. Tyler Swift and BTS have the most deranged stans you’ll find.

Politics – I haven’t really noticed a left or right correlation. Sometimes it seems like liberals take the bait more and sometimes it seems like conservatives do, but it all balances out. But the more someone truly cares about politics, and especially social issues, the easier they are to troll whether they are left or right. So if someone makes 50% of their tweets about politics, they’ll be many times more likely to take the bait than someone who never does. The stronger they believe they are on the correct side, the easier they are to bait. People who believe the worst about the “other side” are easy to troll. Often the same post will have people calling me both a “Trumptard” and a “libtard.” People who are focused on economic issues are harder to troll. People who care primarily about social issues are easier to troll.

Doomsayers – this is where left and right are equally easy to troll. If someone believes that America is about to devolve into a fascist or communist hellscape based on the outcome of the next election, you should be able to troll the bejesus out of them. Optimists are harder to troll.

Religion – The more militant they are, the easier they are to troll. And that includes atheists.

Geography – The more someone hates America, the easier they are to troll.

Sports fans – Sports fans are actually a lot harder to troll repeatedly than the politics crowd. They might take the bait once but are less likely to do so repeatedly unless they also hold strong political views, then you can mix the two and they’ll take the bait. That’s where Barry was truly unmatched.

Education – The easiest people to troll are (1) Those academia and those with advanced degrees, particularly those who list their degrees in their Twitter bio; and (2) Homeschoolers/those who were home schooled or who went to a primarily religious school. Your average HS or college graduate is harder to troll because they’ve spent more of their lives around normal people and don’t take themselves as seriously.

Eating Meat – Vegans are obscenely easy to troll.