While it may not be a highly thought of pastime, there are some surprising upsides to online trolling, a new study has found.
Troll Photo: supplied
Not to be confused with online bullies, trolls are anonymous internet mischief makers who are trying to provoke a reaction, rather than cause harm.
Seeking out a troll for an interview, as you might imagine, is not a straightforward task.
University of Canterbury doctoral student Maja Golf-Papez found, while on the hunt for trolls, she herself became a target.
It was celebrity trolls - yes there is such a thing- that eventually became the subjects of her study.
With some racking up half a million followers, famous trolls are egged on by their community and ideas for their next target are plentiful.
Becoming internet celebrities, some are even making money from their efforts.
The study also found that companies are bank rolling trolls, hiring them to create publicity for their brand.
"Some more risky brands are paying trolls to pose as customer service reps to respond to complaints and questions in a way the brand couldn't or wouldn't usually," said Ms Golf-Papez.
Her academic supervisor and paper co-author Associate Professor Ekant Veer told Jesse Mulligan this afternoon, "some businesses were purposefully asking trolls to come onto their page and troll them and cause trouble because they know it will drive traffic to their page."
He said there was one particular very famous celebrity troll, who calls himself a bit of a clown, who makes stupid comments on news articles, knowing that people will bite back.
Companies are recognising that trolls like this are followed by hundreds of thousands of people online, their escapades are reposted, and more attention is drawn to the page, creating copycats.
"At the more mischief end, you've got other trolls who will go out and purposefully cause harm and damage - even to the brand as well, cause brand damage."
What may have started out of boredom becomes somewhat of a hobby, he said.
"You have these mischief makers and consumer misbehaviours that exist outside of the internet and the internet just gives an added layer of anonymity that allows these people to go on and pretend to be this thing, to act in these ways in order to try and encourage these reactions."
Getting a buzz and praise from their community when they do well online, the study found some trolls are under extreme pressure when they don't quite hit the mark.
Mr Veer said while there are benefits to trolling that are monetary and providing an outlet for someone's "weird sense of humour", he would say these aren't strong benefits.
"It kind of just makes you a mean person."
