Women Veterans' Advocacy Use of Social Networking: Curating and Responding to Trolling

Women veterans frequently engage in online advocacy to heighten awareness of military sexual assault and use social media for such advocacy. Their experiences with online trolling as a result raises questions about the benefits and consequences of computer-mediated communication technologies like social media for conducting such work. The study described in this article investigates the impact of online trolling on the advocacy work of two women veteran advocates. We conclude that although their public profiles revealed little publicly visible evidence of trolling, when trolling was described by our participants, the trolls were often military-affiliated themselves (or convincingly claimed military affiliation). Additionally, trolling via social networking tools did occur, but because these advocates engaged in constant social media curation, trolling was not often visible externally (but the effects were still felt).