The things that YouTuber, writer, and all-around social media icon Joey Graceffa has accomplished at the tender age of 26 is more than what most people will have chiseled on their epitaphs. With more than 15 million followers on YouTube, Twitter and Instagram combined, a skyrocketing career, and a spot on the New York Times' Best Seller list for his second book Children of Eden, you'd think that Graceffa would be untouchable. But that's not the case.Trolling is an inevitable reality that everyone on the internet has to deal with eventually. It doesn't matter your age, sexuality, gender or wealth. We're all vulnerable to the mean things people say online, and Graceffa is no exception. Originally from Massachusetts and now residing in Los Angeles, Graceffa has made a career out of being an internet personality, which also comes with the backlash of people who post shit just to be annoying."I've had people threaten me," Graceffa told VICE Impact. "They're like, 'I want to punch you in the face like when I see you at VidCon,' or something."After 10 years on YouTube, Graceffa has found ways to deal with haters besides just hitting the block button. The term "don't feed the trolls" is often thrown around as a digital proverb for dealing with online negativity, but Graceffa does the complete opposite. He actually offers the troll feast in a Selena Gomez-esque "Kill Em With Kindness" type of approach."I'll say, 'Oh, I'm so sorry you feel that way, what did I do wrong?' And they're like, 'Oh my god, I'm just kidding, I'm such a big fan I love you so much.' They just post things to get attention, so once they get it they flip a switch and they're like suddenly the biggest fan," he said.According to Graceffa, there are all kinds of trolls and that the people sending hateful messages from their smartphones are really just seeking attention."If you give them positive attention it kind of shuts them down," Graceffa said, "If you give them a negative response and you feed into it, that's when it goes wrong— it excites them and gives them this adrenaline rush because now they have a feud and they have something to snap back at."Some platforms are already making steps to eradicate hate speech. On YouTube, you can filter out certain terms that you expect cyberbullies to use against you. When the site screens the blacklisted comments users can review the filtered posts and either delete the offensive statement or block the person altogether. Other platforms like Instagram, have implemented similar tools that allow users to moderate what others are writing about them.Despite the occasional run in with trolls, Graceffa continues to win at life. His follow-up to his first book, Elites of Eden goes on sale on October 3, 2017. More immediately, the second season of his series Escape the Night, a murder mystery in partnership with YouTube celebs like Tyler Oakley and Alex Wassabi, premieres June 22 on YouTubeRed.Graceffa continues to encourage new creators to keep evolving as creators to appeal to their current audiences and new ones. "I've been on YouTube for 10 years and it's always been a happy supportive place."
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