Social Media Influencers And Stalkers – Social Networks Made Stalking Easier

Before the days of social media, if you wanted to share with the world your passion for fashion, your gym training, or your meals, you had to send pictures to all the people you had in your Yahoo contact list. Or if you were a lucky person, you had a blog with hundreds of followers who were waiting to read your posts and check the photos you share. 20 years ago people did not experience social media stalking. However, nowadays if you are a social media influencer, you have to share content on Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook, to build your network of followers, and earn money. Social media influencer is one of the new jobs, social media brought with it. You have the advantage of doing something you like, and earning money from it, but you also know that you are more vulnerable than before, because it is difficult to keep your life private.

Your followers are aware of your every move, and sometimes it takes only a step for a follower to transform in a stalker.

The majority of social media influencers do not even know that someone is stalking them, because these persons do it quite subtly at the beginning. First, you may find their behavior a bit odd, then you will find annoying the fact that they are constantly messaging you, and later you will find out that the person is not willing to stop bothering you, even if you ask them.  At this stage, they are obsessed with your person; they try to force you to have a relationship with them against your will. Social media stalking can leave you anxious, paranoid, angry, and frustrated. Social media can offer a stalker information about your contact details, activities, friends, family members and even the products you are buying online.

If you notice that one of your followers has stalking behaviour, you should not ignore the warning signs.

Different types of stalkers

In order to know better how to handle the situation, it is important to know that stalkers come in different types, according to the actions they do, and their purpose.

Predatory stalkers

Predatory stalkers have a single purpose, they want to attack the victim, sometimes this attack includes sexual abuse, but sometimes it only includes violence. The persons who have these tendencies are often paedophiles, serial rapists or sadistic people.

Resentful stalkers

Resentful stalkers follow a vendetta; they have negative feelings towards the victim. In the majority of cases, a gesture or action of the victim is the one that leads to these feelings. Their main desire is to distress or frighten the victim, they do not plan to attack or do them any harm. But there are times when the situation gets out of control.

Rejected stalkers

This type of stalkers know their victims from real life, and because the victim does not want to have or continue a relationship with them, they stalk them on social media. Their purpose is to correct, reverse or avenge the rejection they faced. These persons usually do not stalk you only on social media; they extend their actions in real life. They will probably call you, send you messages, come to your house, and stalk your friends and family members. If you have recently passed through a separation, divorce or termination, and someone is bothering you with phone calls and messages, then your last partner can be a potential stalker. You can perform a reverse phone lookup to find out who is calling you, and you can notify the police to help you deal with the situation.

Incompetent suitors

There are countless the cases when social media influencers make people fall in love with them through their actions. They create the impression of a perfect person, with a perfect life, and their followers can easily consider that they can be the perfect partners for them. Incompetent suitors are men with poor courting and social skills, they grow a passion for someone, and they start to believe that they are entitled to have a sexual relationship with the person they stalk. The victims of this type of stalkers are usually not available for a relationship, because they are dating or married.

Intimacy seekers

This type of stalkers wants to have a loving, intimate relationship with their victim.  They have the impression that the victim is their soulmate and it often happens when the stalker and the victim have never met in real life.

How can you deal with stalkers?

In case, they have managed to find your phone number, and they are causing you distress through their calls and messages, you can use an app to find the phone number they are using, and to check online details about the person. You can collaborate with the police to make them stop.

In addition, you should start creating some healthy new habits on social media if you notice that there are persons who do not know the difference between following an influencer and stalking them. Control your posts, do not share your location in real time, and always post your location 2 hours after you leave the place. Regularly check the list of followers. You want to grow your network, but you have to make sure that they are not crossing the line. If there are persons who affect your mood with their comments or reactions, you should always delete them, before the situation evolves.

Modern technology makes stalking easier

With the help of modern technology, stalkers can easily hack your email account, read your correspondence, send out emails, and find your contacts. Also, they can buy a spyware and install it on your computer to check your online activity, find your passwords, and even turn on your camera to watch and listen to you. Modern technology offers stalkers an immense amount of surveillance technology, at cheap prices. The modern stalker does not stay in the rain to see you at the window; they access your computer to do it. Learn to protect yourself from digital stalking, and do not hesitate to contact the authorities to help you.