Unionist parties need to take the same tough line against online trolls as the SNP

There has been a lot of talk this week about social media, cyber-trolling and politics. With all of the recent coverage you can easily forget that the vast majority of people on social media not only use it responsibly but do a lot of good with it.

For example, the "Ice Bucket Challenge" which saw people across the world including politicians in Scotland got soaked to the bone all for a good cause. The purpose was to raise money and awareness of Motor Neurones Disease/ALS and it worked with over two million people visiting the MND Wikipedia page and almost £500,000 raised for MND Scotland.

Across Scotland, social media is regularly used to promote local activism and single-issue campaigns - both light hearted (who can forget #conegate) and serious. Just several weeks ago during Carers Week, some unpaid carers from across Glasgow used the hashtag #realcarersweek to dispel some of the myths about their full time, day and night caring responsibilities, and to demand changes damaging welfare cuts aimed their way.

Despite all of this positivity, some commentators have suggested that the primary legacy of the referendum is a divided nation baring its soul online - they could not be more wrong. I am extremely proud of Scotland and how we conducted ourselves during the referendum - whether that was activists on the Yes or No side. Having participated in debates up and down the UK during the recent General Election campaign, I can tell you that the energy, enthusiasm and political engagement we have in Scotland is admired across these islands.

And yet, there is no doubt that there are some who wish to provoke, abuse and even threaten others because their politics differ. Not a week goes by when I don't have to report someone on either Facebook or Twitter for the bile they are throwing my way. I have on many occasions reported this to the police who are currently investigating a number of social media related hate crimes that I have been a victim of. However, despite the nature of the abuse, the primary reason for targeting me specifically is not because of my ethnicity or faith, it is due to my politics.

The same goes for many of my colleagues who are also in the public eye, right across the political spectrum, from the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to Ruth Davidson from Alex Salmond to Ed Miliband all of them have had a mixture of misogyny, homophobia, anti-semitism and inexcusable hatred aimed in their direction.

I've been in the SNP for over a decade and have always been impressed by the leadership we have shown as a party - it is one of our core strengths. That leadership has often been on the big political issues of the day, the Iraq War being one of the finest examples, however, that leadership has also been important for internal conduct, behaviour and discipline.

The First Minister could not have sent out a stronger message this week that the SNP has a zero-tolerance approach towards online abuse. We have shown in the past that we won't hesitate in taking disciplinary action against those acting inappropriately. Other parties need to take the same tough stance to weed out the cyber-trolls amongst their ranks, and be in no doubt the traffic of abuse is certainly not one way.

I am hugely proud of the SNP family, we have campaigned together, had losses together and most recently, stunning victories too. However make no mistake about it; if you spread vile hatred online then I don't want you belonging to our movement.

As politicians we are in a trusted position of influence, if we lead by example through our social media engagement then others will follow our lead. One of my favourite poets is the Sufi mystic Jalal Ad-Din Rumi, his words of advice are just as good now, in the digital age, as they were 800 years ago "Raise your words not voice. It is the rain that grows the flowers, not thunder."