Content Moderation
What is Content Moderation?
Content Moderation is a fundamental component of social media management in which a moderator reviews posts, comments and other content inputted by platform users. Moderators review content within the established guidelines and rules for the platform. This process is pivotal is maintaining a platform in which users can express their thoughts safely without the presence of inappropriate content.
User generated content (UCG) is essential to building brand recognition and trust. Effectively moderating user generated content (UCG) is vital in building, managing and retaining the brand credibility of a platform.
Generally, freedom of expression should be a core characteristic of any social platform. However, given the scale and influence of todays digital landscape, the breadth of demographics which engage with social platforms and the potential for serious psychological harm posed by morbid content or misinformation, moderation has quickly become a requisite for the sustainability of any platform.
Content Moderation Methodologies
Manual Pre-Moderation
Manual pre-moderation is the process of setting up screens or touchpoints which all content will be subjected to before posting. Moderators will judge the content based on predetermined guidelines.
Manual Post-Moderation
This process entails reviewing content after publication when, similarly, moderators will keep, edit, or remove content according to guidelines.
Reactive Moderation
This refers to relying on users to report inappropriate platform content. This process is typically supported by a customer ticketing system and report buttons. This is effective as a supplement to other moderation methodologies.
Distributed Moderation
In distributed moderation, reporting and the distribution order of content is decided predominantly by the platforms users. This method is structured by multiple user rating and voting systems, which serve as an algorithm for content placement.
Automated Moderation
Automated moderation is growing in prevalence due to accelerated development in the AI and automation industry. Automated filters and tools are extensively more sophisticated and intuitive than prior years. Experienced moderators are required to optimize the efficacy of such filters and tools, deriving the greatest results from consistent monitoring and tuning.
Benefits of Content Moderation
- Protect Brand Reputation: Consistently moderating your content greatly mitigates the risk of brand damage caused by third party user generated
content (UCG). - Increase Platform Traffic and Search Rank: Fundamental changes made to rankings in recent years by search engine providers now dictates that quality beats quantity in SEO activities. Ensuring the content on a platform is high in quality and low in spam, scams, and morbidity accumulates higher search ranks and subsequently increases traffic volume.
- Fulfil Legal and Regulatory Obligations: Various laws exist to protect technology users and their data. For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires companies to protect the data of EU citizens and be transparent about how their data is used. The Children’s Online Privacy Act (COPPA) requires companies to ensure that their platforms are safe for children. Consistent content moderation in accordance with such regulations greatly diminishes the risk of companies facing penalties and/or lawsuits.
- Improving User Experience (UI): The primary function of content moderation is to review user generated content (UCG) and determine if it’s unsuitable for the platform. However, the process also has an inverse application of gaining a greater understanding of what your users like, dislike and suggest about the platform.
- Deepen Customer Relationships: Emerging trends indicate that showcasing or partnering on user-generated content (UGC) with users or customers by social technology platforms, or by companies on their websites, significantly strengthens the relationships with the customers involved. This approach not only deepens customer engagement but also publicly demonstrates an organization’s commitment to valuing and fostering its customer relationships.
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