CONTENT MODERATION

What is content moderation?

  • In content moderation, the content moderator monitors everything manually and makes sure that every user-generated content submission is appropriate and permissible in accordance with the rules and regulations set before everyone else sees it.
  • With the various platforms where content exists, content moderation helps users access credible information all the time. Content moderation is important since the data boom, and filtering content, in a way, can improve the overall internet user experience.
  • Content moderation is every business’ responsibility, especially when they take advantage of the internet as a platform. It is imperative to provide relatable, appropriate, and positive information to your audience not only to engage them but to educate them as well.
  • Content across the internet is clouded by colloquialism, jargon, and nuances in different languages that would portray a different meaning for a person descending from another culture and upbringing.
  • Content moderators should be also keen on noticing these irregularities and removing them as deemed necessary.

Types of Content Moderation

There are a few ways to moderate content on your website, but the three key methodologies are:

  1. Pre-moderation. This involves placing content that has been created by users in a queue so that it can be reviewed prior to publishing. Pre-moderation allows you to screen user submissions for hateful comments or offensive images so they won’t ever be published on your site. Only content that passes community standards is shared with the public.  
  1. Post-moderation. This method of moderation allows all content to be displayed on your site immediately after users submit them, but will still be reviewed and accepted or denied by your community moderator within a short period of time.
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  1. Reactive Moderation. Under this content moderation type, users are the ones responsible for flagging undesirable content. Community members can down-vote, comment on, or report objectionable posts that they come across on the platform, helping moderators swoop down on whatever content goes against the rules.

What are the important traits needed for a content moderator?

A content moderator is responsible for ensuring that all content – such as images, videos, articles, and other multimedia files – posted on any online platform are fit for general public consumption.

To maintain a safe space online, a content moderator needs to have the following traits:

Online community experience

There are so many communities online — so much that a word can easily be lost in translation. What might be considered okay for one group may be offensive for another.

Experience in various online communities can help build better judgment for moderators especially if they are asked to handle several platforms with different audiences.

 

Multi-platform savviness

Competition online is strong. This is why businesses are now utilizing multiple channels for their marketing strategies. To be effective, a content moderator needs to be well-versed in the different platforms available to the public.

Knowing which content works best for one – and which does not – will help a brand gain recognition easily in an online community.

Language expertise

For eCommerce and review sites, testimonials can have a great effect on a brand’s reputation. It can also make or break a prospective customer’s decision to buy or not.

Businesses shipping worldwide need multilingual moderators that can review diverse communities effectively. They can check the comments written in a foreign language .

Types of content that need to be moderated

More than 1 million people have been getting online every day, since January 2018. The majority of them are responsible for generating content on platforms that allow users. If nothing else, social media engagement generates humongous amounts of UGC. This leads to an increase in the variety of content that must pass through the moderation process. Let us look at some of them here.

Text Moderation

Any website or application that accepts user-generated content can have a wide variety of text posted. If you don’t believe this, think of the comments, forum discussions, articles, etc. that you encourage your users to post. In the case of websites that have job boards or bulletin boards, the range of text to be moderated increases further. Moderating text is especially complicated because each piece of content can vary in length, format, and style.

Furthermore, language is both complex and fluid. Words and phrases that might seem innocent on their own can be put together to convey a meaning that is offensive. Even if to a specific culture or community. For the detection of cybercrimes like bullying or trolling, it is necessary to examine the sentences or paragraphs written. A blanket list of keywords or phrases that should be removed to screen out hate speech or bullying is not sufficient.

Image Moderation

Although it is easier to moderate images as compared to text, image moderation has its own complexities. The same image that is acceptable for one country or culture may be offensive to another. If you have a website or app that accepts images from users, you will need to moderate the content depending upon the cultural expectations of the audience.

Video Moderation

Moderating videos is extremely time-consuming because moderators need to watch it from start to finish. Even a single frame of offensive or sensitive content is sufficient to antagonize the viewers. If your platform allows video submissions, you will need to put in major moderation efforts to ensure community guidelines are not breached. Videos often have subtitles, transcriptions, and other forms of content attached to them. An end-to-end moderation requires explicit vetting of these components as well. Essentially, video moderation can end up encapsulating text moderation as well.

Profile Moderation

More and more businesses encourage their users to register on their websites or apps to understand customer behavior and expectations. However, this has added another type of content that must be a moderator — user profiles. Profile moderation can appear simplistic, but it is essential to get it 100% correct. Rogue users registered on your platform can destroy your brand image and credibility. On the flip side, if you are able to vet the profiles successfully, you can rest assured that the content posted by them will need minimum moderation.