The extensive use of digital technology has birthed many opportunities for many individuals, businesses, and organizations. In addition, it has helped many budding entrepreneurs and media personalities to showcase their talent globally. That said, it’s not without its shortcomings.
Spamming, trolling, and scamming have become common on online platforms. Harmful content affects an individual’s life and leaves a negative impact on their brand image. Social media accounts of a company or celebrity are most prone to harmful content.
This is where content moderation comes into the picture! Content moderation is a wide concept that covers many aspects, and it helps in dealing with the negative impact of harmful content.
This article will list some essentials to help you deal with harmful content, so read until the end. Then, visit Viafoura to know more about content moderation.
What Is Harmful Content?
Simply put, harmful content is anything posted online that may cause harm or distress to any person or organization. It includes pictures, videos, comments, blogs, and articles intended to cause damage to individual or brand reputation.
Harmful content includes but is not limited to:
- Spamming
- Online Abuse
- Circulating wrong information with the intent to cause harm
- Bullying or harassment
- Threats
- Impersonation
- Violent Content
- Self-Harm or Suicide Content
- Pornographic Content
In some cases, content that may be harmful to a section of people may not bother the others. This aspect, in tandem with a vast network, makes content moderation quite challenging.
What Is Content Moderation?
Content moderation is a process of screening and monitoring user-generated data based on platform-specific rules and regulations. It is done before or after publishing the content online by users.
Under content moderation, user-submitted content goes through a screening process to ensure the content is not illegal, derogatory, spam, inappropriate, or harassing. Furthermore, a company can also add filters as it deems fit, based on the website-specific requirements.
Generally, content moderation is used by online platforms that are most prone to user-generated content, such as social media, eCommerce websites, and official forums.
Different Types Of Content Moderation
The main aim of content moderation is to uphold brand reputation by improving user experience. Standard and intensity of moderation rely on community guidelines and legal policies. However, some popular content moderation types are:
1. Pre-Moderation
Pre-moderation is the screening of user-submitted data before it goes live. A manual or automated moderator filters out the content that violates the company’s guidelines. It’s considered one of the best practices to safeguard a brand image. However, too much moderation can have a negative impact on the website.
2. Post-Moderation
Post-moderation is moderation after the content is live on the website. The content is reviewed manually or through an automated tool to filter content that violates community guidelines.
Once the review is done, the moderator may decide to edit or remove the content. Post-moderation improves user satisfaction as their comments get published instantly.
3. Reactive Moderation
Reactive moderation relies on users to report or flag inappropriate content on your website. This is why websites provide an option to report the content. Social media’s report button is a typical example of reactive moderation. After raising a red flag, moderates review the content and take action accordingly.
4. Distributed Moderation
Distributed moderation is similar to reactive moderation, only that in distributed moderation, screening is done by almost all the community members. First, the members cast their vote on content submission. After that, content is listed or removed based on the votes. Top-rated content ends up on top, whereas low-rated content is hidden.
5. Automated Moderation
Automated moderation tools powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) are used to filter, review, and monitor user-generated data. Unlike manual moderation, automation allows companies to handle vast content on different platforms quickly and effectively. It also provides the freedom to block content with specific keywords or phrases. Furthermore, it also helps in detecting the IP addresses of regular abusers.
Going one step further, machine learning is a game-changer in automated content moderation. Like a human brain, it learns from its surroundings and makes sophisticated decisions in real-time. But there are certain limitations to automated content moderation too.
Benefits Of Content Moderation
Screening and monitoring harmful content have many positive implications for any business. Some of them are:
Protects Brand Image
As the case may be, personal grudge or competition, harmful content can significantly impact any brand image. Moderation prevents this from happening.
Enhances Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
User-generated content plays a crucial role in enhancing SEO and attracting more traffic to your site. In addition, healthy discussions and positive topics draw more audiences.
Protect From Scams
Scammers may take undue advantage of a company’s open forum. A company’s large customer database is the perfect place for them to post attractive offers, discounts, and coupons for scamming.
Improve Online Presence
As mentioned earlier, user-generated content becomes a source of free advertisement. Thanks to content moderation, an enhanced user experience helps generate more leads, thereby improving a brand’s online presence.
Additional Tips For Dealing With Harmful Content
Content moderation is not a one-step solution. Long story short, it’s complex, which is why the following tips will help you multifold as far as negating harmful content is concerned.
- Select the best moderation method: Assess your needs, budget, goals, and type of audience to select the best moderation method. Make a priority list keeping in view content, brand image, and user experience.
- Outline strict rules and regulations: The guidelines should be clear to everyone involved in the moderation process. Similarly, experts should lay detailed guidelines while programming the automated moderation tool.
- Moderate all types of content: User experience can make it or break it in digital marketing. Therefore, efforts should be made to enhance the user experience. Therefore, you must be impartial to everyone. Selective moderation or targeting a specific group could do more harm than good.
- Identify good content: Sometimes, a negative comment on your website doesn’t necessarily damage your brand image. Instead, it may elevate trust among your customers as it’s a sign of credibility. Interpret comments with a neutral mindset!
Conclusion
In addition to brands, content moderation is becoming the need of the hour for celebrities, political parties, and public figures. The market now is full of companies and automated content moderation tools that promise the best results but fail to deliver. Therefore, it’s imperative to do proper research and comparisons before inking any contract.
When planned and executed systematically, content moderation can help deal with harmful content, boost a brand’s visibility and reputation while upholding the company’s laws and guidelines.
