Category: Content Moderation

In today's age of digital growth, a vast amount of text, images, and videos are being uploaded and shared on various platforms every day. When brands and online businesses use this platform, they must maintain an online environment that is safe and trustworthy for its users. Here is where content moderation comes into play.

The primary purpose of content moderation solutions is to screen user-generated content and ensure it adheres to preset guidelines. Today, we will explore what content moderation is, its types, the tools involved in content moderation, and how it plays a significant role in creating a positive user experience.

What is Content Moderation?

Content moderation is screening content posted by users to maintain a safe and positive online environment. The moderators review the content that users upload to a platform. They apply preset rules to monitor its appropriateness. If any content violates the guidelines, it is flagged and removed.

This content moderation process helps to free platforms from violence, offensive material, extremism, nudity, hate speech, and copyright infringements. Content moderation services are used by outlets such as social media, dating websites, apps, marketplaces, and forums to ensure their users have a secure and trustworthy space to interact in.

Understanding the Scope of Content

The term "content" includes a wide range of materials and media uploaded online. They could be blog posts on various platforms or videos on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and beyond. Content creators play a significant role in shaping the digital landscape. Even seemingly innocent posts of pets or family gatherings contribute to the vast realm of user-generated content. Content moderators, therefore, have the critical responsibility of ensuring that all such submissions align with platform guidelines and do not harm the online community.

The Role of a Content Moderator

A content moderator's job entails several key responsibilities, each aimed at maintaining a safe online ecosystem:

• Understanding Client Policies: Content moderation services must be well-versed in the specific rules and guidelines set by the platforms they work for. This knowledge forms the foundation for their decision-making process when assessing user-generated content.
• Reviewing User Reports: User-generated content is subject to scrutiny by content moderation services, and any flagged submissions go through a review process. Human intervention becomes crucial here, as technology alone may not accurately assess certain content types.
• Identifying Workflow Improvements: Content moderators are encouraged to identify potential areas for process enhancement and suggest solutions. Their insights contribute to making content moderation services more efficient and effective.

Qualifications and Traits of a Content Moderator

Certain qualifications and personal qualities are deemed valuable when dealing with content moderation solutions and services:

• Educational Background: While employer-specific requirements may vary, a bachelor's degree is frequently preferred by content moderation services. This demonstrates a level of education and the capacity to manage a variety of responsibilities.
• BPO Experience: Experience in the BPO industry is preferred by content moderation services. It demonstrates the candidate’s familiarity with the demands of a dynamic and fast-paced work environment.
• Excellent Communication Skills: Content moderators may need to interact with users and coworkers from diverse backgrounds. They must be proficient in both written and spoken English communication.
• Passion for the Internet: Content moderation services seek out candidates who have a genuine interest in the online world and its various platforms. This interest helps content moderators maintain their engagement and dedication to their role.
• Strong Judgment and Critical Thinking: Content moderation services also look out for moderators who are able to make sound judgments when evaluating content. Critical thinking is important to determine what is and is not appropriate.
• Emotional Resilience: Due to the nature of their position, content moderators may be exposed to disquieting or upsetting content. To overcome such obstacles without jeopardizing one's health, one must maintain a strong mental state.

Conclusion

Content moderation is necessary to maintain a safe and positive online environment for users. By combining technology and human expertise, content moderation services can efficiently review and filter user-generated content and prevent harmful material from reaching their audiences. Finding the right balance for your platform will create an engaging and trustworthy digital community for everyone involved.

Content moderation outsourcing to a qualified external team is a viable option for platforms without an internal moderation team. Platforms seeking to enhance their content moderation capabilities can reach out to WOW to boost their moderation efforts effectively and efficiently.

This blog is inspired by the video, ‘CONTENT MODERATION JOB - Description, Qualification, What does it take to be one’ by Rea Ninja.

Massive amounts of text, images, and videos are produced daily, and marketers need a mechanism to monitor the material their platforms charge for. It is essential to uphold a secure and reliable customer environment, track social influences on brand perception, and adhere to legal requirements.

The screening of relevant content users upload on a platform is called online content moderation. The procedure entails the use of pre-established guidelines for content monitoring. The content is flagged and deleted if it does not adhere to the rules. The causes can range from:

• Violence
• Offensiveness
• Extremism
• Nudity
• Hate speech
• Copyright violations
• A plethora of other issues

Online content moderation aims to maintain the brand's trust and safety program while making the platform safe. Social media dating websites, applications, markets, forums, and other platforms frequently employ content moderation. In this blog, let's dig deeper into the different types of content moderation services and technologies used.

The Need for Online Content Moderation

Platforms that rely on user-generated content need help to remain on top of an adequate amount due to the massive amount of content created every second. Therefore, the only method to maintain a tap on a brand's website per your standards is by filtering offensive text, photographs, and video content.

Additionally, it aids in preserving your reputation and your clientele. With its assistance, you can ensure that your platform fulfills the intended function and does not provide a platform for spam, violent content, or other inappropriate material.

When determining the optimal method to handle content moderation services for your platform, many considerations come into play, including:

• You put business first
• The many forms of user-generated content
• The characteristics of your user base

Types of Content Moderation Services

In this section, let's see the main types of online content moderation processes you can choose for your brand.

1. Automated Moderation:

Automated online content moderation significantly relies on technology, particularly AI-powered algorithms, to screen and evaluate user-generated content. Comparatively, it provides a quicker, simpler, and safer method than manual human moderation.

Automated tools for text moderation can recognize problematic words, pick up on conversational tics, and do relationship analyzes to assess the content's suitability.

Images, videos, and live streams are monitored for visual content using image recognition driven by AI techniques like EMAGA. This artificial intelligence (AI) technologies can recognize improper imagery and offer options for limiting sensitive visual threshold levels and types.

Automated moderation is effective and exact when identifying and flagging potentially offensive or harmful information. It is important to remember that technology can only partially replace human inspection, especially in more complicated cases. By utilizing automated moderation, platforms can filter a lot of content, improve online content moderation efficiency, and shield users from spam, violence, and explicit content.

2. Pre-Moderation:

Online content moderation powered by technology improves accuracy and effectiveness but can only partially replace human review, especially in more complicated scenarios. Because of this, technology and human content moderation services are still used in automated online content moderation. It is the most complex method of approaching content moderation solutions.

Because of this, every piece of content must be evaluated before it is posted on your platform. An item is added to the review queue when a user uploads text or a picture. Only when the content administrator has expressly approved it, then it goes live. Although this is the most secure method of preventing hazardous content, this method of online content moderation needs to be more active and suitable for the quick-paced internet environment. However, platforms that demand high security still use this online content management technique.

3. Post-Moderation:

The most prevalent method for content screening is post-moderation online content moderation. Users can publish content whenever they want, but it must first go through online content moderation. To protect the other users, flagged items are taken down. Platforms work to speed up the review process so that relevant content doesn't remain online for an extended period, even though post-moderation is less secure than pre-moderation content moderation solutions. It remains the method of choice for many modern internet firms.

4. Reactive Moderation:

Reactive moderation is counting on people to flag content they deem offensive or violates your platform's policies. Reactive moderation as part of online content moderation services can be helpful in some circumstances. It can be used alone or in conjunction with post-moderation for the best outcomes.

In the latter scenario, users might still flag the content even after it has gone through your moderation procedure. If you wish to employ reactive moderation only, there are some hazards you might want to think about to have a twofold safety net.

5. Self-regulating Moderation:

Although a self-regulating online content moderation platform sounds excellent, it may result in appropriate content staying on your platform for excessive time. Your brand could suffer long-term reputational harm as a result of this. The online community is wholly relied upon for this form of online content moderation to assess and remove content if appropriate. Users use a rating system to indicate if a piece of material complies with the platform's rules. This topic is rarely used because it seriously affects brands' reputations and Lego compliance.

Two Steps to Implement Online Content Moderation

1. Establish Clear Parameters: It is essential to establish clear criteria that specify the content appropriate for your platform. These rules should cover various topics, including forbidden content types, extremism, violence, hate speech, nudity, and copyright violations. The requirements for user-generated content should be made very clear. Remember your target market, demography, and industry particulars when creating these rules. Content moderators will know what content to assess, flag, and remove if explicit criteria are established.

2. Establish Moderation Thresholds: Content moderators should adhere to a certain level of sensitivity when evaluating content. It entails establishing criteria for determining whether content must be removed or flagged. These criteria might consider user expectations, the impact on the platform's reputation, and the seriousness of the breach. It's imperative to strike the proper balance to prevent unduly strict or lenient online content moderation. Keep an eye on these criteria and modify them as necessary in response to user comments, shifting fashion trends, and altering legal requirements.

Conclusion

According to our analysis, there are several possible ways to moderate the content. Pre-moderation online content moderation is likely too slow for the volume of user-generated content today. Because of this, most platforms decide to examine content after it has gone live, which is then added to a moderation queue.

Automatic online content moderation is frequently combined with post-moderation to get the finest and quickest outcomes. You can mix the finest human and machine moderation with semi-automated content moderation. You can improve content moderation solutions with an AI-powered system, shielding moderators from a huge volume of hazardous content.

Experience superior content moderation solutions with Wow customer support from Vserve. You can confidently build your online presence and thank the knowledgeable content moderators for their assistance.

This blog is inspired by the video: "What is Content Moderation? Types of Content Moderation, Tools and More" by "Imagga."

In today's digital era, online platforms are flooded with various types of content. It includes text, audio, images, videos, and live streaming. This widespread content availability has driven the growth of online platforms across several industries.

However, it has also made content moderation a top priority for many online businesses. Marketplaces with user-generated content, dating websites, online communication platforms, gaming websites, and many more need moderation of their content.

Content moderation is essential for various reasons. It is useful for protecting users, complying with digital safety regulations, and building a safe online platform reputation.

What Is the Importance of Content Moderation?

The sheer amount of online content generated daily can turn out as a boon and a curse for online businesses. While platforms want to provide space for users to express themselves, this comes with the challenge of monitoring and moderating user-generated content.

Elimination of inappropriate, illegal, insulting, and other content that does not meet platform guidelines is important. If left unsupervised, problematic content can spiral out of control. It poses a direct threat to the users and the existence of the platform itself.

Negative Consequences of Unmoderated Content

Content moderation is crucial in preventing bullies, trolls, and other individuals with harmful intentions from reaching the rest of the user base and taking advantage of them and the brand.

Beyond their moral responsibility to ensure a safe and secure environment for users, online businesses may also be liable for the content published on their platforms.

Risks Related to Legal Compliance

There are various national and international regulations regarding safe content that businesses may need to comply with to stay in business. Despite some backlash against content moderation legislation due to censorship concerns, such regulations as the European Union's Digital Services Act are gaining ground. Failing to comply with these regulations can lead to legal problems and damage the brand's reputation.

Content Moderation and Wow

In recent years, there has been a shift from manual moderation done by people to automated moderation provided by AI technologies. Wow Customer Support offers content moderation services that ensure your social media game is on point. With a rigorous blend of expert moderation tactics and behavioral analysis, their real-time content screening works at scale. Wow ensures meeting your organization's trust and safety requirements.

Conclusion

With the abundance of user-generated content on various online platforms, content moderation is essential for protecting users, complying with digital safety regulations, and building a safe online platform reputation.

If you're interested in trying out content moderation services to enhance your online platform's safety and compliance with regulations, get in touch with Wow Customer Support today. Our team of expert content moderators ensures that you can confidently expand your online presence. With years of extensive experience in moderating diverse types of content for our clients, our User Generated Content Moderation services are unmatched in quality and reliability.

This blog post is inspired by the YouTube video "Why Is Content Moderation Important?" The video provided valuable insights and information on the significance of content moderation in maintaining a safe and positive online environment.

User-generated content has become vital for online businesses. Content from real customers is proof that you've got dedicated brand advocates and products or services worth discussing.

User-generated content takes your brand authenticity and trustworthiness to the next level. It helps establish your brand loyalty and increases your conversion rates in the long term. In fact, 79% of shoppers use user-generated content to make their purchase decisions online. 

Your brand advocates and customers write reviews, snap images, post videos, and publish blog posts with or without promoting your products or services. But some of this content can be objectionable. That’s when content moderation services become important.

What is Content Moderation?

A massive amount of positive and negative user-generated content populates every second. So, businesses that heavily depend on this content need more to stay competitive because of offensive and inappropriate text, videos, and images.

Content moderation involves screening and monitoring user-generated content to determine if the content is inappropriate or illegal. The process entails checking whether the content upholds the regulations of your brand and the platform where it will be published. If it fails to fulfill all the guidelines, the content is removed or flagged as inappropriate. 

A piece of content is considered inappropriate for different reasons. These include extremism, violence, nudity, offensiveness, hate speech, copyright infringements, etc.

That’s why content moderation services have become vital for strengthening brand reputation, customer engagement and security. It has become common among eCommerce websites, social media platforms, dating sites, discussion boards, and other online platforms that are based on user-generated content.

From text-based content, images, and videos to social media pages and websites, all types of content moderation aim to maintain your brand reputation and customers’ security.

While technology can speed up the content moderation process, human review is still irreplaceable. Ideally, you can choose content moderation outsourcing for a combination of both technology and human expertise for assured scalability and efficiency.

5 Reasons to Use Content Moderation Services

It takes about 7 seconds to make the first impression. So, you need to ensure that everything about your brand is positive and engaging to earn a positive first impression. That’s the apparent reason why you need content moderation services. 

Other top reasons include the following:

1. Protect Your Brand and Customers

Fake news about your brand, product, or industry can cause havoc. But unfortunately, fake news is prevalent thanks to social networks' omnipresence and ease of information generation and distribution. That’s why monitoring social media for inappropriate content for your brand has become essential. 

A reliable content moderation services provider reviews and moderates your content carefully and effectively. They also protect your customers from bad actors who share misleading, damaging, or toxic content.

2. Social Listening of Your Brand Perception

People feel free to share their thoughts and experiences on the internet. You can understand how your brand is perceived by monitoring your brand's conversation. You can track comments, reviews, or blog-related content related to your brand posted by internet users.

Accordingly, you can take practical steps to limit harmful content and improve your branding efforts timely. You also get a handle on the factors that make your products and services stand out from your competitors.

3. Trace and Understand Customer Behavior

Recognizing customers’ behavioral patterns and responses to your content can be highly instrumental in formulating effective customer acquisition strategies. Content moderation services can help you understand what type of content engages your target audiences. You can use these insights to foster an online community that impacts the purchase decisions of your prospects.

4. Increase Your Conversion Rate

Monitoring social media, websites, and other platforms for your brand-related content can help increase your website's traffic and conversion rates. For example, when people see good reviews, it increases your prospects’ faith in your brand. 

Besides, content moderation makes search engines view your brand as relevant to users' queries. So, it increases your brand visibility on the internet.

5. Scale Your Campaigns

User-generated content can help drive and scale your sales and marketing campaigns. Whether you want to crowdsource an idea, host a contest, or get reviews, an effective content moderation strategy allows you to scale your campaigns without worrying about adverse effects.

Put simply, content moderation outsourcing can be instrumental in strengthening your brand reputation, and improving brand perception and online visibility. In the end, you'll see increased sales and boosted revenue.

What Types of Content Can You Moderate?

The quickest answer is all kinds of content, from text and images to live streaming. 

Text

Text content is everywhere. So, most online moderation services should be able to perform text content moderation for all platforms with user-generated content. 

The variety of textural content generally includes:

• Articles and blogs
• Social media comments
• Blog comments
• Forum posts
• Discussion boards
• Review sites

Please note that catching offensive keywords is not enough. Inappropriate text can consist of a sequence of appropriate words also. When you choose reliable content moderation services, you can rest assured knowing that every text about your brand, product, or service is analyzed carefully. They also consider nuances and cultural specificities during the process.

Image

Moderating images is relatively straightforward, yet clear guidelines and thresholds are essential. In addition, you need to understand the specificities of your audience in different geographics to target cultural sensitivities and differences.

But reviewing many images across various platforms, like Instagram and Pinterest, can be challenging. Expert image moderation services can expose all inappropriate images that can hurt your brand.

Video & Live Streaming

By the end of 2022, online videos will make up over 82% of all consumer web traffic. This goes true for live streaming as well. The surge brings both marketing opportunities and malicious content surrounding your brand. 

But video content moderation is not that easy. So, you can outsource content moderation services to have experts screen video files to find inappropriate content. Moreover, they also screen it to spot any type of text associated with videos, like titles and subtitles. Expert moderators dip deeply into video content on the internet to weed out harmful content. 

Why Outsource Content Moderation?

When hiring content moderation services, you’ve three options – hire a freelancer, an in-house professional, or content moderation outsourcing. 

Freelancers may lack dedication and focus on your project needs. It's because they juggle different jobs at a time. Though they care about quality, they can't relate to your company's success. And an in-house moderator can add an overwhelming overhead expense, considering a fixed monthly salary, training costs, buying software tools, etc.

That’s why it makes sense to choose outsourced online moderation services. Other top reasons to work with an outsourced partner are:

Greater Efficiency

When an offshore team handles content moderation, you can brainstorm high-level strategies like leveraging user-generating content to improve your marketing strategies. So, you get the best of both worlds because you can engage more in customer engagement without worrying about negative stuff. 

Minimize Costs

Outsourcing content moderation services tend to be cheaper than hiring an in-house team that requires time, infrastructure, people, and massive capital. Instead of fixed costs, you benefit from variable costs depending on whether you need 24X7 services or during office hours. Outsourcing is a cheap and hassle-free option to get the job done effectively in less money and time.

Benefit from the Latest Technology

Excellent and up-to-date online moderation services use state-of-the-art technology and the latest infrastructure to work speedily and effectively. On the other hand, an agency that handles much of its work manually may cost you higher and may not yield the expectedly best results. A content moderator equipped with the latest technology can address all your concerns about user-generated content.

Outsource Content Moderation Services to Experts

Now that you know the importance of content moderation, you might be planning to hire a reliable service provider. 

You can trust Wow Customer Support for fully managed content moderation services. Our highly experienced and talented content moderation teams enforce your guidelines across various platforms. We can be available 24X7 or flexibly as per your needs.

We can handle all types of content, from standard text to live streaming. In addition, our content moderation teams analyze the meaning and intention behind every content posted online surrounding your brand. 

We’ve specialists who moderate content on different platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and other third-party media. Our proven processes are flexible, scalable, and efficient to make our online moderation services fit high-demand industries of all sizes and all kinds.

Conclusion

User-generated content can make or break your brand. So, ensure it aligns with your brand's guidelines and the intended platform. Outsource content moderation services to a reliable partner to assure that all negative stuff about your business will be handled timely and effectively. Meanwhile, you can stay focused on your core business activities.

At Wow Customer Support, we can create and scale your team of content moderators while assuring the best quality work. Call us now to check our affordable pricing structures and unmatched flexibility.

An assured way of building brand trust and recognition is by leveraging user-generated content. The top brands worldwide rely on user-generated content to secure good ranks in the search engine. However, publishing user-generated content comes with a major risk – what if the users don’t portray you in the right light? What about those fake reviews and ratings on your social media account?  

There is one simple way to solve all of these problems: content moderation. 

All you need is a group of experienced and dedicated content moderators to go through every user-generated content before it reaches your page.  

Advantages of dedicated content moderation: Why outsourcing content moderation is the right way? 

You have a basic idea about content moderation, and maybe even most of your competitors are investing in it. But do you know if you need to get on the bandwagon as well? Here are some of the reasons to let you know why the answer to this question is a big yes. 

Protecting your users and brand 

The content that reaches your page as videos, pictures, or comments on the community forums and blog posts need monitoring. After all, any user-generated content always has the risk of straying far from what your brand considers acceptable. 

There is no way for you to control what people perceive your brand to be. But you can always use content moderation services to edit what the users post to the site. When you have a team of expert content moderators to ensure that nothing upsetting or offensive reaches your site, it also protects the audience from any kind of trolling or bullying by irrational users. 

Understanding your users and customers 

Moderating all user-generated content is a great opportunity to outline the patterns. This is particularly true for the high-volume marketing campaigns where the moderators might tag content with specific properties like attitude and thoughts towards the brand, and so on. 

The content moderation solutions can leverage this particular information for designing actionable insights into the opinions and behavior of the users. Also, it can help you in figuring out whether there are areas where your brand can improve. 

Improving the online visibility of brands 

Studies have shown that 25 percent of search results from the biggest brands in the world come from links to user-generated content. Now, you need the content, but you also have to ensure that it does not affect the brand reputation. 

You can allow your users to post as much content as they wish, but ensure that you have content moderation services alongside.They will go through all the content before getting them published on your site. This will help you bring good traffic to your website given that it does not have anything that’s offensive or against the brand. 

Scaling your campaigns more effectively 

Your marketing and sales campaigns require user-generated content for being more efficient. The content moderation solutions can be an immense help in scaling your campaigns minus the risks of negative effects on the brand.  

If a major part of the campaign is based on user-generated video content, for instance, when you have a contest to increase your brand reach, you require an easily scalable way to go through all this. Skilled professionals in this domain will help you scale your campaigns and ensure that you don’t have to get your staff to remove the content later on. 

Improving the purchasing behavior and process 

Advertisements through the TV, radio, and print media, might not be that effective in impacting or persuading customer behavior in this online era. Conventional methods like banners, auto-play videos, pop-ups, and other such formats do not fare too well because people now have ad blockers on the browsers. The ad blockers make it harder for a business to reach customers. 

Thus, your target buyers are much more likely to have your brand exposure through user-generated content on the site. They would want to know what other people have to say about the brand. A trend that is going around these days is the potential buyers asking referrals or opinions from other customers while making any purchase decision. Customer support outsourcing companies dealing with content moderation can help in improving the buying process and buyer behavior. 

Enhancing customer relations through online content moderation 

Your site will have better customer relations and credibility when it has content from real users or customers. The presence of well-moderated content on the site makes a brand look friendly, approachable, relatable, and authentic. When you make a brand that’s worth discussing, your fans will join in. 

Why do you need to outsource content moderation? 

Now that you know how important content moderation is, it’s time to assess whether you should outsource it or get your in-house team to do it. We are leaning more on the former option for the following reasons. 

A time-consuming responsibility for the in-house staff 

You have to constantly search for scams that are present almost anywhere and everywhere these days. They are getting more difficult to detect due to the amount of sophistication. You might think that your platform is free from such things. But remember that almost 60 percent of customers worldwide have faced online fraud at some point or the other.  

Moreover, over 75 percent of the people have seen scams on a site and have never returned to it. The truth is that online harassment, scams, and fake reviews are the kind of things that you have to worry about constantly. Overall, it is a highly time-taking initiative that has to go on consistently. Thus, if you make your in-house team do it, your staff will not have enough time to focus on other responsibilities than content moderation outsourcing.

The cost burden of hiring in-house content moderators 

Even when businesses understand the need to moderate user-generated stuff, they are unsure whether to hire someone to do it or get their own team. Now, consider the average salary and other perks you will have to give to a content moderator – not something small businesses and startups can afford.  

This is one of the main reasons why most companies outsource online content moderation. After all, they can find qualified and skilled people from the local market by spending a fraction of what they would do by hiring an entire team of in-house moderators. Why spend more when you can get the job done for much less? 

The hassle of training and buying the necessary tools 

You can be free from all the responsibility of training the new content moderators. It is not easy to get the right people for the job, particularly when you need them soon. Right from hiring, training, performance feedback, and monitoring, getting a team of professional moderators requires a lot of time. Thus, rather than handling such a bulk of tasks for your brand, you can simply hire a team for social media content moderation and let them do the needful. In this way, you will have the time to focus on the other core business responsibilities. 

Moreover, the outsourcing companies already have the manpower, processes, and tools they need before they begin offering any business solution. Therefore, it is one of the best parts of outsourcing the job. After you begin working with any outsourcing company, your resources and time are saved. Additionally, you do not need to deal with the hassle of getting a new office, hiring a new team, and training new team members to handle the tasks related to content moderation.  

The added efficiency of an outsourced team 

There are added benefits of having user-generated content on a website, such as engaging the present followers, brand exposure to newer audiences, and even better SEO. In addition, it allows you to think about some really high-end processes, such as using user-generated content in the overall marketing strategy, while leaving the responsibility to your outsourced team to deal with content moderation.

Think of this as a way to manage the best of both worlds as you can receive all the benefits of reaching out to your users without the worries of getting hit by the negative impact of it.  

The Endnote 

It must be amply clear by now that your brand needs content moderation when it plans to rely on user-generated content for marketing. And if you are planning to outsource moderators for the job, look no further than Wow Customer Support for it. From social media monitoring, image moderation to comments moderation, nothing is out of bounds for our experts. They are fast, efficient, and work 24/7 to complete the tasks as swiftly and effectively as possible. So, if you want to outsource this major responsibility, contact us right away. And don’t forget to leave your likes, comments, and shares!

Building brand recognition involves developing the trust in the minds of your target audience. One of the most effective ways to build that trust over time is through user-generated content. According to recent statistics, customers say that user-generated content is 35% more memorable and 50% more trustworthy than other media types.  

However, publishing appropriate user-generated content can be tricky because you need to figure out how to ensure that your brand portrays a positive image. In addition, simply relying on user-generated content could hurt your business because, without moderation, it's inevitable for some content to be viewed as offensive or harmful. 

To meet all your content publishing requirements, it's essential to leverage the right form of content moderation services. If you're planning to start moderating your content or enhance your existing system, the following content moderation trends can point you in the right direction.

Ten content moderation trends you can't miss

1. Working with multi-skilled content moderators

Content moderation goes beyond understanding the fundamental characteristics of a brand. It involves going through hundreds, if not thousands, of content that may seem unnecessary, pointless, or harmful. For this reason, an increasing number of online platforms have started working with multi-skilled moderators who can -

• Commit to global standards, have expertise on regional dialects and local culture
• Have an open mind to accept views and opinions of others
• Respect the rules for developing content for your brand, and, 
• Replace ineffective content with more valuable alternatives.

2. Adopting a hybrid approach that includes technology and humans

While AI and machine learning can predict different trends regarding the likes and dislikes of your target audience, you still need human judgment to improve your content. The most reliable and effective content moderation services focus on combining the power of technology and humans to boost the quality of user-generated content. While human judgment is essential in developing innovative content, AI can prove effective in discovering trends that could negatively impact your content.

3. Managing content quality 

Public reviews play a crucial role in content filtering choices. Moderating content requires an all-encompassing action plan to efficiently identify and correct errors in your content that may invite negative remarks from prospective customers. Therefore, it has become a must to hire content moderators who can quickly identify these errors, set up effective control programs, and develop excellent content that upholds your brand's reputation.

4. Following real-world policies

Sometimes, content developers are so engrossed in conveying their personal opinions through their work that the content may adversely affect the brand. However, content moderation services can rectify such errors by adhering to real-world policies to avoid content that may be sensitive towards political viewpoints or hurt religious sentiments. In addition, content moderations need to constantly update themselves with the latest policies and implement the same in their work to avoid controversies that may impair your brand's reputation.

5. Eliminating offensive and objectionable content

Insensitive remarks or cruel statements are a strict no-no as they can provoke a section of your audience to go against your brand. Any responsible content moderator should guide you in understanding the laws and provisions against hate speeches. 

Your content doesn't include the words or phrases that may start a chaotic situation among different communities. They are well aware of defensive languages that can make your content impactful without hurting anyone's sentiments.

6. Prioritizing the safety and privacy of your audience

One of the growing trends in content moderation is forming a special team for monitoring and filtering content that doesn't necessarily follow the norms of content moderation policies against privacy violations. 

Cybersecurity threats such as malware, data breaches, and identity theft are increasing concerns for online users. As a result, it's necessary to ensure that the content you publish doesn't compromise the privacy or safety of your audience. Safeguarding the identity and personal information of your users needs to rank high on your priority list. 

7. Avoiding false information

Companies are now more conscious than ever about cross-checking the information they publish. But, with trolls waiting for the smallest gap to bash your brand online, you can't afford to give them any breathing room. And the best way to shut them down is by checking the authenticity of your content. 

Develop a content moderation system that follows a strict list of policies and prohibits spreading false information, misrepresentation, or fake news. Even the smallest of mistakes can blow up your brand's reputation because of posts made viral by trolls.

8. Increasing transparency

It's high time for your online platform to create and publish a transparency report if you don't have one yet. This report includes the moderation rules you implement on your platform, which helps to inform users about what they can and cannot publish. The biggest social media platforms all provide transparency reports about how they handle private information, copyrights, protection of intellectual property, and data requests.

9. Handling machine-generated and spam content

AI's machine-generated content is now becoming more sophisticated than ever. The primary drawback of this system is that it may lead to the dissemination of malicious information, thus degrading your audience's experience and, in turn, denting your brand's reputation. Individuals or organizations with ill intentions can create multiple accounts on your platform and publish spam content in bulk. Boosting the security of your site and finding unique solutions to the moderation of this kind of content are imperative to provide the best user experience. 

 10. Developing a localized approach

It's important to remember that each country has its own regional, cultural, and socio-political nuances. If your website attracts an international audience, you need to take this into account to cater to their content needs. Simply outsourcing content moderation services to the first company you find online may not yield the best results. It's better to work with a company with multiple regional and local hubs so you can create an effective location-based strategy.

The future of the content moderation industry

There is no denying that AI controls the advertisements and posts that we see on our social media feed every day. A lot of content that we come across are not what we would like to see, but they pop up on our feed anyway. What if your e-commerce brand mistakenly posts something that your target audience doesn't like, even if you have no intention of stirring up controversy? Such a situation can wreak havoc on your brand.

Since it's becoming a challenge to handle machine-generated content, the best way to counter this problem is to rely on content moderation. It can effectively eliminate content that may hurt your viewers' sentiments or create a divide among your audience. It's reasonable to assume the continuous growth of content moderation for as long as the e-commerce industry and social media platforms exist.

Keeping up with the latest trends in content moderation requires a significant time investment. Still, it holds the key to developing the best strategy for monitoring and filtering the content you publish online. If you want to work with the leading content moderation service provider, feel free to get in touch with Wow Customer Support. We have a team of experienced professionals who can offer 24/7 services to help you monitor your social media page, e-commerce website, blog, or forum.

Allow us to review your existing content, analyze future posts, and ensure that every content you publish helps you increase leads and conversions. Also, don't forget to like, share, and comment on our blog.

If you think that you need Content Moderation Services for the social media pages of your business, you are thinking in the right direction. Digital platforms are evolving, and users’ content generation on these platforms is increasing. But due to the relative anonymity that such platforms provide, spammers and negative social elements are also on the rise. This calls for stringent social media content moderation so that the platforms become safe and trusted places.

While Artificial Intelligence and automation are at their peak thanks to technological advancements, the technology still cannot help businesses automate the content moderation process. We still rely deeply on human judgment because of context, which is the most important thing that makes a difference between an algorithm and a human mind. This is why businesses require content moderators to monitor the content on their social media channels.

Why should you outsource content moderation services?

If you want professional content moderation services for your business, outsourcing the process can be the best option. Your employees may not be familiar with the content moderations guidelines. You may be confused about whether you should hire a moderator or outsource the process to a professional content moderation outsourcing agency. Outsourcing content moderation can be better than hiring an in-house moderator in many ways:

Access to professional content moderators

When you decide to outsource the content moderation to a content moderation outsourcing company, you get access to experienced content moderators. You can discuss your moderation needs with your moderators, and they will ensure that all the user-generated content on your online channels follows moderation guidelines.

Cost-efficient

Outsourcing content moderation services is a highly cost-efficient way as you don’t have to invest in the tools and technology required for moderation. Also, outsourcing can help in saving operational costs.

Get access to the latest tools

When you decide to work with a content moderation outsourcing agency, the moderators already have the latest tools and resources needed for the moderation to provide you with the best services. Further, these companies provide you with customized services according to your moderation needs.

Time-saving

When you outsource the moderation task to an outsourcing agency, you can free up your content creation team. As they don’t have to worry about moderation, they can work more efficiently to generate better for your business.

Choosing the right people for Content Moderation Services

Getting the right people for social media content moderation services is as important as the moderation itself. Since content moderation can be a very sensitive matter, it needs to be handled accordingly. There are also considerations about the laws and regulations regarding what is illegal, the data privacy of the users, and their freedom of speech. Hence, content moderation needs to be handled professionally and within permissible boundaries.

There are many content moderation outsourcing companies in the market that offer content moderation as a service. These companies provide content moderation packages at very competitive pricing to businesses to help them manage content online and keep the integrity of their brand across various platforms on the internet. And these content moderation outsourcing companies promise to provide excellent and efficient services at a very affordable cost. This can leave businesses like yourself confused. How do you choose the best fit for your requirements?

The answer isn’t simple or straightforward. However, knowing your own business goals and setting the correct expectations is the first step in making the right decision.

Here are some skills that you should look at when you hire a content moderation services provider for your business:

•   Good Analytical skills: To effectively provide online moderation services, the content moderation outsourcing agency should possess good analytical skills, which require more than just evaluating information based on its face value. Some pieces of content may first seem harmful but can prove beneficial in the long term and vice versa. Hence, an online moderator should have a strong analytical power to evaluate if the piece of content is valuable or not.
•   Critical Thinking: The most important roles of a content moderator are problem-solving and strategic planning. Hence, a content moderator should have good critical thinking skills to provide effective social media content moderation services. Additionally, a moderator should have a sharp eye for detail and a fast mind so he/she can catch every element in the content that seems inappropriate.
•   Excellent Communication Skills: The content moderator should possess excellent communication skills so that he/she can clearly explain his strategies and justify what is required to be done for effective moderation of content for your business. It can be an added advantage if the moderator is multilingual and has great proficiency in languages in which your business wants moderation.
•   Adaptability: The most important responsibility of a content moderator is to manage the information and piece of content on the internet to eliminate or minimize the damage from harmful content and to maximize the information that is focused on building brand reputation.

Decisions to make while hiring Social Media Content Moderation Services

It is always best to go into a hiring contract well-prepared. It helps you understand your requirements better and helps you convey to the content moderation service provider company what you need in a better way.

Understand what kind of user-generating content will be covered under content moderation. Users post content in the form of pictures, videos, and text. This content can be a powerful tool to gain insights into user behavior, trends, opinions, feedback, etc. The patterns portrayed by the user through content evaluation can be used to provide better products and services to the customers and also for planning efficient marketing strategies. At the same time, any negative content should be handled accordingly and removed if found objectionable or out of what can be described as healthy criticism.

Below are the primary decisions you need to make while hiring a company for online moderation services:

Decide if you want monitoring or moderation of user-generated content

Monitoring and moderation are two different things when it comes to online content. While content monitoring is done to get an understanding of user behavior online, moderation is a more effective and slightly intrusive way to keep a constant eye on the quality of the content. Under content moderation, user-generated content that is found to be objectionable or misleading can be removed, and the content poster can be issued a warning or prohibited from posting again if they repeat the act.

Decide how many accounts/pages need moderation

A major decision before you engage a company for social media content moderation services is to know how many accounts you need to moderate. It depends on your target audience and which platforms they prefer for engagement with your business. It also depends on your vision to expand the target audience and try out new platforms.

Decide on the rules of moderation suitable to your digital platform

It is important to define what to allow on your platforms and what to consider inappropriate and or objectionable that needs to be removed immediately. There can be a fine line between healthy criticism and offensive content. The better you define what is permissible, the efficiency and efficacy of content moderation services providers would be better.

Decide on the reporting format and frequency

It is best to know what details you expect in the report on content moderation and how often you expect it from your content moderation services provider. If you wish to collect data on user behavior and identify patterns, this becomes a very important consideration.

Think about scalability

When you make your online platform a safe and trusted place for your audience, you can expect a rise in user engagement and a better brand image. This means more user-generated content, which in turn means more work for the content moderators. When you choose to hire professionals for content moderation, you should know whether they have flexible plans and scalable solutions to cope with increased volumes of content.

Decide on what kind of moderation you need

There are various stages at which content moderation takes place. When users post content, moderation can occur before or after the post is updated on the online platform. Also, there is a reactive method of moderation where the moderators are called to attention by other users by flagging content they find inappropriate or irrelevant. Depending on the nature of the content that users post, you need to see which moderation stage, or a combination of them, works best for you.

Online Content Moderation – A Necessity

It would not be an overstatement that content moderation services have become an absolute necessity. An online platform, not duly moderated, can soon become a vulnerable place prone to misuse that can include misleading or even harmful to your users.

If you are looking for reliable Content Moderation Services, WOW can provide you with custom-made online moderation services. We have an excellent team who can work remotely to monitor and moderate your content round the clock. Our dedicated resources for Social Media content moderation can help you maintain a good reputation and brand image of your business.