User-generated content (UGC) is a valuable tool for boosting customer loyalty and building brand identity. However, it must be screened for offensive, disturbing or harmful information.
Moderation is a vital part of any UGC platform, including chat rooms, feeds, forums, reviews, and photo-sharing websites. The best solution is a hybrid approach that uses both human and automated moderation solutions.
Automated moderation
Having effective moderation policies in place is vital for UGC, especially for online marketplaces. This process makes sure that users are using quality photos, follows the guidelines for marketplace listings, and that they are displaying products in a way that is in line with the brand’s style, tone, and visual standards.
The best automated moderation tool is one that can recognize illegal, sexually explicit, and harmful elements in images, text, and video. It can also flag and prioritize specific cases for human review. These tools can be particularly helpful for large sites that need to moderate in real time.
It is important to have a system in place for identifying and removing inappropriate content, as delayed action can damage the brand’s reputation. In addition, it is essential to provide users with feedback on why their content has been removed. This will help them understand why their content was removed and how they can improve their content in the future.
Pre-moderation
Pre-moderation is an effective way to screen content before it goes live, ensuring that harmful text, images, and video are not visible to users. It is especially useful for communities that are sensitive to legal ramifications, such as celebrity-based online communities or communities where child protection is important. However, this method can delay conversations and feedback from users who are used to seeing their content immediately, and it may be more expensive than other moderation techniques.
At WebPurify, we use a hybrid system of human review and AI to scrub UGC for hundreds of brands. This ensures that all content is safe for the community, and complies with your company’s standards for UGC. This helps protect the reputation of your brand and encourages customers to interact with your campaign. It also gives you actionable insights into user behavior, helping you shape the community you want to build.
Human moderation
Whether it’s a photo of an ugly storefront or an offensive message from an employee or customer, human moderation is necessary for UGC campaigns. Authentic photos that show off products in an appealing way can build brand loyalty, while toxic content is a public relations nightmare. Human moderation can be performed by employees, subcontractors, or a mix of the two.
Some companies use a combination of human and automated moderation, with human moderators addressing the most offensive images. This method can be time-consuming and ineffective. It may also require a large number of staff, which is inefficient and expensive.
Another option is reactive moderation, which allows community members to report content they deem harmful. This approach is often more effective than pre-moderation, but it can also slow down the site and leave users waiting for responses to their submissions. In addition, it can be difficult to detect and prevent abuse from bad actors. Ultimately, companies need to have a well-constructed policy and the tools to enforce it.
Reputation management
UGC content moderation is an integral part of a company’s marketing strategy. It can create a sense of community and increase customer engagement. However, it is essential to monitor user-generated content to avoid reputational harm. This is especially important in the case of social media campaigns, where inappropriate material can damage a brand’s reputation and turn away potential customers.
One way to mitigate this risk is by implementing a community forum that allows users to report content they find offensive. However, this method has its limitations. It can be difficult to identify what is in violation of community guidelines, and human moderation requires considerable time and resources.
Using AI-based pre-moderation tools can help to limit this problem by identifying potentially harmful content before it goes live. This can be done by comparing the content against a database of offensive images and words. This approach can be frustrating for online communities, as it delays the posting of their content.