How to moderate your platform’s content to protect your community

A company’s social media presence is at the forefront of its communication strategy. To build a strong and engaged community, the content shared on it must be safe. The user, whether they're a follower, fan or just a viewer, must be comfortable and happy with the content they are interacting with.

A safe online presence helps a business to grow and expand, resulting in more traffic, more users, more time spent on site or social media, which leads to more advertising revenue, and higher sales.

There’s nothing more important than projecting a positive image to your users or prospective customers. This is why it’s essential for businesses can confidently assure users that the content they’re displaying has been through a reliable and trusted moderation service.

The dark side of social media and the damage it can cause

When used incorrectly, social networks can be toxic places where users feel unprotected and unsafe. Hateful content can damage a brand's real life and e-reputation, and cause irreparable damage. 

High profile individuals, who in essence have their own 'personal brand', are also vulnerable to the effects of toxicity on social media. Take the tragic story of Love Island presenter Caroline Flack, who sadly committed suicide in 2020, believed to be a result of intense social media negativity. Her personal life had been dissected in the press and on social media, which attracted a frenzy of trolls who attacked her online.

Trolls and their toxic comments can be powerful: especially when they’re hiding behind the protection of a screen. Constant exposure to toxicity can have long-lasting effects on platform users: many will leave your social media pages and not return, leading to less engagement and potentially, less revenue.

The good news is, online toxicity can be managed and mitigated to create a safer, more positive experience for online communities, protect brands' reputations and ensure individuals don't have to be exposed to the damaging content. Moderation is the best way to prevent toxicity online: and the company that moderates toxic content on their online platforms is a socially responsible one.

From analyzing the hate and taking the relevant action against spam, obscene comments, racism, and homophobia to inciting violence, content moderation protect communities and business image.

As more and more people and businesses use social media, the job of human moderators has become more complex. For this reason, automated moderation is increasingly used as a tool to keep up with the high volume of interactions, and ensure the decision to keep or remove certain content is as accurate as possible.

 Good to know: 40% of users will disengage from a community after as little as one exposure to toxic content Source: Businesswire

Reduce risk with automatic content moderation

No matter how focused a manual content moderator is, they’re more likely to miss the odd toxic comment than AI. Human error and the fatigue that comes with reading thousands of comments and studying toxic behavior can affect judgment. After all, we can only concentrate for a limited period before our mind starts to wander.

Automated content moderation reduces the risk of errors and works much faster than the human brain. It can also be tailored to suit the needs of a business. For example, a gaming platform might be slightly more lenient in allowing certain kinds of content, compared to a Facebook Group which is discussing a sensitive cultural issue.

Plus there are the actual interactions that take place on social platforms. When people are hiding behind a keyboard they tend to lose their inhibitions and anger often prevails. 

Toxic comments come in many forms, some more obvious than others. They include:

• Insults

• Threats

• Racism

• Homophobia

• Sexual harassment

• Bodyshaming

• Trolling

• Spam

• Scams

• Ads

Toxic content moderators have to read a lot of bad languages, discrimination, abuse and hate and have to be resilient not to be affected. A machine doesn´t care what it reads – it has no emotions.

Keeping your community safe is paramount

As a company with an online presence, you have a duty to protect your brand and your audience. Responsible platform users expect to be able to participate and interact with one another, without experiencing online toxicity.

Setting high standards on social platforms shows your commitment to your audience and employees. The opportunities for engagement, acquisition, and retention are huge for businesses that keep trolls out. 

Prevention is better than cure

Once a toxic comment is seen by your community, it’s too late.. Brand reputation can be damaged in an instant and visitors may leave or unfollow your pages, never to return.

Prevention of toxicity is key, both for existing and new audiences. Moderation in real-time means harmful comments will never reach the public eye. 

Away from social media, for businesses that run their own social platforms, for example, gaming or sports communities, Bodyguard also has your back.

Our technology connects seamlessly to your platform via an API and delivers high-quality, automated moderation in real-time based on your preferences. It’s a guaranteed, safe, and easy way to protect your users and your brand.

Good to know: The Global Content Moderation Solution Market is expected to grow continuously over the coming years, reaching USD 14.6 billion by 2029.
Source: Data Bridge Market Research.

Key points to remember about content moderation for platforms:

1. Social media and platforms are growing massively, and so is the need for moderation.

2. Toxic comments can damage a business in seconds.

3. Preventing offensive comments before they are seen by others protects your community.

4. Bodyguard is an easy way to moderate content in real-time and foster a postive presence.

5. Moderating content maintains engagement and builds reputation.
   

Bodyguard's industry-leading moderation instantly removes toxic content to protect your brand reputation and safeguard your online communities, across platforms. Whether on YouTube or Twitch videos or your Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook posts, content moderation should be a high priority for any business. Bodyguard can help you get moderation right, first time.