Types of Moderation – Social Media Management

Welcome to the first part of our new occasional series on User Generated Content “UGC” management

There are several types of moderation possible on social media platforms.

1. Pre-Moderation

With a Pre-Moderation system, all user-generated content (UGC) has to be approved before it can appear. When the member clicks “Submit”, the comment or post is sent to a queue. It can then be “Approved”, “Rejected” or “Escalated”.

Advantages

• This system gives the team the greatest control as nothing inappropriate ever appears without approval.
• Particularly suitable for children’s content, where bullying or grooming could be a concern.

Disadvantages

• Delayed posting – Conversations with pre-moderation are very difficult as comments will inevitably appear in batches. The same comment may be made by several members who don’t know the point has already been made by another member.
• Members can be frustrated as they have to wait for their comment to be approved.
• There may be legal consequences (see below)

Summary

Pre-moderation is suitable when it is important that absolutely no inappropriate material appears even for the briefest time. It does not work for back-and-forth conversations.

2. Post-Moderation

With Post-Moderation UGC is published immediately. It is checked on by a member of the team later. It may be sent to a moderation queue if the software supports it, or it may be the responsibility of staff to go through the discussions and check on all new posts.

Advantages

• Comment is visible immediately and a conversation can flow in real-time
• All comments are checked

Disadvantages

• Undesirable content that has not been approved will be briefly visible.
• More resources than most other forms of moderation as each post must be viewed
• There may be legal consequences (see below)

Summary

Post-moderation is better than pre-moderation for allowing conversations to flow, while at the same time ensuring that all content is reviewed.

3. Reactive Moderation

With Reactive Moderation, all UGC is posted immediately when submitted. It is not reviewed unless a complaint is made by it being flagged or reported. The team review all reports of inappropriate content and deals only with reported content.

Advantages

• Comment is visible immediately and a conversation can flow in real-time
• Scales well

Disadvantages

• Relies on the community to report, and to report for the right reasons.
• Damaging posts may remain if not reported
• The reader may not understand the system and infer website condones inappropriate posts.

Summary

Reactive Moderation is a good way to have a large fast-moving community the focuses resources only on inappropriate posts.

4. Distributed Moderation

Distributed Moderation usually refers to the type of moderation seen on sites like Reddit, Slashdot and Digg. Members up-vote high-quality relevant UGC, and down-vote low-quality and inappropriate content.

With Distributed Moderation, you rely on your members to hide problem posts

Advantages

• Comment is visible immediately and a conversation can flow in real-time
• Low resources as the community is relied on to self-police

Disadvantages

• Undesirable content will be visible that has not been approved.
• Completely reliant on the community to use the system as instructed.
• Vulnerable to bots and manipulation attempting to influence opinion.

Summary

Distributed Moderation is only seen on a small selection of sites. It gives a great deal of power to the community to decide on what is shown and what it is not. Members may be asked only to down-vote if a comment is truly inappropriate or disruptive, but comments can often be hidden simply because other members disagree with opinion or poster.

5. Automated Moderation

The term Automated Moderation covers a large number of systems, form a simple word-filter, to systems and companies that use sophisticated algorithms.

Advantages

• Comment is visible immediately and a conversation can flow in real-time
• All comments are checked
• Low, or no, resources

Disadvantages

• The system can make mistakes
• Requires oversight and double-checking by team

Summary

Simple Automated Moderation – such as a word filter – is often used in conjunction with other moderation systems. Posts that fit a pattern can be withheld from publication until checked by a team member.  Some companies are starting to offer sophisticated services where a large amount of content is auto-tagged by computer algorithms and a team of moderators oversee and correct.

Legal & Copyright Issues

At first glance, pre-moderation may look like the legally safest way to go, as the management team read every post before publication, but this is not necessarily the case. By the very nature of this systems, the team are acknowledging they have read the post and “approve” it. Post-moderation has a very similar problem. With  Reactive-moderation, where there is a clear system of reporting and prompt removal when the team are made aware of a problem, may be a legally safer option. This is a hotly debated topic and you should check for best practices in your jurisdiction.

Why the UK doesn’t moderate UGC