Everything in Moderation: A Must For Online Businesses in India

Digital transformation is taking place all around us. There is hardly any aspect of life that is not affected by the internet. But as they say it rightly, everything should be in moderation. After all, living in an age where the internet is inevitable requires a reality check. The internet has reformed the ‘traditional’ industries to the ‘smart’ industries by drastically reducing the time spent between content creation and its consumption. A report by We Are Social has highlighted that in 2020, more than 4.5 billion people used the internet, while social media users have already crossed the 3.8 billion mark.

The user-generated content (UGC) is hard to ignore but is still crucial to brand development. There is a surge in the percentage of consumers self-publishing their content or experiences in social media channels. The diversity in India is making content moderation tough. UGC is anything not made by a brand; it encourages inquiry and decision-making. However, brands do use user-generated content for ranking high in search engine rankings. The UGC includes reviews about a product or service, blog comments, Facebook posts or comments, video uploads, etc.

The drawback of this information overload is that many a time, users are unable to find credible information. Users are at a high risk of being exposed to offensive content to extremely violent and hate content. Publishing such information will hamper the business as the content may not always be what the brand would like to be associated with. This intensifies the need for immediate recognition and response to unacceptable content with content moderation services.

What is Content Moderation?

It is a practice that is now becoming common across various online platforms that are mainly dependent on user-generated content, namely online marketplaces, social media platforms, matrimonial sites, etc. Whenever any content is uploaded or submitted on the website, it will undergo a screening process to ensure that the information upholds the particular brand or website’s regulation and is, in no way, harmful to the business. Generally, businesses either hire experienced moderators who work round the clock or opt for automated moderation.

Types of Content Moderation

• Manual pre-moderation

Here, the moderator judges every piece of information before publishing it online. The moderator has all the right to decide whether the content is to be published, edited, or rejected, as per the rules and regulations of the website.

• Manual post-moderation

Once the information goes live on the website, only then the moderator has the right to review the content. It is then up to the moderator to decide if the published content is to be kept on the site or if any changes are required.

• Reactive moderation

This is one of the most efficient moderation methods, where it filters out information that is not acceptable to the users. Even if the content has to be published first, there is nothing to worry about as the users can either flag or report the website’s content for immediate action.

• Distributed moderation

The owner of the brand or website has literally no control over this moderation. This moderation method is dependent on a voting or rating system where the highest-voted/rated content will be displayed prominently on top of the page. In contrast, the lowest-voted/rated content will either be hidden or removed.

• Automated moderation

With customised filters and sophisticated tools, this method optimises the process of moderation more smartly. Here, even the most basic version is a filter that catches words from a list and acts on preset rules to highlight, replace or ban the word or information.

Why Moderation?

Usually, visitors are looking for content that is safe, descriptive, and to their use. Here, the brand owners have to ensure that their site’s content is relevant to the target group, appropriate, and is not illegal. Moderation is all about maintaining a certain level of content quality as per the company standards.

How is Content Moderation Helping Online Businesses?

It is not easy for brands to organise their content and take their customers on a journey that makes them want for more, making them explore the site and even make purchases which they didn’t even think of in the first place. Every business is unique, and not all require the same level of moderation. As brand owners, you must keep the quality you have chosen.

Several companies provide content moderation services to control user-generated content on several marketplaces, helping the organisation build its reputation and doing business efficiently.