In our increasingly networked world, the content that users generate about products — from reviews to pictures to home videos — is skyrocketing in both popularity and influence. Consumers are 2.4x more likely to say that user-generated content (UGC) is more authentic than branded content.
One key aspect of allowing UGC is moderation. Content moderation is a process of screening and filtering content that meets brand guidelines and security protocols. Moderating UGC can be tricky, but the right automation tool can help marketers check one more thing off their UGC to-do list.
That’s why today we announced a new capability to the Cloudinary Digital Asset Management (DAM): the moderation waiting room. The feature will improve the moderation feature for those who use the Cloudinary DAM to stage and deliver content.
Let’s take a look at some of the challenges with the UGC moderation process and how moderation waiting rooms can help brands address them.
The biggest challenge with UGC is that audiences can freely and directly upload UGC to a brand’s site or app. Some of it could be inappropriate or irrelevant and create brand damage. Hence, moderation in the form of a human checkpoint before posting is imperative. Brands also need to create uniformity across UGC, such as similar filters or color adjustments. This can be a time-consuming process that is prone to human error.
In addition, moderation is typically part of a larger workflow that includes other steps that need to be accounted for, such as:
- Scalability. While UGC typically consists of text and images video is becoming more popular and also more valuable, so scalable workflows are a must. The dating app Hinge, for example, leverages Cloudinary to enable users to directly upload 30-second videos to their profile. UGC videos in dating apps pose a particularly sensitive moderation challenge, as brands need to ensure this UGC doesn’t cause offense.
- Optimization. Once a brand’s UGC is clean and ready for publication, they must optimize and transform their media to show only the relevant content. For example, the picture of a dress that someone wore to a wedding might show other people or background that’s irrelevant. It’s important to display only the pertinent details through cropping or other transformation techniques.
The complexity and sensitivity of moderation can sometimes hold back these other processes, which is why brands need a way to simplify UGC moderation as efficiently and safely as possible.
To help brands meet and mitigate challenges to the UGC moderation process, Cloudinary recently updated our DAM product to include the moderation waiting room.
The moderation waiting room is where assets awaiting content review typically sit. To allow flexibility in workflows, we introduced a new configuration to allow users to block – or not – assets that are pending moderation. This consists of two separate settings:
- Block assets from the media library whose moderation status is pending. This setting enables teams to designate whether assets that are pending moderation will be shared with other users before they are approved.
- Block delivery of moderation-pending assets. This allows teams to designate whether assets that are pending moderation can be delivered before they are approved. Moreover, using the access control feature, users can control the delivery of assets that have already been approved, as well as set timeframes on which assets are deliverable or restricted for delivery.
These features increase the moderation capabilities of Cloudinary DAM by:
- Introducing new redundancies to the moderation process, such as blocking certain advanced search types in a media library
- Streamlining the process in a scalable and programmatic way
- Reducing the possibility of human error
Success in creating experiences with UGC requires a seamless and automated workflow with efficient steps for uploads, moderations, dynamic transformations, and optimized and secure delivery at scale. Moderate content with Cloudinary’s AI technology to remove inappropriate, offensive, or harmful content while meeting brand standards.
Cloudinary customers who wish to use these configurations can request customer support to define them for each cloud. For more information, visit our UGC page or contact us for more information.
