Who's Keeping You in Line Online?

Oct. 14, 2008— -- For every 10 user comments posted to ABCNews.com, two or three of them get banished from the site. They're too profane or too bigoted or just too much to bear, even by the wide-open standards of Internet conversation.

The job of tempering the discussion falls to people like Deirdre, a 41-year-old online moderator who asked that her last name be withheld to protect her privacy.

During an election season, for instance, the volume of comments escalates and, with it, the potential for incendiary speech, said Deirdre, who works for Mzinga, a Burlington, Mass.-based social media and community management firm.

Offensive posts often include nasty twists on the names of politicians and political parties, she said. Obambi and McSane are harmless enough, but Democrap and "Congoleeza Rice" for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are examples of name-calling that push the envelope too far.

As companies embrace social media and launch online forums that allow customers to share opinions about their products and services, they're realizing that simply creating Web sites is insufficient.

The savviest managers are paying close attention to what transpires on those sites as well, because they understand that user comments have the potential to influence other consumers and, sometimes, even investors.

Becoming the 'Party Giver'

Observing a shift in the pervasiveness of public commentary and conversation, Barry Libert, in 2001, launched a predecessor to Mzinga.

His founding thesis? "Become the party giver," he said. "Stop being the dance hall."

What makes a party memorable, the Mzinga board chairman said, isn't the location of the get-together. Instead, it's the food, music and, most of all, the people.

Similarly, a Web forum on its own isn't going to attract and retain users. The "hosts," or moderators, are the ones who have the power to ensure a positive online experience.

Mzinga's clientele include big name companies such as American Express, Cadbury Schweppes, The New York Times Digital and ABC. Its business has doubled in the past year.

Mike Pascucci, Mzinga's director of moderation services, said that 50 full-time and about 30 part-time moderators in the United States and overseas manage about 14,000 communities for Mzinga's dozens of clients.

Once a company decides to work with Mzinga, it creates a set of guidelines that will govern the online community. Larger clients tend to be more set in their ways, while smaller ones are more flexible and open in terms of the kinds of content that can be allowed, he said.

But as the sites evolve, so, too, do the rules and the roles of the moderators.

The Making of the Moderator

"Most companies are just educating themselves about what that role needs," Pascucci said.

When moderators are first assigned to a new client, they undergo preliminary training.

But the key to successful moderation is ongoing communication and guidance, he said. Moderators are consistently in touch with their clients as they learn to identify the line that separates the acceptable from the atrocious, he said.

For some clients, moderators seed content and interact with community members. For example, if new users are shy about submitting personal stories on a parenting site, the moderator will get the conversation started with stories of her own.

But for other communities, moderators review content and remove posts that breach the site's user guidelines. Racist or sexist speech, for example, could get a comment unpublished. Posts that directly target and insult other users could also be rejected.

Most companies also remove unattributed content that could prompt copyright infringement suits.

Pascucci said Mzinga moderators span a wide age-range, and include college students and parents with full-time day jobs who want to supplement their income.

Other companies, however, such as boutique social media firm eModeration, said they prefer older moderators with more life experience under their belts.

Tamara Littleton, CEO of the London-based firm, said that a high proportion of her company's moderators are women who want to juggle raising a family with flexible work. But, increasingly, she said, more men have joined the fold.

Although her company is headquartered in London, 60 percent of its business is in the United States. Littleton said the industry pays moderators anywhere from $8 to $19 an hour, adding that more specialized firms like hers tend to pay on the higher end of the range. Because the field is emerging, it's difficult to quantify the size of the industry.

They Don't Spend the Day in PJs

The moderation business is a billion-dollar industry, Littleton said. But, because it's behind-the-scenes work that people do from home, misperceptions persist about its not being "proper work."

Bill Keller, 48, who moderates for the Emeryville, Calif.-based Lithium from his home outside Kansas City, Mo., agrees.

"When I said I have a job online working as a moderator, [my father and brother] both rolled their eyes," he said. "They said, 'Working online isn't really a job, working from home isn't a job.' I had to convince them it was making money."

Christina Mattoni, 40, a moderator for LiveWorld, a San Jose, Calif.-based social network marketing agency, said that despite relentless myths to the contrary, moderators aren't "paid to surf the Internet and sit in their pajamas and drink coffee all day."