Text-to-Screen Moderation

When you’re dealing with text-to-screen moderation, speed and accuracy are essential. You’re likely to be dealing with a large number of incoming texts which need to be checked for quality and suitability within a short time period.

We share our thoughts having worked on shows like Big Brother, Pop Idol and live celebrity events with JK Rowling, Tony Blair and David Attenborough.

When text-to-screen goes wrong

If you don’t manage to maintain the high level of moderation required and an offensive text gets through, you could be in danger of upsetting a large audience and harming your brand reputation.

So, what challenges do text-to-screen moderators face?

Tips for text-to-screen moderation

Speed: Texts received are usually in response to live events, therefore it’s important to provide a speedy moderation service in order to ensure messages are displayed when they’re still relevant.
Censorship: Offensive or libellous content should always be removed, but constructive criticism and comments should still be displayed — within reason. Our work with Big Brother is a good example. Some comments about the housemates were just plain abusive, but others were constructive and reflected the mood of the audience. It’s important to draw up a tone and content guide for what is and isn’t acceptable to ensure online brand protection. However, don’t forget that if you remove all the negative texts, you’re in danger of breaking the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005 (see our recent post on Negative Comment Moderation for more information)
Audience: It’s important to get an idea of the audience the show or event, as this will affect the content of text you’re allowed to display. A family show like Pop Idol or a political event will have to have a much higher level of moderation than an evening show like Hell’s Kitchen. And don’t forget that moderation isn’t all about censorship — curating and cultivating the content and tone of texts will enrich your audience’s experience and capture the spirit of your community.
Technical issues: A response that is larger than expected can overwhelm the system, leading to outages or an inappropriate text sneaking through. This can be particularly difficult at live events. Make sure you have spoken to your text-to-screen service or software provider if you’re expecting a surge in texts.
Dealing with multiple text-to-screen sources: Twitter and Facebook comments can now be displayed through text-to-screen services, as well as chat room content. A text-to-screen moderator will have to look at individual text messages, as well as content that could be part of a general conversation on social media sites.