#6 - The Benefits Of Moderated Content
In this article, let's look at the benefits of having a moderator review and approve the content being submitted to your Web 2.0 community.
If the previous articles in this series we've been discussing how Web 2.0 principles can be used to boost word of mouth advertising for our sites.
As we've said, Web 2.0 comes in various flavors. In this article we'll explore the benefits of moderated discussions.
How Does Moderating Work?
First, let's take a quick look at how the mechanics of moderating would work on a forum, or other Web 2.5 platform.
Users submit their posts as usual. The posts aren't published immediately, but are first sent to a moderator for review. If the moderator likes the post, they click a link, and the post is then added to the forum.
If you have the right Web 2.0 software, moderation is simple.
If you don't have the right software, moderation can't be done.
Thus it's wise to be aware of this issue before you create your forum. Moving your community later from one platform to another may be challenging, or impossible.
Leading By Example
Posters will soon learn that if they wish to be heard by your audience, their posts will need to meet some standard, set by you.
Some posters will take an "everything is all about me" perspective, resent the loss of control, and not care about the quality reading experience you are trying to create for thousands of readers. The posters who want to contribute the kind of posts you don't really want in your community, will probably leave before long.
Not such a bad outcome. A moderated discussion just isn't the right community for them, and they'll be better served elsewhere. They win by leaving, and you do too.
Other posters will see the kind of posts you are approving, appreciate your efforts to serve them, and rise to the challenge with enthusiasm. These members will tend to be more skilled, more mature, more cooperative, and more in tune with the goals for your community.
These are the members you want, so be sure to treat them well. Make sure that you take the time to publicly and privately appreciate their efforts.
Be a good host. Be welcoming. Give respect. Make a personal connection. Hand out favors where you can.
Quality Content
The most important benefit of moderated discussions will be higher quality content than an open discussion.
Let's look at that a bit.
If I add porn to my site, I'll attract visitors who like porn. If I add astronomy information instead, I'll attract visitors who like astronomy information.
Simple, right?
This same principle applies to the quality vs. quantity equation.
If we build our Web 2.0 community out of quality content, we'll attract readers, and posters, who value quality content.
If we don't have a quality content strategy for our Web 2.0 community, we'll attract readers and posters who also don't care too much about quality.
Whatever we put on our site, we'll attract more of that same thing.
Simple.
Decide what we want our users to do, and lead them there, by doing it ourselves.
Will a community that is built around a quality content philosophy inspire more word of mouth advertising than a community that accepts just about anything anybody might like to add?
Seems likely.
A Competitive Edge
The Net is pretty darn crowded, there are literally millions of forums and other communities.
Whatever our niche is, there are probably already a number of more established forums and communities that address our topic.
So what's our edge?
How do we stand out, and get noticed?
What's the unique selling proposition for the new community we want to build at our site?
It may seem impossible to offer a new community that really is different from the others.
It might seem impossible, but it's not.
Here's some good news.
Our Competitors Are Stuck In A Dying Model
Most of our competitors, maybe even every single one of them, will be stuck in the "we accept almost any post from anybody" Cocktail Party paradigm of Web 2.0.
Few of our competitors will be ready for the moderated Web 2.5 model.
They don't have the right software, and they don't get the philosophy.
Almost all our competitors will believe that The Cocktail Party Model is the best, because that's what they've seen everywhere else online.
They are followers.
Few of our competitors will think it through for themselves.
Few of our competitors will understand that edited content has been the norm in publishing for hundreds of years, for a good reason. They will think that they know better, because they've been publishing online for 5 years.
Ok, these observations are rude and arrogant, I admit it.
But they're also true.
And they also present an opportunity for those among us who understand why quality content, moderated content, Web 2.5, is the future.
Do You Get It?
It's simple.
Who has time to read mountains of random chatter?
We all want...
The good stuff.
Quality can be our edge, and moderation is how we get there.
If we establish a reputation for quality in our community, we may find that the best posters on other forums start spending more and more time on our forum.
We get the writers people actually want to read.
Our readers win.
Our posters win.
We win.
Win, win, win.
Cool, eh?
Spam Free!
Did I mention that on a moderated forum, your readers are never exposed to a single word of spam?
The invasion of the spam creep armies, over and done, once and for all, forever.
Our readers will thank us.
The Most Important Person
The most important person in our community is us, the owner of the community.
If we get bored, distracted, annoyed, sucked in to pointless ego arguments with rowdy posters, and all the rest of the troubles that routinely plague open forums...
... our community is in trouble.
If we lose interest in our community, it's days are numbered.
Here's a law of nature we can count on.
Communities and conversations are always in a process of getting better and better, or worse and worse.
If we moderate our community, there is a simple solution to anything on our community that we don't like.
Don't publish it.
Don't click the approve link.
End of problem.
If we're serious about our community, and the significant time investment it will require, it makes sense to make sure we're having a good time most of the time.
That's the only realistic strategy for a community that aspires to be a leader, and a success.
Build something we will enjoy, something we can be proud of, something that will last.
The Other Side Of The Coin
In this article we've explored the upside of moderated content. Let's be fair, and use the next article to look at some of the obstacles involved.
