Welcome to SocMedMod, initiated as part of Rethinking Media, my final subject of my Communication Management Masters degree at UTS.
Although being quite an active blogger for the past 6 years, I have never been a 'moderator' of a social media site or community, however recent discussions in our tutorials have focused on social media gaffes by moderators triggered my interest in the role of the online community moderator. The two incidents were the deletion of a post written by a distraught mother on Channel 7's Facebook page and the feedback Target received on its Facebook page from a parent requesting they stock clothes that are age-appropriate for her daughter.
A moderator's daily work is frought with potential issues such as when to comment, if to comment at all, to delete abusive comments/feedback or maintain a transparent site. With the Advertising Standards Bureau recently deciding that brands are responsible for all comments on Facebook, the role of moderation has become a position of responsibility (especially for those brands using Facebook as their primary platform), with some questioning whether social media is worth it.
Through this blog I seek to share and generate conversation about the role of moderators and, in a way, have this blog become a live case study for creating and building an online community.
This blog will focus on:
- the role of moderators and how their role is increasingly considered (correctly or incorrectly) as being like that of the traditional media's 'gatekeepers';
- the issues moderators face;
- best practice for setting-up and maintaining a community.
So to get started, what do you think is the biggest mistake a moderator can make?
You can follow SocMedMod on Twitter
