Content Moderation Jobs: Job Description, Skills, Salary

Living in a technological world, where we create, consume, and disseminate content all the time, is how you would describe most people living in the 21st century. We wake up and open our minds to the mandatory scrolling and exploring, unaware of what type of content we are absorbing and promoting.

As Bryant McGill said, “You are what you consume, and as an organism and consciousness, you become a commodity and predator yourself.”

In the continuous prevailing era of Web 2.0, the need for content in whichever form is salient because ‘if the content is fire, social media is the gasoline.’ This is why it is of supreme importance that content is always moderated.

2.5 quintillion bytes of data and content are created each day. As a matter of fact, with the drastic development of IoT (Internet of Things), this statistic will only increase daily! Take this as your sign to start working as a content moderator.

How To Define A Content Moderator

Being a content moderator is an occupation that will never go out of style. It’s a thriving job with unlimited growth opportunities. As a content moderator, you will be required to:

  • Use apt tools to recognize offensive, illegal text, audio, and visuals or go against mentioned guidelines.
  • Identify scammers (blasts information to defraud), spammers (blasts as much information as they can), and trolls (cyber bullies).
  • Reply to all queries asked by users on blog posts and other media forums.
  • Help provide you protection from all the unsuitable content and harassment.
  • Assist in upholding moral principles and ensuring the legal compliance of online communities and digital businesses.
  • Create a strong, vibrant, and trusted online community

Skills Required To Be A Content Moderator

There are some skills you ought to have in order to become a moderator. Just because it’s social media-related does not mean it’s a piece of cake. It is a position that needs to be done with patience and perfection because you will be who people will come to with their queries. Skills required for this job are:

Analytical Skills

Employers look for employees who can research problems and find ideal solutions in a timely and efficient manner. The skills required to solve problems are called analytical skills.

Use your analytical skills in finding patterns, brainstorming, observing and interpreting data, synthesizing new information, theorizing, and making decisions based on the many factors and options available. Solutions can be achieved through a transparent, systematic approach or more creative techniques. Both directions require analytical skills.

Example:

Let’s say you’re a restaurant manager, and you’ve gone over budget in the last two weeks. See the menu, what the customer ordered from the supplier and the cost of the groceries. You can see that seafood prices have increased in the last two weeks.

When talking to your suppliers, explain that the weather is causing disruptions in your supply chain. They raised the cost to compensate. We ordered less seafood to cut costs and decided to work with chefs to create new dishes that utilize other protein options.

In this example, you used your analytical skills to review data from different sources, integrate further information, and make decisions based on your observations.

Sharp Eye And A Quick Mind

The following skill is an essential requirement for almost all niches in today’s time for a person to have good observation. At a particular sight, a person’s mind should start questioning and making links to overcome a specific problem.

Unsusceptible To Gory Content

Over the past 60 years, hundreds of research studies have been conducted on this topic. Experimental studies show that exposure to media violence makes people more aggressive in the immediate aftermath.

Field experiments yielded similar effects with realistic measures of aggression in natural settings. While there is no perfect consensus in any scientific field, the evidence is compelling. The results can also be prolonged.

Being a content moderator requires a moderate temperament and a positive attitude at all times. Therefore, being exposed to gruesome content is something no content moderator should have been through.

Content Screening

If content moderators have a sufficient understanding of the numerous channels that businesses and audiences utilize, information screening can be an easy process for them.

By tailoring the whole procedure, these experts may assist users and brands in having a better overall experience by being aware of the content requirements for each forum.

Additionally, they can use this information to provide a healthier and more helpful brand interface and to encourage meaningful user engagement between end consumers.

Detail-Oriented Approach

When discussions shift to detail-oriented definitions, it almost always means that you have an experienced eye with a knack for noticing minor discrepancies in order to correct them for error-free project delivery.

You need this technical knowledge to point out minor mistakes. Looking at it objectively, who wants someone who can’t improve their business? Your prospective employers need to be aware of this “kill for perfection” attitude.

Therefore, your number one priority should be to prove yourself as a catalyst for the company’s growth through your resume. Interviews with fluency and technical skills can back this up, but without a strong foundation, you won’t be able to make the impact you need.

The stakes keep rising with your experience. Are you ready to accept? You remember the little things: If you can identify someone with a habit of being detail-oriented, chances are you’re already detail-oriented. But it needs to be diligently developed and matured.

A detail-oriented person can never be satisfied with what they create. They believe there is always room for progress, and this is the driving force that helps them or her achieve greatness.

We need to understand that asking questions opens the door to new information that we can refer to when we need it. Moreover, grammar and perfection are vital motivators if you want to describe yourself as detail-oriented. Anything that doesn’t meet the expected standards or careless mistakes will only irritate you. Can you handle it? Work orderly. More importantly, do it right.

Multilingual

Multilingualism is the use of multiple languages ​​by one or more speakers. It is believed that there are more multilingual speakers than monolingual speakers in the world’s population.

Multilingualism is beneficial for those who want to participate in trade and, of course, content moderation. With the ease of access to information provided by the Internet, individuals are increasingly exposed to multiple languages.

People who speak multiple languages ​​are also called polyglots. Multilingual people acquire and retain at least one of their languages ​​in childhood, the so-called first language (L1). Young simultaneous bilinguals are often better at one language than another. People who speak multiple languages ​​are reported to be better at language learning than monolinguals. Working on this particular skill will ensure that your content moderation covers an extensive range of content in different languages.

Must Be Flexible And Versatile

We often hear in our work about the importance of being flexible and that flexibility works both ways. Flexible working hours, relaxed attitude towards work, flexibility to accept and finish work at short notice. Employers and organizations want flexibility.

Employees need flexibility from employers and organizations that pay them to do their jobs. To be truly flexible, you must have a good understanding of how far you are willing to bend, what you cannot bend, or why you did not think you could.

Along with flexibility, it’s important to consider versatility as another tool in your working arsenal. Diversity means the ability to move freely and confidently from job to job, task to task, role to role, employer to employer, and organization to organization, and to be able to move freely and confidently.

You can change the way you think, act, and act without sticking to rules. Diversity means making the most of your skills wherever you work. Diversity can bring out the best in you and lower your personal stress levels.

To be truly versatile, you need to understand how to present the versatility of your work as an asset that helps you and the people who pay for your job get things done.

Types Of Content Moderations

Job description? Done. Skills required? Done. The next piece of information is crucial in terms of deciding what your career as a content moderator would be. To participate actively in a profession, you must know everything it holds within.

So, without further ado, let’s move on to knowing the types of content moderation and a brief introduction to each of them.

● Pre-Moderation

This is the process by which content is examined before it is made public by the established community and website guidelines. This method prevents the upload of time-sensitive or divisive content to any website, mainly dating and social media websites, protecting the entire dynamics of the community.

If you choose this field to work in, be prepared for loads of behind-the-scenes and fact-checking. You will be required to double-check comments, posts, and blogs before it is posted to make sure all the guidelines are being followed.

● Post-moderation

Post-moderation is the stage of content moderation after the content is published on the website when it is reviewed. Post-moderation, as the name implies, entails real-time discussion among the moderators if there is controversial content. However, companies also use automation, or AI, to review the content. If the content is unfit for the online community, it is flagged as inappropriate.

Opting for this nature of work will require you to work hands-on on social media platforms. You will be checking everything that has been posted on social media platforms.

● Reactive Moderation

Reactive moderation is described as the type of strict moderation that relies solely on user reports of specific content. Social media platforms must offer the option to report content so that users are free to do so if they believe it to be against community standards. The moderators will review the content after making a report and take appropriate action.

This varies from the previous two moderations because here, you, the public, have the freedom to report or restrict accounts you feel are humiliating and disturbing. You will be where the problem will go once it has been ‘reported’ by netizens. You will be reviewing what has been reported.

● Distributed Moderation

Distributed moderation is a method of content moderation in which community members vote on whether to remove a piece of content from a website. The community members voted on the submission of content. Decisions are made following community policies based on the senior moderator. If you’re interested in group work, this can be considered the job for you!

● Automated Moderation

The term “automated moderation” describes the kind of content moderation carried out by AI (AI). Few specialized programs are used to filter a select few offensive words. Dealing offensive posts is now easier and quicker than ever, thanks to automation. The IP addresses of abusers can be quickly and easily identified through automated moderation and can also be blocked.

An AI moderator, for instance, is used to find images that show drugs or drug use. The AI will then be shown several images depicting various illicit drug types or pictures of drug users. Photos of the tools required to take in illegal substances are also provided to refine the AI’s base model further.

● No Moderation

If a website has no moderation, the users would be free to abuse anyone. Therefore, because there won’t be any moderation, there won’t be any community rules, and the brand reputation will be in the air.

These were the types of content moderation; jobs in these fields are available on Upwork and other freelancing sites. They include titles such as:

  • Client service representation
  • Social media management
  • Political campaign consultant
  • Sight engine content moderation
  • Customer support
  • Comment moderator

Sample Resume Of A Content Moderator

Summary:

Passionate content moderator with nine years of experience in the social media and customer service industry. Proven track record of efficiently handling high volumes of interactions while maintaining a positive customer experience. Ability to quickly identify and resolve problems.

Education:

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Jun ’10

BA in English Language and Literature

Experience:

Company A, Content Moderator

Jan ’17 – Current

Managed website content, social media channels, and email marketing campaigns to ensure brand consistency across platforms. We worked closely with our internal team to create compelling copy for our website, landing pages, emails, and other marketing materials. Review customer feedback/complaints received and respond appropriately within 24 hours (depending on severity). The editorial support team members need to meet deadlines and effectively manage projects.

Company B, Content Moderator

Jan ’12 – Dec ’16

Check and edit content for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors before posting to the website; ensure all published content meets company quality standards by reviewing it against a checklist of criteria; check the published article links to make sure they are still working; reported the defect to the management team image processed with photoshop software to remove inappropriate or objectionable material; possibly offensive posts removed.

Company C, Social Media Specialist

Jan ’09 – Dec ’11

Monitor social media channels for relevant conversations, engage professionally with users, promote your brand, and build relationships. Creation and execution of social media campaigns aligned with business goals and lead generation. Analyze social media metrics to provide insights and recommendations to improve your social media strategy.

Skills:

Industry Knowledge: Copy, Plagiarism, Content Creation, Content Management, SEO

Technical: WordPress, Plugins

Soft: Communication, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Attention to Detail, Time Management, Teamwork

Salary Ranges

Content moderators earn an average of $40,423 to $62,450 in the US, depending on experience, location, skills, and other factors.

Moreover, the content moderator salaries in the US range from $40,525 to $60,133, with an average salary of $51,075, according to various salary aggregator websites.

Content moderator salaries depend on many factors, including education, experience, and location. Years of experience are one of the most important things. Salary increases are usually associated with experience levels. In general, the more years you work as a content moderator, the more money you can expect to make. Sound like a promising career path, right?

The Bottom Line

Content Moderators are responsible for user-generated content submitted to our online platform. A content moderator’s job is to make sure that articles are placed in the correct categories, that they are not fraudulent, that they do not contain illegal articles, and so on.

It is a growing field in today’s time and has a relatively straightforward approach in terms of the technicalities that kick in with other online jobs. In order to excel, one needs to work hard to pave the way to success.

So, hop onto the bandwagon of success by pursuing your path as a content moderator and attain the success you have always longed for your whole life!

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