As social media continues to evolve, online harassment is a pressing issue. In a study released two years ago by the Pew Research Center, 73% of adult Internet users have witnessed online bullying or trolling, and 40% have personally experienced it. Many social media platforms allow you to block users or report them. However, some comments linger on peoples’ posts and are a constant reminder of negativity. Instagram will soon allow its 500 million users to filter and turn off offensive comments.
Instagram’s new business pages users will be able to edit their comments with the new Comment Moderation option. It will automatically “block comments with words or phrases often reported as offensive from appearing on your posts.” Along with businesses, celebrities will be able to take advantage of this feature and in the coming months, all users will have this feature.
The Comment Moderation option will weed out scams and negative comments so that more positive comments and inquisitive questions can be addressed. In the past, one of the main issues with Instagram is the fact that users haven’t had any control over what people say on their posts. On popular posts with thousands of comments, it as then been assumed that no one reads all the comments and that results in people feeling free to respond with negative, harsh comments.
Comment Moderation will allow businesses that are posting or perhaps paying for advertising to be more confident in doing both to reach the proper audience without offensive comments contaminating their posts. This is a positive change made by the picture-focused social media platform as it expresses a lack of tolerance for hate speech and offensive actions on the Internet.
Want to stay up to date on the latest social media trends for your business? Check out our Facebook page.
