1. User Generated Content and Social Media:
Survey of Current Publisher Practices
Summary Results - August 2008

2. Program Overview
In June and July 2008, Gatepoint Research and Keibi
Technologies invited executives from leading digital publishers to
participate in a survey around their usage of User Generated
Content (UGC) and Social Media
The objective of this survey was threefold:
To shed light on current industry practices and future plans
for UGC / social media
To provide benchmarking data for publishers to compare their
use of UGC / social media with their peers
To develop the foundation for developing best practices
around leveraging UGC / social media to engage safely with
consumers
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.

3. About
Keibi Technologies is the leading provider of moderation solutions for user
generated content. Working with Keibi, online communities can quickly rid their network of
content that violates their Terms of Service, protecting community members, advertisers,
and our customers’ brands.
Keibi provides both web-based moderation solutions for customer service teams
that increase the productivity of your staff or, for customers who wish to completely
outsource their moderation efforts, we offer turnkey moderation services that leverage
expert moderation personnel in conjunction with our solution.
www.keibitech.com
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.

4. Observations and Conclusions
The Importance of UGC / Social Media to Business Strategy
Nearly all publishers said that UGC / social media is currently
important to their business strategy.
Three out of four publishers said that brand advertisers’ concerns
about association with inappropriate UGC / social media in some
way limits their ability to sell advertising against this content.
Four out of five publishers thought it likely that brand advertisers
will require active moderation* of UGC / social media as a
condition of advertising.
* Moderation is the act of reviewing some or all of the user generated content (images, video, text, etc.) uploaded to a publishers
website to ensure compliance with that publisher’s Terms of Service
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.

5. Observations and Conclusions
The Importance of UGC / Social Media to Business Strategy
Most publishers moderate some portion of their UGC / social
media; the majority also use some form of technology to help
moderate UGC / social media.
Less than half of publishers feel assured their moderation efforts
can scale cost effectively with their growth.
Over two thirds of publishers consider improving moderation
efficiency / effectiveness a high priority.
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.

6. How important is UGC / social media to
your business strategy?
(Rate 1-5: 1=not important; 5=extremely important)
Extremely important
Very important
Important
Somewhat important
Not important
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
91% of publishers rate UGC / social media as important to their
business strategy
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.

7. How important is UGC / social media to your
business strategy over the next 24 months?
(Rate 1-5: 1=not important; 5=extremely important)
Extremely important
Very important
Important
Somewhat important
Not important
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
The importance of UGC / social media to publisher’s business
strategies is expected to grow in the future
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.

8. To what extent do brand advertisers’ concerns about being associated with
inappropriate UGC / social media (pornography, racism, etc.) limit your
ability to sell premium brand advertising against this content?
(Rate 1-5: 1=not limiting; 5=extremely limiting)
Extremely limiting
Very limiting
Limiting
Somewhat limiting
Not limiting
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Publishers face challenges around their UGC / social media - over
75% said brand advertisers concerns around association with
inappropriate content limits their ability to sell advertising
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.

9. How likely do you think it is that brand advertisers will
require you to moderate UGC / social media as a
condition of advertising on your website?
(Rate 1-5: 1= not likely; 5= very likely)
Very likely
More than likely
Likely
Somewhat likely
Not likely
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Over 80% of publishers think brand advertisers are increasingly
likely to require moderation of UGC / social media as a
condition of advertising
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.

10. How important is moderation to the following
areas in your organization?
(Rate 1-5: 1= not important; 5= extremely important)
Not Extremely
important important
1 2 3 4 5
Publishers believe moderation of their UGC / social media has an
important role to play in supporting key business drivers
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.

11. What percentage of the UGC / social media
uploaded to your website do you review?
Don't know
Only review community flagged content
Review <25% of content
Review 26%-75% of content
Review > 75% of content
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Effective moderation can be costly and time consuming - less than a
third of publishers are currently able to review the majority of UGC /
social media uploaded to their website
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.

12. How confident are you that your moderation effort identifies all
UGC / social media uploaded to your website that
violates your terms of service?
(Rate 1-5: 1=not at all confident; 5=completely confident)
Completely confident
Very confident
Confident
Somewhat confident
Not at all confident
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Given most respondents reviewed only a small portion of their UGC /
social media, or were unaware of the amount reviewed, their confidence
in their ability to identify inappropriate content seems
to be inconsistent with their practices
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.

13. How confident are you that your moderation efforts can
scale cost effectively with your growth?
(Rate 1-5: 1= not at all confident; 5= extremely confident)
Not at all confident
Somewhat confident
Confident
More than confident
Extremely confident
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Only 41% of publishers feel assured their moderation efforts can
scale cost effectively with their growth
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.

14. To what degree has your organization prioritized improving
efficiency and effectiveness of its moderation efforts?
(Rate 1-5: 1=not a priority; 5=high priority)
High priority
More than priority
Priority
Low proirity
Not a priority
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
69% of respondents rate improving efficiency
and effectiveness of moderation efforts as a priority
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.

15. What technologies do you currently use for
UGC / social media moderation?
We do not moderate
Moderation tools included in my third party social
network platform
Moderation technology vendor
Internally developed tools
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Most publishers are planning to use technology to
improve their moderation efforts and scale cost effectively
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.

16. How do you currently staff
your moderation effort?
We do not moderate
Outsourced moderation personnel
Internal moderation / customer service portal
Community members identify questionable content on
my website
Community member moderators who have access to my
moderation tools
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Over 40% of publishers currently staff their moderation
efforts with internal personnel
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.

17. In the future, are you more likely to staff the majority
of your moderation effort with internal or
outsourced moderation personnel?
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Internal moderation personnel Outsourced moderation personnel
-10%
60% of respondents are considering outsourcing their moderation
personnel in the future
Copyright © 2008. Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. The information contained in this report is the sole property
of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced, redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print
and digital form without the express written consent of Gatepoint Research and Keibi.