Magnosticism

Yesterday, I moderated a webcast on social media. The presentation was given by executives from Akamai and VideoEgg, who discussed the opportunities (brand affinity, ad revenue, more traffic) and the business and technical challenges (editorial control, site scalability and performance, monetization) for media companies and marketers looking to open up their brands to user-generated content and community.

We had a large audience turnout, but clearly not everyone has embraced the democratized nature of social media and consumer-generated content. Among the questions submitted by listeners was this one: “How do you censor content?” There were others that similarly touched on screening user contributions for offensive or illegal content, but this question, posed by someone affiliated with one of the Big Three automakers, stood out for its bluntness. And for its insight into what some folks really think about losing control of their brands.