This fascinating episode of the Brand Safety Exchange presents the voices of five avant-garde leaders across various sectors. These are the minds behind the first-ever User Safety Standards launched on 6 January 2022. This esteemed panel highlights the increasing significance of inculcating a culture of safety from the ground up and the immense benefits of a user safety framework as a guide as we transition into Web3.
Behind the screens meeting the panel
The panel is comprised of:
- Angela Johnson, Client Development Officer at Dentsu. Angela works with some of the world’s largest digital brands, building digital advertising campaigns.
- Catherine Connelly, Co-Founder and Senior VP Marketing at The Meet Group, a portfolio of dating apps. Catherine leads strategic initiatives that engage audiences to meet the universal need for human connection.
- Brandon Rhea, VP of Community, Fandom. Brandon leads a team dedicated to growing, supporting and ensuring the trust and safety of the creator community, across 250 000 communities.
- Roger Gerhmann, Executive Creative Director, SXM Media. With the resurgence of audio, His role centers on crafting suitable holistic experiences for users.
- Phil Tomlinson, Global Lead, Trust and Safety at Taskus. They are one of the largest content moderators in the world, providing solutions to the tech industry at large.
Tiffany allows the conversation to unfold by asking the panel to bring their reasons for emphasizing trust and safety into the room.
A User safety framework matters
Collectively, these sectors serve all aspects of the global society. The significance of building a better version of the all-powerful internet, especially for our children to have better experiences is highlighted. Similarly, there is a unanimous agreement that user privacy is a fundamental human right that needs to be respected. This episode also touches on the understanding that platforms and marketers are responsible for the messages they push into people’s ears. This means that there is a need for these platforms to become safe spaces for creators and users alike. A key point surfacing early in the conversation is that platform neutrality is a fallacy. This reinforces the need for a user “constitution,” or standards, even more. Angela highlights the quantum leap technologies have made that will bring even more new challenges with Web3. In turn, Tiffany ties it all together highlighting Oasis’ raison d’etre for advocating for the advancement of digital safety through ethical standards and ethical technologies.
Tech amplification and the need for safety.
Phil elaborates on this point reiterating that our age of exponential tech amplification is unprecedented. Messages that took years or months to infiltrate now take mere hours or days, influencing interactivity at a basic human level. As the colossal internet is indeterminate and constantly morphing, the panellists are united in their perspective that “We have to navigate the ambiguity of safety using first principles.” The firm consensus from the voices in the room reiterates the need for a constitution that provides a set of principles to serve as an anchor while this navigation is accelerated.
The lexicon of tech and a code of conduct to rally around.
Another point brought to the fore is having government regulators who understand technology on a far deeper level. In this way, a more intelligent narrative unfolds that would serve in elevating the conversation between key government stakeholders and key tech players. The conversation highlights the benefits of a stated code of conduct that is both deep and broad, yet easily understood. This allows everyone concerned to work together. Simultaneously, having a framework that’s been compiled by an independent third party is critical. As stated by Tiffany, there is at once a benchmark for “good.” This levels out the playing field for startups without the expense of figuring it out on their own. While users benefit, the very people on the ground, the creators and moderators, and the teams of these organizations are protected too. This is why diversity and inclusivity are key to reinforcing trust internally and externally.
Key Lessons to Amplify Brand Safety
- As the conversation draws to a close, this episode highlights the indisputable need to develop trust and safety from the inside out.
- Evaluate band suitability to curate content suitable for advertisers and users.
- While we have a framework, remain flexible, as this is not one-size-fits-all, and continue the conversation about what trust and safety look like.
- Use the 5P framework to have the tough conversations internally to decipher whether your brand is truly contributing to trust, safety and good.
- Empower and educate to build an ecosystem that centers on the people.
- Ask yourself, do you think your company is good and doing good for society, and ask what the process is that allows the company to do good.
Watch the full interview below or listen and subscribe to the Brand Safety Exchange podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
