“Swat.io is indispensable for our community management.”

“We don’t want to give hate speech a platform,” says Wanda Proft, social media manager for SOS Humanity. As a maritime search and rescue organization, SOS Humanity communicates on highly political issues. While the team welcomes public discourse and criticism, there is no room for hatred or racism on the organization’s social media channels. If comments overstep certain boundaries, the online communications team at SOS Humanity takes systematic action.

With its rescue vessel Humanity 1, SOS Humanity helps prevent deaths from drowning in the central Mediterranean by rescuing people in distress at sea, providing them with humanitarian assistance and bringing them safely to shore. The non-governmental organization is also politically active. The team uses social media to report on its emergency operations and the care of the people it rescues.

SOS Humanity uses Swat.io for a clear overview of comments in the ticket inbox. “We process the tickets in the inbox chronologically, working through the comments individually,” Wanda Proft explains. “Offensive remarks are removed immediately, no matter who they’re aimed at. We use sentiment analysis as a warning system for hate speech. If users repeatedly post negative comments, we block them. The CRM user profiles are helpful in this regard. We get an overview of negative sentiments and can leave notes on problematic users for the team, thus maintaining transparency.”

Wanda continues: “Community management is important for us to stay connected with supporters and decision-makers. The exchange is valuable for both sides, and kind words during tough times mean a lot to us. We also welcome respectful discussions with people who disagree with us.” There are also downsides to social media for SOS Humanity, however. “Hate speech can be very demoralizing for our team,” Wanda points out. “There is a time-sensitive element to such reports, so we want to respond to them as quickly as possible. In times of heated debates, the comments flood in, often on old posts, so it was clear that we needed a technical solution to manage this.”

“Swat.io allows us to work together optimally as a team. We have three people who take turns looking after community management on social media. With the activity log, we can document important information for the others and flag sensitive tickets for review as a team later. The archive function ensures an optimal workflow, whereby resolved tickets disappear from view but resurface if new comments appear.”

Swat.io is indispensable for SOS Humanity’s community management activities. Wanda Proft says: “Swat.io really helps us handle hate speech. It means we’re not powerless in the face of negative comments, but instead have the ability to do something about them. Our workflow runs smoothly, even in tough situations, allowing us to respond systematically. And even though we have several people working in community management, the tool makes the tasks simple and clear. We have only had positive experiences with Swat.io and can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone managing a large volume of comments, especially across multiple platforms.”