2025 Social Media Comment Insights Report
Uncovering marketing’s biggest blind spots by moderating over 118 million comments
A Word from Our CEO
In 2024 we moderated 118.4 million comments on 734,500 posts across the 450+ brands we work with. We hid 1 out of every 6 comments.
At Respondology, we know the comment section is one of the most powerful yet underestimated spaces in digital marketing. It’s where loyalty is built, brands evolve, products are sold, crises are created (and, simultaneously, managed), and viral moments are born. And yet, too often, brands leave the comment sections to chance, leave them out of strategic planning, and forget that revenue opportunities are hidden within them. That’s a mistake.
This report is the first of its kind, and it analyzes Respondology’s first-party comment data from Meta (Facebook & Instagram), TikTok, and YouTube, focusing on comments posted between Jan 1st – Dec 31st, 2024. Our dataset includes 118.4 million comments from 734,500 posts across 450+ brands, highlighting key trends in engagement and moderation impact. We uncover key trends in comment spikes and seasonality, spam sophistication and when it surges, how moderation has a direct positive impact on paid social media performance, how many comments show buying intent (what we like to call Marketing Qualified Comments (MQC)), and how important it is to moderate outside of business hours.
We’re excited to share these insights with you, and even more excited to see how you use them to shape the future of your social media strategies.
Erik Swain
CEO, Co-Founder, Respondology
Peak moderation moments in 2024
If you walk away from this with only one thing, let it be this: when you and your team are supposed to be offline is when the comments go wild, and staffing up isn’t a reliable way to manage the twists and turns of social media. Technology is.
Meet our most moderated categories
Custom Keyphrases were one of the top 3 most moderated categories, proving that conversations need more than black and white moderation. Social comments are complex and having the tools to manage that complexity is the key to success.
Where were you on July 15? Seemed like just another day, until you looked at the comment sections. You never know when the volume is coming.
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Monday, July 15 was eventful (see the long list below). But, for social media teams, it started as just another day with zero reason to expect high comment volumes, leaving brands vulnerable.
- Copa America Final featuring Messi sees Argentina win in extra time
- Israel sieges Gaza City
- Two days after Trump assassination attempt
- One day after Euro final
- One day after Wimbledon final
Comment sections go wild on Sundays, but if you’ve got a reliable moderation solution, you don’t have to sweat it.
Sunday
0.0M
total comments
(379k comments posted on average each Sunday)
total comments hidden
(61k comments hidden on average each Sunday)
Comment toxicity spikes by 10% after 7 pm.
7pm-11pm EST
On weekdays are 10.8% more toxic on average than the hours of 10am-7pm (Taking out some work frustrations on the comments, are we?)
12pm-2pm EST &
8pm-9pm EST
The most volume and comments hidden
Is that a comment or a dissertation?
If you’ve got high comment volume (or any comment volume for that matter) sitting down and reading 13,000+ characters is time you and your team probably don’t have. Automated moderation is key for catching these rants so they don’t derail your comment sections.
Approved
characters
Rejected
characters
Moderation = Revenue: How it Increases ROAS & Decreases CPC
Almost half of TikTok comments need to be hidden
TikTok Ads had 44% of their comments hidden due to spam or toxicity
⅓ of Meta comments need to be hidden
Meta Ads had 30% of their comments hidden due to spam or toxicity
ROAS significantly increases with moderation in place
CPC significantly decreases with moderation in place
0 %
What to Do About It
Invest in moderation now for all of your paid social ads. Your ad budget is at risk if you’re not moderating the conversation happening under your paid content. The brands that actively moderated their ad comment sections saw better engagement, higher conversion rates, and stronger brand perception.
The Rise of the Marketing Qualified Comment (MQC)
Marketing Qualified Comments (MQC) are the ones that show buying intent, and we found that on average, as many as 1 out of every 25 comments for D2C brands fit the bill. Anyone running D2C or subscription-based brands with resources going toward social media knows that surfacing comments like this can mean more monthly customers. Pulling in revenue from both organic and paid channels just because of the comments? Yes, please.
0k
2024 Total Marketing Qualified Comments for D2C and Retail brands
Percentage of comments that qualify as MQCs across D2C sectors:
eCommerce brands
Retail (with brick and mortar)
Subscription D2C brands
Food subscription services
This amounts to thousands of revenue opportunities from the comments alone
What to Do About It
Moderate comments to remove brand-damaging, spam, and toxic conversations, and train teams to identify and respond to comments that indicate buying intent. Even if only 1 in 25 comments qualifies, that’s thousands of missed sales opportunities if you’re not paying attention.
Here’s a simple guide to help you start spotting MQCs right now
Content relevance
Is the comment directly related to your product, brand, or service? Comments that ask specific questions about features, pricing, or availability are strong signals that the commenter is interested in learning more.
Intent indicators
Comments that indicate action-oriented interest are prime MQCs. If someone is asking how to make a purchase, sign up, or get involved, they’re showing clear intent to engage with your brand beyond social media.
Engagement frequency
Look for users who frequently engage with your brand. If someone consistently comments on your posts or returns multiple times to interact, they’re demonstrating a higher level of interest and loyalty.
Influence potential
When users tag others in their comments or share your posts, they’re amplifying your brand’s reach. These are influential commenters who can bring new people into the conversation.
Comment Seasonality
Our data proves that comments have seasonality. Staffing your social media team up or down based on seasonal and event-driven spikes isn’t realistic. Making a plan to have reliable and flexible moderation technology in place is the way to keep up with the seasonal ebbs and flows.
February, June, and November Are Their Own Seasons
Black History Month, Pride Month, and Election Season saw the greatest spikes in comments full of hate, racism, transphobia, homophobia, and personal attacks. Those who invested in proactive moderation protected their communities and their reputations.
A 21% increase in racist and discriminatory remarks
A 26% rise in homophobic and transphobic comments
Political and personal attacks surged by 34%
What to Do About It
Build event-based moderation playbooks for high-risk cultural and political moments. This is where having moderation tools that allow you to customize rules can make a big impact. Include specific response protocols for hate speech, discrimination, and polarizing topics. Invest in proactive moderation with both AI and human reviewers to protect your community and brand reputation during these volatile spikes.
The summer surge: peak comment volume
Summer was peak social media season in 2024. People have time, opinions, and energy to engage. Plus, major sports events like the Summer Olympics, Euros, NBA Finals, and Stanley Cup Championship brought a surge in comment volume for athletes and brands alike. But with that engagement comes risk. Without strong moderation, brands saw their comment sections overwhelmed by spam, offensive content, and misinformation.
Summer was more than 25% of the year’s comment volume
hidden comments due to a few key themes
Largely due to sports, travel, and heated online debates leading up to election season
comments moderated on Facebook
Facebook led summer moderation efforts accounting for 55.8% of all hidden comments (if you think this platform is dying, think again)
What to Do About It
Plan for off-hours coverage (technology is the best answer), especially in June, and prioritize platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, where volume spikes hardest. Customize filters for sports, travel, and political keywords because these are hot topics, and ensure your team is ready to handle 1 in 5 comments being toxic, spammy, or off-brand.
Fall’s Dual Challenge: Sports & Holiday Shopping Create a Thriving Environment for Spam
Fall is a perfect storm for comment sections. Sports fandom fuels high-stakes engagement attracting scammers who push fake betting links, and holiday shoppers flood brands with questions and complaints. If your team isn’t prepared, your brand’s reputation—and ad spend—will take a hit.
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and major sporting had link-heavy scams
(Usually in the form of illegal streaming links, which HBR estimated costs the global sports industry over $28B annually) and bot-driven ad spam spiking up to 40%
The more engagement there is, the more opportunity they have to use your hard work to rip off your audience
What to Do About It
Scale moderation ahead of major Q4 events (especially in an election year). Use keyword targeting and spam filters tailored for illegal streaming links, fake giveaways, political topics, and holiday scams. Make sure moderation is locked in during and immediately after high-engagement moments (big campaign launches, major events, election day, etc).
Lower Comment Volume, But High-Stakes Topics
Winter may be quieter, but the stakes are higher. Holiday campaigns, whether organic or paid, get flooded with spam scamming audiences with fake links, making moderation work harder. Plus, political discussions surged across all verticals, signaling the need for always-on AI to help keep conversations from going off the rails.
AI moderation increased by 515K comments
due to surging political discussions
What to Do About It
Don’t let lower comment volume fool you. Even if volume is down, conversations remain active and unpredictable. Ensure your moderation strategy is built for post-holiday chatter (look out for product and customer service bashing as people return their holiday gifts) and be ready for any major political announcements that could derail your comment sections.
Calmer, but Still Spammy
Comment sections in spring might be a little calmer which can give teams time to get the right tools in place to support their moderation strategies for the predictably busy summer and fall seasons.
What to Do About It
Use spring’s relative calm to audit your moderation setup and tune it for season-specific risks like tax scams and financial sector misinformation, and get ready for the summer surge that you now know is coming. Treat this as your annual reset window: train your team, refine your rulesets, and make sure your systems are set to deal with the upcoming busy summer months.
Spam Steals Your Hard-Won Audience
When spam infiltrates comment sections, it takes up prime real estate and sits in the top spots that get previewed to social scrollers. And, it’s more powerful than ever thanks to bot networks pushing it out at a speed no human team can keep up with.
Spam is a legit revenue risk. Fake promotions, phishing links, and engagement manipulation erode trust, drive away real customers, and lower ad performance. Spam is also getting smarter, with AI-generated spam increasing by 25% in the past year making detection even harder. It’s critical that brands evolve their defenses so they’re not associated with these sophisticated scams.
Before realizing it is spam
Around major shopping events. This can be fake giveaways or fake sale links that direct consumers away from your website.
Relying on native or basic moderation tools lets spam slip through, putting your community and brand at risk because detection lag allows spam to reach your audiences.
What to Do About It
Don’t let spam hijack your hard-won audience’s attention by taking over the top of your comment sections. It erodes trust, kills engagement, and reduces conversions. If left unchecked, brand credibility is at risk, and campaign performance tanks. Implement moderation that uses advanced AI to monitor for sophisticated bots and fake promotions and immediately hide them so comment real-estate is free for real conversations.
Of all comments happen after business hours.
Of paid ad comments come in during off-hours.
Of comments sports brands saw during major games happen at night
3am
Retail brands saw engagement spike at 3 a.m. on Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Workin’ 9-5? Your Comments Aren’t.
If you’re not moderating overnight and on the weekend, the risk of the wrong conversation picking up speed, harming your community, or going viral is high. Spam and misinformation thrive when brands aren’t watching, and investing in the right technology to manage this is the best way forward.
Some industries are up later than others
Entertainment Industry
Sees 73.6% of its comments during off-hours with 18% of comments hidden
Food & Beverage Brands
Experience 71.3% of their total engagement during evenings and weekends, with 21% of comments hidden
Financial services
65.2% of their comments occurring off-hours, proving commenters don’t keep banking hours (plus, this industry boasts one of the highest hide rates revealed in our analysis with over 28% hidden)
What to Do About It
Implement 24/7 moderation technology because the majority of comments occur outside of traditional business hours. Pay special attention to off-hours activity for paid ads, sports events, and, if you’re in an industry like entertainment or food & beverage, you’re going to want to make extra sure that off-hours are covered because our data shows those have especially high activity after hours.
What Now?
We think it’s obvious: moderate your comment sections.
We’ve given you 5 solid reasons why:
- Paid social investments have a higher return with moderation in place.
- Moderation surfaces Marketing Qualified Comments, opening greater opportunity for increased sales and community connection.
- Comments are seasonal, and social media is always changing. Keeping up without a trustworthy moderation solution in place is impossible.
- Spam is invasive and constant and has to be filtered out fast.
- Off-hours comments are abundant and need constant action to prevent a crisis from blowing up in your comments overnight.
Trying to staff up for the ebbs and flows of social media isn’t realistic, but investing in always-on technology that provides the flexibility and sophistication necessary to keep comment sections working for you instead of against you is.
So, make your life easier and get moderation in place. We’re here to help.
Walk around the globe
39 times
Watch every single episode of Friends
3,714 times
Years of life back
37.5 years (For some of you, that means you could literally be born again.)
Things our clients could do because we saved them 328,888 hours of moderation
28 times
Listen to Bohemian Rhapsody
3.3M times
Hungry for more? We got you.
Understand why you need a Comment Activation Platform to support your strategy here.
Turn talk into action
Schedule a demo with us today for immediate comment moderation and intelligence.