When it comes to social media, you very rarely think about the ethical problems that may arise. However, the legal and ethical aspect of social media is something that needs to be taken into consideration more often. By doing this, a lot of problems could be avoided.
This article discusses social media ethics, and four common dilemmas that may arise. The article says “Misguided ethics have taken down companies, politicians, and even entire nations. While ethics is not a black-and-white subject, the decisions you make could affect your company or even your livelihood.” All it takes is one status update on Facebook, or one tweet on Twitter, and you could be in a lot of trouble.
The four ethical dilemmas that often arise from social media are as follows:
1. The fine line of spamming: How do you know when you are promoting your company or product too much? It is important to realize that people need to see the value in what you are offering.
2. Feuds with others: “Social media is about helping others, not about putting them down. Public feuds and calling people out is more likely to damage your reputation that help it.”
3. Lying: It is not worth the risk to tell a lie on social media. You are misleading your audience, and the things that you may say, or not say, are easily researchable.
4. Misrepresentation: Any public relations specialist would agree that more often than not, transparency is the key to obtaining followers. “Don’t use a brand name or an accomplishment unless you truly have the right to it.”
In order to avoid the previously stated dilemmas, it is important to think about the things you are going to post before you post them. The simple act of looking at your message from all angles can save you from serious implications.
In this article, the five deadly sins of social media are discussed. While there are a lot of positive aspects of social media, I think that it is important to also discuss the ways social media can hurt you or your business so that you can avoid them. Here are the five (additional) things to avoid:
1. Unreported Endorsements: The FTC has updated the guidelines for endorsements and testimonials to include social media. If a business is giving any form of compensation to a blogger or tweeter, it is considered a compensated endorsement and it must be disclosed.
2. Improper Anonymity: “Even if your anonymous online contributions aren’t illegal, they risk ruining the trust of your consumers. Phony online reviews are one of the biggest plagues for honest retailers…”
3. Compromising Consumer Privacy: “Facebook has stepped on the privacy landmine numerous times by repeatedly changing the types of personal information automatically shared. Even when these breaches are unintentional and not malicious, they scare consumers away.”
4. Overly Enthusiastic Employees: It is important that when employees promote your brand, that they acknowledge their connection to the company. If they don’t, consumer trust may be violated. It is important to have a clear social media policy in place.
5. Using the Online Community to Get Free Work: Holding competitions for customers to submit designs or commercials is a way that companies often do this to get free work. It is usually fine to engage customers and to reach out for the best creative talent. Just stay away from the fine line between “user generated content” and “working for free.”
As I said before, there are numerous ways in which social media can be beneficial to your company. It is important to know what not to do so that your company and reputation does not suffer. As long as you are using these tools in an honest effort, and if you think about what you are posting, you will have nothing to worry about.
For the full articles:
http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/technology/article/social-media-ethics-4-common-dilemmas-ben-parr
Good job Katie! I agree that if the company knows how to protect themselves they will be fine.
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