ethics in social media and social networking

Social media is online world where we interact and communicate with one another via a number of different ways. The most commonly used are blogs and social networks. However simply you are communicating without direct contact, is not an excuse for unethical behaviour. The most common unethical behaviour that occurs and does not respect other peoples privacy, is the use of spam mail. Another vent that occurs is when companies frequently act unprofessionally and lie to gain more profile views and awareness for their business, this is hugely unprofessional and several organisations think they can act this way simply because their customers are not in direct contact. This is closely related to companies publishing lies and fraudelent reviews of  themselves. This is unethical and may damage a companys reputation. Burger King is a company who used Facebook to create awareness and business but ultimately abused the situation by damaging the relationship between the two giants. That was unethical and not professional at all. Social media can be greatly and grossly misused, as it is relatively easy to attract a large customer following and supply false promises, false hope and grossly mislead them. Ethics is also important for employees of the business and professional people in general as when you are using social networks and have your own profile and pictures- you don't want those pictures of your latest stag or hen party to come back and haunt you when your company does a routine check up! Most companies are now enforcing strict social media policies to enforce disciplinary action if social media misuse brings the company into disrespute. PWC the accounting firm made national news when it emerged when a number of their male employees were using social media to email each other and rate their female co-workers on their looks. Social networking has faced controversy for their privacy policies that means it is easier to share and communicate but leaves children and teenagers exposed to predators. Tagged, one of the lesser known social network companies faced controversy when a 32 year old man contacted a 14 year old girl through the site and raped her- he also had over a hundred girls the same as friends, also very accesible and vulnerable. In brief Social Media is very useful tool for communicating and marketing, however if not properly regulated and controlled- it can be misused with sometimes terrible consequences.

Sources www.socialmediaexplorer.com
              www.theguardian.co.uk