Discuss ONE of the ethical issues raised by educational or business use of social media that you consider to be particularly significant.

Reading an article in The Guardian on  ‘Twitter abuse’ caused me to ask the question:

Are social media sites a platform for communication? Or do they acquire the legal responsibilities of a publisher?

Indeed, an ethical issue that I consider particularly significant in the light of business uses of social media is: who is responsible for what gets published?

This issue is something that I encounter on a daily basis. As Editor of a student paper, the comments section is an ongoing source of problems, as Web users post whatever they please on there- named or anonymous- for everyone else to see.

Saying this, the editorial team have the power to ‘Trash’ comments. Does this mean that we can be held accountable for any ‘inappropriate’ or offensive comments that are published? As it happens, yes.

Recently, we published an article that received a host of comments from users on both sides of the argument with strongly opinionated views. The nature of the article- an offensive email that was leaked- meant that the supposed name of the person who wrote it was being mentioned by some commenters.

Very soon, myself and the editorial team were being hounded by friends of this person to remove the comments. We did, because technically this was a case of libel.

I wholeheartedly agree with the Guardian article when it states that “in the end, [the social media site] is only the messenger for the society in which it operates.” [1] Social media is a platform for freedom of speech, it is a way for people to communicate their views to the world.

But unfortunately, the extreme freedoms provided by social media is not always a positive thing. As Lunday states, “social media when not well managed opens the door to numerous risks”. In other words, the website administrators ultimately have an important responsibility for ensuring that…

“The relative high cost of net access in developing countries was restricting uptake and causing a “digital divide”. The result of high prices is a widening digital divide that slows progress in vital areas such as health, education and science. [2]

1/4 people use social media, social media lines becoming blurred between our personal and professional lives [3]

 

http://www.corporatecomplianceinsights.com/managing-the-workplace-ethics-of-social-media/