Topic 4: A reflective summary on ethical issues of social media in the workplace
There are lots of ethical issues of social media in the workplace. From fault endorsement/advertising, to violation of rules, to fake reviews, and lots more. Indeed this week’s topic was a broad one in the sense that everyone approached it differently. There was no right or wrong answer but it all resulted in a better understanding of the topic.
From some of my readings, research and findings, I came across Irinie’s blog [1] and I have indeed learned subsequently since reading and commenting on her work. She highlighted both the benefits and downfall of the use of social media by cooperate organisations which led to the realization that sometimes the benefits can outweighs the downfall or vice-versa, hence it can be viewed as the ‘pendulum of social media’. She also made the point about how employees can be wasting time in the workplace by using social media by sorely blaming them, but I believe sometimes it can be the fault of the management, as they do not have rules and policy guidance in place. Things even got more interesting when I came across Leigh’s blog [2] as it enlightened me on how celebrities’ endorsement tweets can lead them to prison if they do not use the hashtag ad or spon. I found this interesting as it led me to some rhetorical thinking. What if the celebrity owns that very chain of product and they believe it is the best? That was a question I asked which is still pending. Francesca [3] also commented on my blog as she said, “You mentioned the case of someone who was denied a job because of a post they had made 20 years ago! Do you think that employers should be looking this far back into peoples past…” To which I replied by saying I personally think it is extremely ridiculous as people change so going way 10-20 years ago is appalling. But of course sometimes it can be useful, as you need to know about a potential’s employee’s history.
Overall this topic has been of great interest and I have gained profound knowledge from reading, researching and commenting on other people’s blog. This was because of how everyone had different views and understanding of it, which consequently led to a better grasp of the topic.
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