Ethical issues raised by educational and business uses of social media #UOSM2008 Topic 4

Evolving technology and social attitudes have allowed social media to develop from its first semblance on private networks back in 1997 into a web based networking tool. Today there are countless sites or smartphone apps offering their own take on social media and networking. Such sites whether they are used for educational, business or personal reasons can often raise similar ethical issues.

Education

The use of technology and in particular social media with the school and university context is still very much in the development stage. However, increasing educators are harnessing digital tools to increase student engagement and success (see here). In such contexts it is important to set up an ethical behaviour dynamic between educators and students much like would be done in a non-virtual context. Lisa Nielsen, the director of Digital Literacy and Citizenship at the New York City Department of Education has the following suggestions for educators engaging with students online :

• Don’t “like” students’ personal photos
• Abide by school dress code in online spaces—don’t post pictures in which you’re dressed inappropriately
• Use discretion with social media profile pictures and cover photos
• Don’t post vacation photos online if you’ve called in sick that day
• Be aware of photos of you that are posted and tagged by others, and know how to control your privacy settings
• Don’t post or write negative comments about fellow staff, students, or families, even if it’s within a private group  (Devaney, 2014)

 

Further, many education departments now have their own policies for the ethical use of social media, for example : NYC.

An important ethical concern for educational establishments is integrity- making sure that any interactions on social media by both staff and students do not have a negative impact on the establishment. This can be specifically addressed in relevant codes of conduct.

In addition, it is important to make students aware as early as possible about the impact of social media posts and their longevity so that they can maintain their personal integrity online as well as that of the establishment. As I have previously discussed here an individual’s digital footprint is now playing an increasing role in recruitment and firing -often employers will trace candidates or employees back many years so establishing good online practice as early as possible is best. It is important to emphasize that when students are engaged on public social media networks it is necessary to realise that there are no boundaries – they are on display –everything they put out there can be seen and they are liable for it. Also do not let the ‘delete’ button or even restricted privacy settings lull them into a false sense of security – all it takes is someone somewhere to screenshot something they’ve posted and then share it and it could be out there forever with their name attached. In this way students will grow up aware of implication of unethical use of social media and develop into socially aware individuals. A lack of this awareness can have potentially disastrous consequences as was the case for Justine Sacco.

 

Businesses

There is a plethora of ethical concerns for businesses when it comes to social media. Since companies can be liable for material published by their employees on blogs and social networks either on behalf of the company or through their own personal account any adverse content can be an integrity risk for the company. A high-profile example of this was when in March 2011, an employee in charge of Nestlé posts on Facebook went against company policy in using offensive language to respond to negative consumer comments (Basran, 2012). A further ethical issue is using misleading or deceptive advertising on social media sites, such as false consumer or product reviews.

In fact, the scope for ethical concerns is so great that the Institute of Business Ethics (2011) recommends that companies invoke a social media policy that provides guidance to employees when using social media in the context of using a company account and a personal account.

 

Summary

As M. Eid and S. Ward state ethics and social responsibility “should go hand-in-hand with the freedom of new media and social network use“. The social and cultural implications of social media in influencing opinion and behaviour combined with the integrity aspect mean that both businesses and educational establishments should have guidelines for ethical social media use.

 

REFERENCES

Basran, S. 2012. Social media challenges: do employees tweet your values? | Ethical Corporation. [online] Available at: http://www.ethicalcorp.com/stakeholder-engagement/social-media-challenges-do-employees-tweet-your-values [Accessed: 23 Mar 2014].

Business Ethics Briefing (2011) The Ethical Challenges of Social Media. Institute of Business Ethics [online] Available at: https://www.ibe.org.uk/userassets/briefings/ibe_briefing_22_the_ethical_challenges_of_social_media.pdf [Accessed: 20th March 2014]

Devaney, L. 2014. Steps for successful classroom social media use | eSchool News | eSchool News | 2. [online] Available at: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/02/04/successful-social-media-835/ [Accessed: 23 Mar 2014].

Mason, R.O. (1986). Four Ethical Issues of the Information Age, Management Information Systems Quarterly 10 (1) 5-12 [online]   Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/248873 [Accessed: 20th March 2014]

Ward, S & Eid, M. 2009. Ethics, new media and social networks. Global Media Journal. Volume 2. Issue 1.pp. 1-5 [online] Available at: http://www.gmj.uottawa.ca/0901/v2i1_eid%20and%20ward.pdf [Accessed: 20th March 2014]