#UOSM2008 Topic 4 – Social media and ethics in education and business
Discuss the ethical issues raised by educational and business uses of social media
“Is it right to use social media to make judgements related to school admissions, employee selection, disciplinary matters, or any other decisions of a non-social nature?” (Cain and Fink, 2010)
Social media, originally intended for ‘social’ use, is now transforming into a multi-use tool for individuals, businesses and educational purposes. Although traditionally considered to be private, the information from social media communications is now published online to the public introducing new complexities to the legal and ethical environment of higher educational and business use (Cain and Fink, 2010).
Should teachers or lecturers be ‘friends’ with their students on Facebook, or ‘follow’ them on twitter?
Perhaps the most significant question in terms of ethical issue posed by educational use of social media is the question surrounding how appropriate social media relationships are. More than one in 10 school teachers accused of misconduct in 2011 had used social media to develop inappropriate relationships with their pupils (Vasagar and Williams, 2012). Should educational professionals have access to view information which may be intended for peers alone? Interactions and the blur between personal and professional actions can lead to questions of an educational professional’s neutrality, objectiveness and professionalism.
A further ethical issue raised by the educational use of social media is highlighted in Kaplan’s 2013 survey, which found that 26% of admissions officers had looked into an applicant’s Facebook profile (Kaplan, 2013). Arguably, this information may reveal more about an application than their application forms or interview, but raises questions whether this educational use of social media is ethical. Are students being judged on their academic potential or their personal attributes and opinions?
Should businesses use social media to influence employee related decisions?
Arguably one of the greatest causes of ethical issues in the business use of social media is the use of social media in recruitment practices. There are specialist organisations which provide social media screening services to employers looking to recruit staff (Institute of Business Ethics, 2011), and the social media monitoring service Reppler has found that 91% of employers use social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to screen job applicants (Macleod, 2011). This use of social media by businesses raises ethical considerations around privacy and fairness; is it ethical to judge an employee’s ability to conduct their job based on information about their personal life? Further to this, one third of employers have disciplined staff for inappropriate comments on a social media site about the company (DLA Piper, 2011), but do companies have the right to do this, especially if it is in the employees’ personal domain? For example, Justine Sacco featured heavily in the news after posting an incredibly controversial tweet on her personal twitter account, and this social media ‘joke’ directly led to the termination of her employment contract (Withnall, 2013).
There are a magnitude of ethical considerations which present themselves through the business and educational use of social media, and only a select few have been touched upon within this post. What is important is that clear guidelines and policies are implemented and abided by in the educational and business use and consequences of social media, which should help to reduce the ethical issues faced by such use of social media.
References:
Cain. J, and Fink. J. L, . (2010). Legal and Ethical Issues Regarding Social Media and Pharmacy Education, [Online], Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3058471/ [Accessed 23rd March 2014]
DLA Piper, (2011), Knowing Your Tweet From Your Trend: Keeping Peace With Social Media in the Workplace, [Online], Available: http://www.dlapipershiftinglandscapes.com/export/sites/shifting-landscapes/downloads/Shifting_Landscapes_-_Social_Media.pdf [Accessed 22nd March 2014]
Institute of Business Ethics, (2011), The Ethical Challenges of Social Media, [Online], Available: https://www.ibe.org.uk/userassets/briefings/ibe_briefing_22_the_ethical_challenges_of_social_media.pdf [Accessed 22nd March 2014]
Kaplan, (2013), Kaplan Test Prep Survey: More College Admissions Officers Checking Applicants’ Digital Trails, But Most Students Unconcerned, [Online], Available: http://press.kaptest.com/press-releases/kaplan-test-prep-survey-more-college-admissions-officers-checking-applicants-digital-trails-but-most-students-unconcerned [Accessed 21st March 2014]
Macloed, I., (2011), 91% of employers use social media to screen applicants, [Online], Available: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2011/10/24/91-employers-use-social-media-screen-applicants [Accessed 23rd March 2014]
Vasagar, J. and Williams, M., (2012), Teachers warned over befriending pupils on Facebook, [Online], Available: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/jan/23/teacher-misconduct-cases-facebook [Accessed 23rd March 2014]
Withnall, A., (2013), PR executive Justine Sacco apologises after losing job over racist Aids ‘joke’ provoked #HasJustineLandedYet Twitter storm, [Online], Available: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/pr-executive-justine-sacco-apologises-after-losing-job-over-racist-aids-joke-provoked-hasjustinelandedyet-twitter-storm-9020809.html [Accessed 23rd March 2014]
