On the discussion about social media monitoring and if it is ethical one must first define ethics. What are ethics exactly? Ethics are different to each person. It could be based on how a person was raised or encounters that have occurred later in life. It is all up to a person.
With regards to social media monitoring it can I fact be ethical. People can monitor others while being extremely up front about it. If a person put something on the internet it is fair game to use this information. The stickiness of the situation arises when someone else puts something on the internet of someone. It can quickly try to be deleted by a person, but somehow it is always there haunting them on the internet. If someone is searching about information on the internet and uses a device to monitor as Raidian6 then it seems to be ethical.
When the situation turns to become something that is not ethical is when people are sneaking around the internet using false names. This is unethical in most people’s eyes because it is lying. To others it may simply be an investigation on who is about to be hired into their company.
After completing a few social media monitoring reports myself for PR Reseach and Social Media I was as if I was doing nothing wrong. I would set up google alerts and search sites as twitter and facebook or fan pages or not s fan pages. I was researching what people were saying about certain companies. People would the information on the internet so using it was not unethical. The unethical part once again is when people portray themselves as someone or something different on the internet in order t complete social monitoring. The question is really unanswered. In my opinion there are so many different items on the internet today that someone must monitor them, but it is the way a person does this and what their ethics are that make social media monitoring ethical or not.
Hi Em!
This is a very interesting blog. We talk about ethics and morals in my Senior Seminar class. However, we have never allied the concept to social media outlets. You do raise a good point about a situation becoming unethical when people are posting pictures or information that is inappropriate about other people. I seen several instances where pictures have been posted that are inappropriate on facebook.. I know that you can de-tag them, but the person who posted them can still leave them up on their page. So, the picture still remains on the website. It is just an interesting point. And although this is unethical to me, I do not know what type of punishment or consequences there could be for posting a picture that someone else doesn’t like on your page. You know you can never make everyone happy. My advice would be to make sure you surround yourself with good people, and to avoid taking inappropriate pictures.
[...] 22. Emily Roche-Is Social Media Monitoring Ehical? [...]