Recap: What is the biggest ethical issue we face in Social Media today


I recently posted this ethical issue question that was brought up during the kick off meeting of SMC Los Angeles and received some interesting feedback. This responses below have been shortened, to read the responses in their entirety, please check out the original post for the top half, the others came via Twitter responses.

What is the biggest ethical question we face in Social Media today?:

  • Vijay Goel, M.D. - Impact anonymity has to impact the digital reputation of others, especially where they have not opted in to that discussion.
  • SeLiNa - Firms who misrepresent themselves online and try to deceive people by not being up front about their campaign activity, and pretending to be “user” and not a marketer.
  • Kari Rippetoe - Do people who post information about themselves online have any expectation of privacy? Should social media sites play a larger role in ensuring the privacy of their users?
  • Gfox - I think information sharing vs. keeping. We’re all about ’sharing’ except when it comes to our monetization secrets.
  • Albert Maruggi - (1) Gaming the SEO system to gain rank, (2) underhanded manipulation of product reviews and comments, (3) the accumulation of friends with the intention of monetizing them.
  • wayzgoose - (1) Exposure and (2) using social groups for promotion of ideology, business, or personal exploitation.
  • Shawn Scott - Protecting free speech as it relates to transparency.
  • Roxanne Darling - Competition for mind share.
  • krash63 - Widening the net to listen to more voices.
  • Chris Heuer - How do we give bad actors in the ecosystem (exploitative, manipulative, dishonest, rude, etc…) a bad reputation that is more visible for others to know who to take seriously and who to ignore?
  • Steve Nimmons - Use of Social Media as a propaganda machine for some rather nefarious groups.
  • Tom At The Home Business Archive - People tend to add people as friends to monetize them and also submit their own content to the all the sites, and every single blog post they write.
  • tmarklein - Blurring of lines between “edit” and “advertising” — seems antiquated and important at same time.
  • jamieortiz  - Transparency –educating CEOs to be honest in posts and comments.
  • ShannonRenee - Purposeful misrepresentation of one’s self.
  • gylonj - Honesty
  • CandyLynn - Truth & honesty
  • GILL_Media - What’re the limits of marketing as community participation? What’s the divide between spam and promotion to receptive ears?
  • jljohansen - Inconsistant definitions of ethics. We aren’t on the same page, or even in the same book.
  • NancyMarmolejo - Spammers!
  • LewisG - Identity theft (privacy).
  • leadingzero - When and how to get paid.
  • runnerkik - Protecting children who widely use social media in ways many parents don’t know how to protect. 

Thank you to everyone who offered a response!

Have any thoughts on ethical issues that weren’t covered? Add them in the comments and I will update the post.

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July 31st, 2008
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Gravatar:
Written by:
Tuiblue
Posted on:
July 31, 2008 at 9:08 am

1984…Big Brother

Gravatar:
Written by:
Amy
Posted on:
July 31, 2008 at 9:08 am

Walking a fine line on what information is proprietary

Gravatar:
Written by:
Barce
Posted on:
July 31, 2008 at 9:29 am

Most understandings of social media involve the use of concepts such as “monetization” and “mind share” where the human participants of the social media are reduced to either time or money. How does one prepare one’s mind for an understanding of social media devoid of monetary considerations that objectify? I believe this is THE question, because NONE OF US is FREE from MONEY considerations.

Gravatar:
Written by:
Marilee
Posted on:
July 31, 2008 at 10:49 am

The overriding ethical issue in social media (and in life in general) comes down to the question of authenticity. Are you who you say you are? Are you credible?

Gravatar:
Written by:
Ronil
Posted on:
July 31, 2008 at 11:06 am

Social media hinges around “truthism”.So there exist ample opportunities for the brand marketers to mask & Manipulate social media to work for them.Much like the same way classical media did in the old days. Create your campaign, send it to the media and pay for your advertising.
But thats risky.
One contemporary example I can cite : Failure of Coca-cola in Brazil with Rent a blog strategy :
http://www.trendsspotting.com/blog/?p=407
http://www.trendsspotting.com/blog/?p=408

However ,influencer’s marketing through participation seems doing a good job.Ex P&G Hiring mommy bloggers
http://www.trendsspotting.com/blog/?p=425

Gravatar:
Written by:
samantha
Posted on:
July 31, 2008 at 11:20 am

I love all these responses, and so many of them I’m experiencing with clients.

But for me, the biggest hurdle for me is trying to find metrics for value of a company or corporation to prove their spending in Social Media.

cheers @fein

Gravatar:
Written by:
Onemanbandwidth
Posted on:
July 31, 2008 at 4:37 pm

“How do we give bad actors in the ecosystem (exploitative, manipulative, dishonest, rude, etc…) a bad reputation that is more visible for others to know who to take seriously and who to ignore?”
That is a tough one. There are people With influence who actively use their networks to discredit people–some who have only crossed the “star”. I don’t think this should be our biz.
I agree with the propaganda issue, but the US military (especially in Iran and Iraq) and every government on the planet is now employing social media experts and professional trolls.

I think the biggest challenge will be to vet releases through credible sources BEFORE they get out. We need a code like “do no harm” attached to vetting policies. I recently saw a major news source allow use of a release to slam an Internet portal here with 100% innuendo!

Gravatar:
Written by:
Stephen Peacock
Posted on:
August 1, 2008 at 5:38 am

Here, here Marilee. Credibility/Authenticity gets my vote for number 1.
Number 2? I think I am with Samantha - determining appropriate metrics for measuring the value to the organization of social media expenditures.

Gravatar:
Written by:
Jon Gatrell
Posted on:
August 2, 2008 at 6:04 am

Doesn’t integrity come into the mix somewhere? Transparency and authentic are good and so is credible, but it’s what you do that matters, not so much what is said, especially if they don’t align.

Gravatar:
Written by:
travs
Posted on:
August 5, 2008 at 6:52 am

indeed “Do people who post information about themselves online have any expectation of privacy? Should social media sites play a larger role in ensuring the privacy of their users?”. nice post.

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4 Missions, 4 Projects: Social Media Club Gets to Work | Social Media Club
Posted on:
August 5, 2008 at 8:55 am

[...] Go to the Project Page on our Wiki and join the discussion. You should also check out this recent blog post by Kristie Wells aggregating some of the biggest ethical issues in Social Media today.Other [...]