Social Media Ethics

Social media is meant to be an environment where one can communicate with a vast amount of people at once. Anything can be said, there are no sensors.  Privacy settings can be made, but that does not ensure the information will not be leaked.  Whatever is put up on the internet is practically public property.

Many people do not realize those facts and place information or pictures on the internet that the world shouldn't have gotten permission to see.  Being careful of what you say has taken on a whole new meaning.  As, social media outlets have also become a place to vent, but with such little known security on the web, the information could get into the wrong hands quickly with the person or company the vent was about discovering the news.

It is very concerning that people hold such trust on the internet, simply because of supposed privacy settings.  I believe there almost needs to be etiquette lessons on how to behave on social media outlets for both personal and corporate use.  Of course not to prohibit content, but rather to display the potentially harmful effects of posting inappropriate information.

One of the biggest concerns regarding social media ethics and corporate use should be appropriate responses to issues happening among their different social media channels.  Timeliness is key in order to nip the problem in the butt.  This means that there should be a person monitoring social media almost 24/7.  The content of the response is also extremely important as it needs to remain honest.  Staying truthful is of utmost importance when dealing with an issue on a social media site.

The largest concerns for personal and corporate use of social media ethics is poor etiquette and appropriate responses.  With the bad outcomes of these two issues brought to light, I believe that more people and corporations will behave when dealing with social media.