Ethical Issues in Social Networking

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DOI:10.13140/RG.2.1.4289.6080
20151010T12:12:03UTC
1stAmeerAhmedKhan
NationalUniversityofSciencesandTechnology
Abstract
ThisisatermpapersubmittedduringthecourseofProfessionalPractices.ItisaboutEthicalIssuesbeingfacedwhileusingsocialnetworks.
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GIFT University Gujranwala
Ethical Issues in Online Social

Table
of Contents
Networking
(Term Paper Submi ed to Mr. Zeyad Amin during the
Researched by
Ameer Ahmed
Khan
courseofofContents
Professional Prac ces)
Table
..........................................................................................................................................
2Introduc on
..................................................................................................................................................
3Statement
.................................................................................................................................................
3What is Online Social Networking?
...........................................................................................................
3Use of Social Networking Sites is Staggering.
...........................................................................................
3Why choose this topic?
.............................................................................................................................
4Ethical Dilemmas
...........................................................................................................................................
4Invasion of privacy
....................................................................................................................................
4Spamming
.................................................................................................................................................
4Public Bashing
...........................................................................................................................................
5Dishonesty and Distor on
........................................................................................................................
5Improper Anonymity and Distorted Endorsements
................................................................................. 5
Misuse of free exper se and contests
......................................................................................................
5Opportunism
.............................................................................................................................................
6Challenges related to Business Ethics
...........................................................................................................
6Integrity risk
..............................................................................................................................................
6Recruitment prac ces
...............................................................................................................................
7Duty of Care
..............................................................................................................................................
7Adver sing and marke ng prac ces
........................................................................................................
7Unavoidable Ethical Ques ons
.....................................................................................................................
8
U litarian
perspec ve...............................................................................................................................
8Rights perspec ve
.....................................................................................................................................
8Fairness perspec ve
.................................................................................................................................
8Common good perspec ve
.......................................................................................................................
8Virtue perspec ve
.....................................................................................................................................
2/9
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.....................................................................................................................................
9Conclusion
.....................................................................................................................................................
9Sugges ons
...................................................................................................................................................
9References
..................................................................................................................................................
10
Introduction
In this millennium genera on technology,
machinery is evolving at daily basis there are
a lot of things being e ected with this evolu on.
One of which is our practices of social
networking which is largely shi ing to the
internet causing a lot of ethical issues which were
not
faced before these online social networking
prac ces. In this research paper, rst of all there
is
a brief descrip on of the background and
scenario, second thing to be discussed is the
Ethical
dilemmas in online social networking which are
being faced these days. There will be a sec on
covering the issues related to the impact of
unethical usage of online social networks in
business industry. There are also some
unavoidable ques ons which are highly debatable
but
because of the nature and boundaries of this
paper those ques ons will be raised leaving them
undebated.
Statement
What are the Ethical issues in Online Social
Networking that we are facing at this very
moment while using most of the online social
networks.
What is Online Social Networking?

Online social networking is the use of dedicated
websites or applica on in order to
interact with other people who also those social
networking sites having same interests or
knowing you from other circles, groups or
communi es. Social networking is the basis of a
society and it was always possible in person but in
this era of high speed data transmission
social networking has evolved through internet
and has added di erent colors and avors
according to the needs of me. There are plenty
of features being o ered by social networking
sites (SNS) which include making your pro le,
nding people with mutual interests, sharing with
your circles or groups, interac ng with people in
your groups and ge ng the informa on
shared by other people.
Use of Social Networking Sites is

Staggering.
The use of social networking sites is staggering

and has become a very common prac ce
of daily rou ne of a lot of people now a days. The
most famous www.facebook.com started in
2004 and was used as a mean to connect students
at Harvard University (1). Now the website
is having more than 200 million ac ve users who
upload 850 million photos collec vely and 8
million videos to this website every month
4
(facebook.com). Moreover, according to Kaiser
Family Founda on 71% of 15 to 17 year-old
Internet users par cipate in chat rooms (2).
Why choose this topic?
The reason
These
days people
for choosing
belonging
this topic
to di iserent
that we
ageall
groups
are
haveand
extensive
di erentexperience
elds of life
of are
using
ac velysocial
online
usingnetworks
social networks
and while
to connect
using them
to the
we
people
have
tothey
face know
some and
kindto
of ethical
nd newissues.
peopleSo,
to
connect
this
is thewith.
bestSpending
me to spread
a lot ofawareness
me there,
about
has
increased
the
ethicalthe
issues
need
being
to ethics
no ced
in social
at social
networks
3/9
08/01/2017
the ethicalthe
increased
issues
need
being
to ethics
no ced
in social
at social
networks
as they are required
networking
websites.in real life.
Ethical Dilemmas
With the rise of Online Social Networking, the
ethical dilemmas are growing in number
including viola on of privacy, misrepresenta on,
bullying and creepiness. When the consumers
are ge ng the facility of rela vely unrestricted
social communica ons they are becoming more
vulnerable to decep on and scams too at the
same me which has become the reason of
a en on for Social Networking Ethics. Few ethical
dilemmas faced when di erent people use
social networks are given below:
Invasion of privacy
If the ac ons that break the law or terms of
privacy of any user of social network harms
that individuals personal or professional
credibility should be considered unethical. The
invasion of privacy would include any nonpermissive approach taken to get any kind of
personal or any other kind of informa on about
an individual which can harm him or a ect him
in any sense.
While discussing social media ethics, behavioral
targe ng is a ques onable area to
consider. The adver sers tracking our shopping
behaviors and click through pa erns to use that
data in retarge ng campaigns. The posi ve point
is that the viewers may appreciate the
relevance of the material being adver sed to
them but this is a kind of invasion of privacy.
A very similar situa on occurs when marketers
give their email lists to Facebook to use
custom audience feature. They match those lists
to the emails which are registered with them
for targe ng.
Spamming
Over-publicizing unasked promo onal messages
is also considered as an unethical act
based on how this is being done. In spamming
users are usually bombarded with some kind of
5
informa on which does not interest them or even
if it does, it is too extensive to be swallowed.
In this situa on, the users rela ve informa on
which he may be needing gets under the pile
Public
and mayBashing
get ignored because of that useless pile
of spamming which is obviously unethical
from users
ve.
While
using perspec
social networks
people think that
they are private and they can express
anything they want to but they are not as private

as they think. Disparaging your compe tors in
SNS (social networking sites) is considered
unethical because of its broad range of nega ve
impacts. Once you have posted something, it is
not yours anymore and it can go viral as fast as
a re in the forest without asking for your
permission which then cant only a ect your
reputa on but also the person or company you
were disparaging about, so much. This kind of
cases can also raise a risk for legal lawsuits.
Dishonesty and Distortion

There is no fair enough method to validate the
honesty and authen city of social
networking ac vi es of users. The intensions of
social media usage include transparency of
communica ons and other activi es posts
through SNS. It is unethical to be dishonest about
anything even on social networks. So, if you will
make dishonest claims about yourself or
anything else or go on commen ng o ensive
material, it is going to a ect yourself or your
company at the end. By doing such ac vi es you
are jeopardizing your personal reputa on and
your companys name. So, we should all keep
ethics in front of use even while using social
media.
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Improper Anonymity and Distorted

Endorsements
If one represent himself with wrong a lia ons,

creden als or exper se, it is unethical
to become anonymous but showing yourself to be
someone di erent than you are. There are
people who provide companies with their
anonymous feedbacks which are not true and it
has
caused a lot of damage to companies by the
stories of consumers of their products by fake
stories.
Hiring people to comment your favorable or
fabricated stories about your company or
your products are also considered unethical.
Some employees are also found guilty of
exaggera ng compe ve de ciencies.
Misuse of free expertise and contests

With the increasing extensive use of Facebook
contests and other crowdsourcing for
solici ng design ideas, the par cipants have the
risk of making their secrets open with no
6
reward. Most of the mes, design ideas are
rewarded to the most pro table partners of the
social network sponsor leaving many with
unrewarded work. This abuse is especially
Opportunism
unethical
if the sponsor knowingly gathers superior design
ideas from contestants they have no inten on
In
objec ve
of the
compensa
ng.of providing the communi es of
social networking sites with
contribu ons to their cause, the social media
marketers provide content that subliminally walks
the user at a self-serving path. These ac ons can

be regarded as unethical or may be
unprofessional based on their extent of
decep on.
Challenges related to Business

Ethics
Social media is having a lot of unique

characteris cs when compared to tradi onal
media forms. These characteris cs create ethical
challenges for business when employees use
social media on behalf of company and use for
their personal representa on too.
Integrity risk
In an IBE survey of large companies (3), 6 of 7
respondents iden ed integrity risk as the
main ethical challenge with regard to social
media. When an employee uses social media in
an
irresponsible way either on behalf of the
company or through their personal social media
account, it can undermine the companys
commitment to ethical prac ce and expose it to
integrity risk.
The case of Nestle provides an example. In March
2011, an employee who was
managing content on the companys Facebook
Fan Page posted o ensive comments in
response to nega ve remarks by fans. The
employees behavior violated the companys
business principle of integrity and their
commitment to avoid any conduct that could
damage
or risk Nestle or its reputa on (4) and provoked
a consumer backlash. Amidst calls to boyco
Nestle, members of the general public also joined
the Fan Page speci cally to cri cize the
Company (5).
Alterna vely, employees might post nega ve
comments about the company on their
personal social media pro le. This is harder for
companies to control. The DLA Piper survey
found that one third of employers had disciplined
sta for inappropriate comments about the
company on social media sites (6).
5/9
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Recruitment practices
A 2011 survey of 800 recruiters and human
resource professionals found that 64% make
use of two or more social networks as part of
their assessment prac ces when recrui ng
employees(7). There are also specialist
organiza ons that provide social media
employment
screening services. This raises ethical challenges

for employers around employees right to
privacy and fairness. Is it ethical or fair to judge an
individuals ability to ful ll their employee
responsibili es based on informa on about their
personal lives, gained from their social media
pro le? In some cases the informa on may relate
to past ac vi es in a job candidates personal
life. An Ethikos ar cle cited a case where an
individual was denied a job due to his ac vi es
posted online 20 years previously (8).
Duty of Care
As highlighted previously, social media blurs the
boundaries between personal and work
life. When personal opinions expressed through
social media (either on a personal pro le or an
online forum) refer to a company, it raises an
ethical challenge. It is unclear what control, if any,
the company has over comments communicated
in this way and what ac on it can/should take.
The blurring of personal and work life boundaries
can make it di cult for companies to
uphold their duty of care to employees. For
example, it is hard to monitor cases of cyberbullying, par cularly where employees use their
personal social media account. One in ten UK
workers believes that workplace cyber-bullying is
a problem (9) and a h of employers have
had to discipline sta for pos ng nasty comments
about a colleague online (10). The same
survey found bullying and harassment and
discrimina on were two of the top ve risks of
social
media for the workplace.(11) The challenge for
companies is iden fying acceptable levels of
monitoring employees personal use of social
media, without being seen to limit their freedom
of expression.
Advertising and marketing practices

The scope and speed of social media make it an
e ec ve medium through which
companies market themselves and their
products/services. With any form of marke ng,
companies have a duty to market responsibly.
The interac ve nature of social media provides
companies
with the ability to engage with
8
customers more directly than other forms of
media.
This poses new ethical challenges. It has become
common prac ce for companies to create
pro les on social networking sites to adver se
Unavoidable
Ethical Questions
their goods and services.
A companys ability to meet fair compe on
guidelines
canperspective
be jeopardized by
Utilitarian
employees using social media on behalf of the
company;
example,
if an employee,
whilst
The recentfor
hacking
of Petaluma
High School
represen
ng the company,
takesthe
maposersng
into
student MySpace
accounts and
their
own hands
and uses
social media
of threatening
messages
highlight
some possible
unethically,
to discredit
the reputa
on of their
harms of social
networking.
MySpace,
employers
compe
FaceBook, and
othertors.
sites have been the scene of
cyberbullying and online preda on. But the
same technology allows people to connect with

others they might never have met and form
meaningful rela onships. How do we balance
these harms and bene ts, reducing the one and
increasing the possibility of the other?
Rights perspective
Do social networkers have a right to privacy?
More and more users of Facebook and
MySpace are nding that prospec ve employers
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MySpace are nding that prospec ve employers
are perusing their sites, despite the fact that
they may conceive of their online presence as
personal space. Also, what is a private persons
right to control the images and informa on about
them available on line? David Weisbrot,
president of the Australia Law Reform
Commission, which has been inves ga ng online
privacy,
comments, Laws designed to protect privacy in
the outside world struggle to cope with the
issues raised by online communi es. For example,
online publica on of photo-graphs, which
may be sensi ve and revealing, raises new
challenges in rela on to consent.
Fairness perspective
Some people believe social networking sites o er
the ul mate in egalitarianism. When
we interact with others online, we have no real
way of knowing whether they are white or
black, male or female, fat or thin, young or old.
Will this disembodied quality of the online
world lead to greater fairness, or will we lose the
ability to engage concretely with others, and
therefore truly overcome di erences?
Common good perspective

Pope Paul IV described the common good as the
sum of those condi ons of social life
which allow social groups and their individual
members rela vely thorough and ready access to
their own ful llment. Certainly, many people
turn to social networking sites to connect with
social groups that share their interests and values.
What
would the common good look like in
9
this context? Does ful llment have the same
meaning online as it does in the real world? Are
there ways to structure online communi es so
that they be er promote the common good of
their members?
Virtue perspective
Many of the interpersonal virtues we value
evolved in the context of face-to-face
communica on. Honesty, openness, and
pa ence, for example, are honed in the
nego
a ons
we must
manage when we meet people in
person. What impact will digital media have on
these virtues? What, for example, would honesty
mean in the context of a world where people
are represented by avatars? Will other virtues
emerge as more important in social networking,
where we can be constantly connected to a large

reservoir of others and can shut o
communica ons easily when we are bored or
encounter di cul es?
Conclusion
This discussion concludes that where there are
numerous bene ts of social networking
sites there is an increasing challenge of ethical
issues which are being faced on social networks.
There are some issues which can be considered
under legal lawsuits, while others are issues of
pure ethics. These ethics should be properly
de ned and spread over to all the users of social
networks. There should be some struggle to
spread the awareness of these ethics.
Suggestions
It is suggested that the social media ethics should
be properly wri en and their
awareness should be spread. Users of SNS should
be promoted to follow those ethics and to
exercise them should be a liated to some kind of
incen ve to a ract people towards it.
7/9
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10
References
(1) Stone, Brad. Facebook. The New York Times

7 December 2007. 11 November 2008.
(2)
h ps://www.lagrange.edu/resources/pdf/cita ons/2009/10Cornerstone_Williams.pdf
(3) Survey of 7 companies with 2,000 employees
or more, IBE, 2011
(4) Nestl, Code of Business Conduct, 2007.
Available at:
h p://www.nestle.com/Investors/CorporateGovernance/
CodeOfBusinessConduct/Pages/CodeOfBusinessConductHome.aspx
(5) Nestl hit by Facebook "an -social" media
surge, The Guardian, 19 March 2011.
Available at: h p://
www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/nestlefacebook
To correspondence
view
some
of the
on Nestls
Facebook page, see: What other companies
can learn from Nestls Facebook page, Digital
Inspira on, h p://
www.labnol.org/internet/nestle-facebookpage/13208/
(6) DLA Piper, Op cit
(7) New Tools Cast a Wider Social Network for
Recruiters, by Rita Pyrillis, Workforce
Management Online, August 2011
(8) Social media monitoring raises disturbing
ques ons: An Ethikos interview with Kansas
States Diane Swanson, Ethikos,
CitationsCitations0
ReferencesReferences2
September/October 2011, pp.7-9
(9) See: ACAS Research Paper (2009), Workplaces

FacebookTheNewYorkTimes.BradStone.2008.
NestlhitbyFacebook"antisocial"mediasurge,TheGuardianAvailableat:http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainablebusiness/nestlefacebookToview
and Social Networking: The implica ons
someofthecorrespondenceonNestl"sFacebookpage,see:WhatothercompaniescanlearnfromNestl"sFacebookpage,DigitalInspiration.Code
for employment rela ons, pp.28, by Andrea
Nestl,OfBusiness,Conduct.200704.Opcit.
Broughton, Tom Higgins, Ben Hicks and
Anne e Cox, The Ins tute for Employment

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(10)
DLA Piper, Op cit
(11)
Ibid, pp.7
SocialMarketingandSocialContracts:ApplyingIntegrativeSocialContractsTheorytoEthicalIssuesinSocialMarketing
(12)
www.ibe.org.uk
FulltextArticle
NCraigSmith
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08/01/2017

GIFT University Gujranwala

Ethical Issues in Online Social

What is Online Social Networking?

Use of Social Networking Sites is

The use of social networking sites is staggering

Why choose this topic?

anything they want to but they are not as private

Dishonesty and Distortion

Improper Anonymity and Distorted

If one represent himself with wrong a lia ons,

Misuse of free expertise and contests

the user at a self-serving path. These ac ons can

Challenges related to Business

Social media is having a lot of unique

screening services. This raises ethical challenges

Advertising and marketing practices

same technology allows people to connect with

Common good perspective

where we can be constantly connected to a large

(1) Stone, Brad. Facebook. The New York Times

September/October 2011, pp.7-9

(9) See: ACAS Research Paper (2009), Workplaces

Anne e Cox, The Ins tute for Employment

DLA Piper, Op cit

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