#UOSM Topic 4 Summary: Ethical issues raised by educational and business uses of social media

So, before we jump into Easter Holidays, it is time to summarise the fourth topic of the term: “Ethical issues raised by educational and business uses of social media”. I will be honest and say that at first read I didn’t understand what the topic was, however, further links had made it clear and in this summary, I will just mention in bullet points, as I did last time, the important points mentioned  by me and my classmates:

• Firstly, let’s start from the causes of this issue. More than 40% of the population were online by the end of the year 2013 (Kelion, 2013) and this number is just shocking. It is quite normal that this kind of issues arise as two out of five people worldwide are online (Also mentioned by Laura Jane Higgins).
• The examples of people behaving unacceptable online are endless. However, those which are related to the business and education world have much more impact, as I gave examples of Virgin Airlines crew (Steview, 2008) and a school teacher being fired (Reporter, 2011) for inappropriate posts. In the former customer service of the company was black marked and in the latter, the situation might shatter the confidence of parents in the school teachers.
• And as Kimberly Fenton have commented on my post, nowadays even CEOs of the companies are required to communicate using social media to “show innovation, build media relationships and provide the human face for the company” (Lipschultz, 2013).

To sum up, I totally agree with Alysia Wildman’s (our classmate) point of view that clear social media policies have to be established, because the grow of the Internet will just make this problem bigger and bigger. Articles number 18 and 29 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are very generic and I’m quite sure that in the year it was established, 1947, they didn’t consider the power of the Internet available nowadays. 

REFERENCES

Kelion, L., 2013. UK jumps up internet scoreboard as digital divide grows. [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24426739 [Accessed 23 March 2014].

Lauterpacht, H., 1948. The British Year of Book International Law. Oxford: Oxford Press.

Lipschultz, J.H., 2013. Let's Debate Social Media Communication Ethics. [Online] Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-harris-lipschultz/lets-debate-social-media-_b_4293629.html [Accessed 30 March 2014].

Reporter, D.M., 2011. Teacher sacked for posting picture of herself holding glass of wine and mug of beer on Facebook. [Online] Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354515/Teacher-sacked-posting-picture-holding-glass-wine-mug-beer-Facebook.html [Accessed 23 March 20114].

Steview, S., 2008. Virgin flight crew fired for insulting passengers via Facebook. [Online] Available at: http://www.thetechherald.com/articles/Virgin-flight-crew-fired-for-insulting-passengers-via-Facebook/3032/ [Accessed 23 March 2014].

#UOSM Ethical issues raised by educational and business uses of social media

“Discuss the ethical issues raised by educational and business uses of social media”

By the end of the year 2013, almost 40% of the world’s population were online and this number is just keeps increasing (Kelion, 2013). Just imagine that 2.8 billion of people (roughly every third person) are online nowadays. In the business world, this number is also quit big, as 30% of the EU enterprises use social media (e.g. social networks, blogs, wikis, etc.), 73% of which use it to build their profile online, and advertise their products, see Figure 1. However, the educational sector doesn’t stand behind these numbers, on the contrary, even overpasses, as it was provided from fifth annual CASE/Huron Education/mStoner social media survey, conducted in January 2014, Educational advancement staff uses nearly all kinds of social media in order to communicate with students, parents and alumni (Russell, 2014), see Figure 2.

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

After this impressive numbers a fact that ethical issues in this ocean of social media is inevitable. However, a question may arise in your mind whether aren’t we free in expressing our thoughts both online and in life, based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1947), Article 18, which states that: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thoughts, conscience and religion” (Lauterpacht, 1948)? The answer is: “YES, certainly you are!”, BUT it is a subject of limitations when it clashes with the rights and freedoms of others (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 29) (Lauterpacht, 1948). In a simple way, you can say and write whatever you want, when you want, until it clashes with the rights of others, whether it is religions, race, gender, etc.

Article 18 - Source: http://anotherbrickinwall.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_01_archive.html

Article 29 - Source: http://dagdok.org/uploads/pics/Religionsfrihet_01.jpg

Here are few examples ethical issues happened online:

• In business world: 13 members of Virgin Atlantic’s flight crew lost their jobs after Facebook comments where they have labelled Virgin Atlantic passengers as “chavs” (Steview, 2008).
•  In education world: A teacher being fired from school for putting a photo on Facebook where she was holding a glass of wine and a mug of beer (Reporter, 2011).
• Moreover, well-known example of Paul Chambers being arrested and later on fining for Tweeting a joke that he will blow the airport for not working (BBC News England, 2012).
• And we could continue this list as much as we want.

In order to avoid this kind of ethical issues online, more and more companies make it possible to flag/report the defamation on social sites (e.g. “Report” button on Facebook). Furthermore, Twitter itself has announced that it will censor the messages country by country, in other words, block “offensive” messages (Moran, 2012).

To sum up, I just want to state that the problem of ethical issues faced every day by us will grow at the same speed as the Internet does. I personally think that this problem is inevitable, but the social media is not the cause of it, because it is just a way for us to communicate, so called “bridge” across countries and nations. WE are the people who fill in the content of the social media, and so WE are responsible for any consequences that emerge from it. 

References

BBC News England, 2012. Paul Chambers 'blow up' airport tweet appeal judgement reserved. [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18607798 [Accessed 23 March 2014].

Kelion, L., 2013. UK jumps up internet scoreboard as digital divide grows. [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24426739 [Accessed 23 March 2014].

Lauterpacht, H., 1948. The British Year of Book International Law. Oxford: Oxford Press.

Moran, L., 2012. Twitter sparks free speech fury by announcing it will censor messages country-by-country. [Online] Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092606/Twitter-sparks-free-speech-fury-announcing-censor-messages-country-country.html [Accessed 23 March 2014].

Reporter, D.M., 2011. Teacher sacked for posting picture of herself holding glass of wine and mug of beer on Facebook. [Online] Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354515/Teacher-sacked-posting-picture-holding-glass-wine-mug-beer-Facebook.html [Accessed 23 March 20114].

Russell, P., 2014. Survey Results Indicate Social Media's Impact on Educational Advancement Continues to Grow. [Online] Available at: http://www.case.org/About_CASE/Newsroom/Press_Release_Archive/Survey_Results_Indicate_Social_Medias_Impact_on_Educational_Advancement_Continues_to_Grow.html [Accessed 23 March 2014].

Steview, S., 2008. Virgin flight crew fired for insulting passengers via Facebook. [Online] Available at: http://www.thetechherald.com/articles/Virgin-flight-crew-fired-for-insulting-passengers-via-Facebook/3032/ [Accessed 23 March 2014].

#UOSM2008 Topic 3 - Reflective Summary

So, it is time to summarize on the Topic 3: ways to develop your professional online profile. Unfortunately, I wasn't lucky enough this time with the number of comments on my post, that’s why the great thanks to George Chiverton, whose comment I had pleasure to read. I will try to do my best next time to improve my grammar and be more exact in the references I make and don’t mix meanings up. As there aren't many comments on my blog, I will go for mentioning the important points, in my opinion, from both, my own blog and the classmates’:

• Firstly, relevant to mention that I have enjoyed reading Alysia Wildman’s post, not just because of the content, but mostly because she have applied everything she have mentioned on her blog to her own online professional profile on LinkedIn. I think it’s a much better idea than mine, but still it is never late for me to do it.

• Secondly, one of the new aspects for me was “video CV” and to be honest, I was quite surprised to read about it (blogs of Emma Meheux and Kimberly Fenton). Despite my interest and surprise, I have concluded to myself that this kind of self-branding depends completely on the area a person is searching a job in, so for example, in the area of my interest, IT, it will not be as powerful as in Marketing.

• The importance of having an online professional profile. As it was already mentioned in my blog, “According to the studies, 75% of HR department are checking their applicants online and 50% of them say that it influences their decision (Microsoft, 2013)”. Not having one, and hiding your yourself from others, will cause more harm than help, as employers might think that you are not a social person.

Last but not least, I just want to state that we should focus not only on the social networks, such as LinkedIn. Yes, certainly it provides more broad and deep insight about a person than any other network, with all various sections and subsections to be filled describing the person. However, the networks, such as Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, etc. represent a person’s inner characteristics not visible on the CV: his/her opinions on different topics, worldview, ability to communicate with others and so on. We never know what a potential employer can be interested in, so why not to be ready from different sides?

Reference

Microsoft, 2013. Online Safety Research. [Online] Available at: http://www.microsoft.com/security/resources/research.aspx#reputation [Accessed 7 March 2014].

#UOSM2008:Topic 3 Building your Online Professional Profile

"Discuss the ways in which an authentic online professional profile can be developed"

Picture source: http://www.webdcmarketing.com/2013/11/four-more-linkedin-hacks-for-insurance-wholesalers/

In the modern world, when our everyday life becomes more and more online, the recruitment sector and employers are not the last people who are using online facilities. On the contrary, they have taken the recruitment to the whole new level where there is no need any more to carry your paper CV with you. However, as a person who has joined this trend around three years ago I had two main questions: Why do you need an authentic online professional profile? And, how do you develop one? In this post, I will answer both of these questions based on the research and my personal experience.

Why do you need an authentic online professional profile? For example, “LinkedIn”:

• Well, the first answer could be: Why not? It is not very time consuming, it is accessible to everyone in every language, it is nearly always for free (unless you want to upgrade your LinkedIn) and you also can have your small portion of data on the Internet in this age of online information overload.
• It is easier to find a job, internship, placement, etc. My close friend, a young web developer, has received two job offers via LinkedIn. The point is, he haven't even apply, as they have found him by themselves.
• According to the studies, 75% of HR department are checking their applicants online and 50% of them say that it influences their decision (Microsoft, 2013). Not having an online profile will cause more questions than answers.

How you develop an online profile:

Better than my words could be just the explanation via picture. Posted below are the pictures that I have scanned from the paper given to me on the Carriers Fair held at the University of Southampton, by ConnectUs recruitment consultancy. However, I will still point out the most important parts of it, in my opinion:

• Have a professional photo. As most of the HRs deliberately do not want a photo on the CV, an online identity with your photo is the only way they can see you. Remember that the first impression is very important (Hyams, 2012).
• Have at least two or three references that have the most amount of positive feedback about you (Hyams, 2012).
• Whatever you are writing, keep it short and sweet, and obviously provide the keywords that you think describe you and are searched by the employers.
• Join groups, both on local and international level. Just creating a profile is not enough, join the discussions, share links and news, increase the number of connections and just stand up of the crowd (Direct Connection, Advertising & Marketing, LLC, 2013).

Picture Source: http://ritasambu.com/projects.html

And finally, don’t just copy your paper CV, but give a bit more information about yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, interests, etc. In LinkedIn you are not limited to two pages of paper as it is in the real world (Guardian News and Media Limited, 2013).

Last but not least, just a quick advice for the post readers: be as authentic and correct as possible in showing your identity! We all have to accept that during the creation of our own profiles, both online and on paper, we often do embellish a little bit the stories about us. It is completely normal, but to the some extend. I personally do remember that on my first CV I have specified various programming languages that I have pleasure to code in without specifying the degree of knowledge for each. I had a very unpleasant situation when during one of the telephone interviews I was asked the very deep questions of one of the programming languages I have specified, that was quite a lesson for me.

Word Count: 620

References

Direct Connection, Advertising & Marketing, LLC, 2013. Four More LinkedIn Hacks for Insurance Wholesalers. [Online] Available at: http://www.webdcmarketing.com/2013/11/four-more-linkedin-hacks-for-insurance-wholesalers/ [Accessed 8 March 2014].

Guardian News and Media Limited, 2013. Why online CVs are essential in your job search. [Online] Available at: http://jobs.theguardian.com/article/4290335/why-online-cvs-are-essential-in-your-job-search/ [Accessed 7 March 2014].

Hyams, C., 2012. Personal Branding on LinkedIn: 10 Mistakes to Avoid. [Online] Available at: http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/11/09/personal-branding-on-linkedin-10-mistakes-to-avoid/#WByq6jGKiFd0UI49.99 [Accessed 7 March 2014].

Microsoft, 2013. Online Safety Research. [Online] Available at: http://www.microsoft.com/security/resources/research.aspx#reputation [Accessed 7 March 2014].

#UOSM2008 Topic 2 - Reflective Summary

Picture source: http://brandconfessions.com/profiles/blogs/5-tips-for-managing-your-social-media-identity

It is time to summarize the second Topic of the module Living and Working on the Web. The first thing to be mentioned is my mistake of misunderstanding the topic’s question (thanks to George Chiverton for pointing at it). The question was to describe the pros and cons of having more than one online identity, when I have gone a bit differently by explaining the pros and cons of just having an online identity. Having read others comments and blogs I have came up with the following notes:

·     Online identities help you to communicate with others, share information in real time and helps to develop your personal employability (Cosmato, 2013).

·    However, it also reduces a very valuable face-to-face interaction between people, takes a significant amount of your personal time (Cosmato, 2013) and increases a possibility of identity fraud (Ibraz, 2010), which as I've later read from the blog of our classmate, Joy Isaac, it is referred as “Catfishing”.

(http://joyisaac.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/online-identity-privacy-and-security/).

·  Furthermore, quite interesting was the blog of our classmates, Alysia Wildman. The differentiation between Anonymity and Authenticity is quite important, as the former depends on a user and could be performed in various ways, via a specific software or just frauding your identity, and the latter “creates an online version of your life that relies on your true identity in order to function” (Masters, 2011).

To sum up, I just want to repeat that, despite disagreeing with this trend, I do have more than one online identity in order to be aware of all events and let others get in touch with me, especially when you are studying abroad. After the research on this topic both online and within myself, I have came to the opinion that it doesn't matter at all how many online identities do you have and in which social networks. The thing that does matter is how wisely and purposefully you use it.  

“Your entire life is online, and it can be used against you. Be vigilant!”

Quote source: www.youtube.com/embed/F7pYHN9iC9I

References

Cosmato, D., 2013. Love to know social networking. [Online] Available at: http://socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com/Advantages_and_Disadvantages_of_Social_Networking [Accessed 22 February 2014].

Ibraz, A., 2010. Fundamentals of Computing. [Online] Available at: http://mason.gmu.edu/~aibraz/disadvantages.html [Accessed 22 February 2014].

Masters, A., 2011. The Independent. [Online] Available at: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/09/19/identity-on-the-internet-the-pros-and-cons-of-anonymity/ [Accessed 2 February 2014].