#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].