Looking back at the discussion on ethics of the way we use the social media be it for business or education, I find myself realizing that Charles Leadbeater so beautifully put it “You are what you share.” The truth is, It’s as simple as that! The content we post online is a description of ourselves.
Well after covering the past 4 topics I feel in many ways a sense of enlightenment. I dont say this lightly, I say this because what previously was a world of vast content now seems like pieces of puzzles that are slowly fitting together. These topics have shed a light on very significant issues that I would not have thought deeper into if not for the questions being posted to us.
I spoke in my post about work ethics and how various people have lost their jobs due to content they posted online, A good example given by the post Aetiiqcaz wrote on how people should consider creating multiple identities for personal and professional use. A personal account with more discrete settings to prevent ruining the reputation of yourself in your professional work environment. A key message I have taken away from this course is that the digital world is not 1 dimensional neither is it black or white (Eventho many of us really want it to be to make our lives easier!).
Why do i say this?
As you can’t take information and theories about Social media without trying to counter them as thats when you truly learn about this space. As for example those teachers who had personal account on twitter did not lose their jobs because members of the public were unhappy! It was their own fellow teachers who highlighted their tweets to management. So what are the ethics and guidelines for personal and professional?
As tor mentioned in his post that a solution might be for companies to provide clear guidelines on what is allowed and what is not allowed but will that really solve the problem?
Does creating more red tape around what we do help to solve this issue on what is ethical to post? As patricia quite rightly put we are often stripped by strangers with our public information online. We know how public our content will be but maybe subconsciously we crave the attention and we do it anyway? Maybe as seen throughout history we want to cross the red tape boundaries just to feel we are fully in control. As frank sinatra sang “In the end I would like to say I did it my way!”
Till next time,
Mr Ebra
Blogs Commented on :
http://patriciapu.wordpress.com/2014/12/05/stop-taking-off-my-clothes/comment-page-1/#comment-11
References:
Anon, aetiiqcaz. on WordPress.com. Available at: https://aetiiqcaz.wordpress.com/ [Accessed December 8, 2014a].
Anon, Discovery News – Regulations, Polite Term for Red Tape. Available at: http://www.discoverynews.org/2013/03/regulations_polite_term_for_re069791.php [Accessed December 8, 2014b].
Anon, Freedom of Speech | Ethical Issues | torws on WordPress.com. Available at: http://torws.wordpress.com/2014/12/05/freedom-of-speech-ethical-issues-2/comment-page-1/#comment-20 [Accessed December 8, 2014c].
Anon, IAC PR Director Lands In South Africa After Racist Tweet, And It’s A Mess. Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/justine-sacco-landing-live-tweeting-2013-12?IR=T& [Accessed December 8, 2014d].
Anon, Keep social media sites clean while you are job hunting – but what does this mean in practice? – Kala. Available at: http://www.kala.ie/recent-updates/keep-social-media-sites-clean-while-you-are-job-hunting-but-what-does-this-mean-in-practice/ [Accessed December 8, 2014e].
Anon, Stop taking off my “clothes”! | PPU on WordPress.com. Available at: http://patriciapu.wordpress.com/2014/12/05/stop-taking-off-my-clothes/comment-page-1/#comment-11 [Accessed December 8, 2014f].
The thoughts of Mr Ebra 