Ethics on Social Media
Name
Institution
Ethics on Social Media
Companies can use social media advertising as long as they do not intrude on people’s privacy, retrieve their information illegally, or use people details on the social networking platforms without their consent. People need to be aware of their social network’s privacy terms and conditions before joining so that they can know what they are getting into once they decide to use social media. Companies act ethically when they notify the users that they are collecting their data and when they use the information that they have gathered for the purposes they have stated (McFarland, 2012). They maintain an ethnic approach by maintaining confidentiality on the users’ personal information. The idea of monitoring the users’ behavior and tracking their movements is unethical. Companies that do this often contravene people’s privacy. Social media companies can access the customers’ private information such as buying habits and preferences. Trading this information without the users knowledge is a violation of privacy and it risks exposing them to attacks such as identity theft.
It is not ethical
for companies to gather people’s data because they put individuals at risk.
Such information becomes available not only to the marketers who are interested
in using it for advertising purposes but also to other stakeholders such as the
government. People want to know the information they want to become available
to the public and they want to have control over it. When other companies are
able to access that information, it means that they lose the little control
they have. In addition, people with malicious intentions can get such
information quickly once it is exposed to numerous entities. Many people use social
media to share personal and confidential information. They express their
thoughts and sentiments on the sites (McFarland, 2012). They think that they
are only interacting with their friends when they use the networking sites. Therefore,
the social media companies should do whatever it takes to protect the users’
privacy.
Reference:
McFarland, M. (2012). Unauthorized transmission and use of personal data. Retrieved from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/technology/internet/privacy/unauthorized-use.html