Ethical Issues in Social Media

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The digital generation gap is the result of the extremely rapid rise of personal computing, the Internet, mobile applications, and coming next, biotechnology. Never before in the history of our species have we been faced with a situation where each living generation is focused around a different technology platform. Baby Boomers grew up before the advent of any of these technologies — they lived in an analog world in which daily life took place primarily on the physical, face-to-face human scale, with physical materials and physical information media . Today digitalization has brought the whole world together as one global social and economic network. Our children live in a world where dating, shopping, business, education — almost everything we do as humans — is taking place online, and via mobile devices. Many of the cultural and social stresses making headline news are related to the digital generation gap. For example, the increasing growth of cyberbullying is the result of parents and teachers being totally out of touch with the mobile world that kids live in today.

Centralised control of information goneinformation , music, ideas We expect more from technology & less from each other – good or bad newsIncreased opportunities for six seconds of fame or to be caught in “a defining moment”Addition biggest risk leading to premature deaths and relationship breakdownsWe expect more from technology & less from each otherIncreased opportunities for six seconds of fame or to be caught in “a defining moment”Addition biggest risk leading to premature deaths and relationship breakdownsOur adoption of communication platforms like Facebook or Twitter has spread hundreds of times faster than the adoption of either the telephone of television in the 20th century. As a result we are drawing the ethical boundaries as we go. As soon as they are drawn things change. It has become almost impossible for ‘formal ethical codes’ to keep up with changing technology.On Twitter, our communications are no longer limited by time and space; they are limited by 140 characters. Our communication is no longer with one or two people, but with hundreds or thousands. Old ideas about privacy and ownership are being challenged.Estimated that employees spend 2-3 hours per day ‘slacking off’. 51% of US workers believes social media hurts productivity at work (Source: Kelly Services) Increased scepticism in new generation as people don’t know what to believe

It is is still a world in which, according to Tony Schwartz, author and CEO of The Energy Project, the prevailing work ethic is one in which "downtime is typically viewed as time wasted," and "rewards still accrue to those who push the hardest and most continuously over time." But, he adds, "that doesn't mean they're the most productive." studies show that for each 10 hours of additional time off, productivity increased by 8 percent. "Strategic renewal," Schwartz writes, "including daytime workouts, short afternoon naps, longer sleep hours, more time away from the office and longer, more frequent vacations, boosts productivity, job performance and, of course, healthReceive information fast & multi-task“Why” really matters;Engagement depends on being involved and included by being heard;Immediate feedback essential;Resultsvs stopwatch measurement;Peer led inhouse training; peer sharing platforms;"Digital Immigrants, Digital Natives," Marc Prensky (2001a, 2001bPew Research;Generation X, Boomers, and Traditionalists, while familiar with technology, are less likely to use it. According to a Pew Research Center report on the Millennials, 83% of Millennials sleep with their cell phone next to their bed, compared with 68% of GenXers, 50% of Boomers and 20% of Traditionalists. Similarly, 75% of Millennials have a profile on a social networking site, compared to 50% of Gen Xers, 30% of Boomers and 6% of Traditionalists.

Legislation like Sarbanes Oxley, that was developed to deal with ethical dilemmas, is increasingly seen as outdated and ill-equipped to deal with emerging dilemmas from the social media explosion (Hyatt)Trust is confidence born of two dimensions:character and competenceCharacter  your integrity, motive, and intent with people. Competence your capabilities, skills, results, and track record. Both dimensions are vital. CSR not negotiable -expectation of high quality service and products and company’s are publicly shamed when they don’t deliver

Biggest ethical concern with social media is damage to brand or reputation, followed by inappropriate release of information, and legal and compliance risks.Damage to brand can lead to loss of credibility. E.g., the tweet by Kenneth Cole in Feb 2012 about the uprising in Egypt: “Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumour is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://bit.ly/Kcairo - KC” did significant damage to the brand.Gene Morphis, the former CFO at Francesca’s Holdings (a fashion retailer and public company)was fired after tweeting confidential information such as “Board meeting. Good numbers=happy board” and “roadshow completed. Sold $275 million of secondary shares. Earned my pay this week.”

According to the Ethics Resource Centre, active social networkers in the office (those who spend 30% or more of their time at work participating on social network sites) – have a more tolerant attitude than their co-workers towards the following ethical behaviour:Half of active social networkers say it is OK to hang onto confidential work documents for use in future jobsThey are five times more likely to think it is acceptable to perform less work in order to compensate for cuts in benefit or payThey are more likely to gossip about workplace and coworkersSurveys authors says that ‘it appears they (social networkers) are more likely to consider ‘grey areas’

Harassment – harder to monitor cases of cyber-bullyingCisco survey: 7 out of 10 employees ‘friended’ their managers and/or co-workers on facebook, indicating dissolution of boundaries separating work and private life. Of employees who use twitter, 68% follow the activity of either their manager or colleagues, 42% follow both!.Microsoft survey 2009 found that 79% of hiring managers&job recruiters reviewed online information about job applicants, and 70% of US hiring managers surveyed said that they rejected candidates based on what they found online. ¾ of US recruiters and HR professionals said that their companies have formal policies requiring personnel to research applicants online. Information that cannot be asked in an interview (age, children, sexual and religious preferences etc) can be found easily online.The challenge for companies is identifying acceptable levels of monitoring employees’ personal use of social media, without being seen to limit their freedom of expression. Employees right to privacy versus bullying and harassment, racial vilification etcExample of Defense – Skype scandal and ongoing Facebook pages that are found to be discriminatory, harassment etc.

Example of firing: this guy lost his job before it started

As we communicate and interact in different ways, team and department relationships have given way to relatoniships between individuals, and work roles become less defined. Teams form and dissolve quickly. Work tasks become less linear. Mobile connectivity, networks of data and flexible tools make this possible. Work gets done more quickly and efficiently

I.e., companies that target children under the age of 13 need to obtain verifiable parental consent before they collect, use of disclose personal information from children According to an Accenture report , Millennials see little distinction between personal and work-related uses of technology. On the job and off the job they simply tap whatever technical resources they need to get things done .

Local manufacturing. Only companies that are open, transparent, friendly, honest, trusted and ‘human’ will benefit;In 2013, the GDP of emerging markets will exceed advanced markets for the first timeThe current focus has been on the value of increased customer data to business. Savvy consumers will now seek to own and make the most of their data and turn to brands that proactively use this data to offer them help and adviceBrands must move from ‘having nothing to hide’ to pro-actively showing and proving they have nothing to hide – go beyond offering lofty statements on values or culture to real, unambiguous and clear evidence, or statement about actual results.2012 saw further examples of unions and action groups using social media in an increasingly sophisticated fashion during bargaining and industrial action. Whether used to generate grassroots public support for industrial campaigns, to galvanise support amongst employees to vote down proposed agreements, or to communicate planned industrial action and picketing, social media is becoming another valuable tool for unions to mobilise resources, promote their cause and bring pressure to bear on employers

Firm of the future is about value creation in its own ecosystem; Well being vs. gdpBeing wired brings new ethical accountabilities Public Virtue/Private vice not sustainableWe need people who are good at enrolling others, we need people who are good at building those kind of relationships that are going to influence people across boundaries, that are going to open up potentials and possibilities, that are going to make it possible to do things that were impossible before, especially in this rapid pace of change in the globalised environment. We need people who are able to get out the immediate box and reach out to a bigger audience– eg. increase personal potential for widespread damage; psychopaths can use technoogy for paybacks; cyber crime; rampant bullyingto balance what’s good for “the other” with what’s good for meIt's given us the tools to support charitable causes, to speak out against questionable business practices, to chastise our political leaders, and to launch social movements that can potentially change the world.The economists conclude that their gloomy discipline needs revamping as well: “The economics of digital information are the economics not of scarcity but of abundance. This is a fundamental shift, and a fundamentally beneficial one. people-people’. We need people who are good at enrolling others, we need people who are good at building those kind of relationships that are going to influence people across boundaries, that are going to open up potentials and possibilities, that are going to make it possible to do things that were impossible before, especially in this rapid pace of change in the globalised environment

Ethical Issues in Social Media

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Ethical Issues in Social Media