Paper written for college course discussing benefits and possible drawbacks of the utilization of social media.

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Social Media Advantages
Brian Rakowski
Wilmington University
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The world of business has changed dramatically over the past generation in many
different ways. One of the most obvious ways this has occurred is through the use of social
networks to hire employees as well as to advertise and share information. This paper will
examine several key changes in which businesses use social media today as opposed to
yesteryear as well as discuss the benefits and disadvantages and ethical situations.
It has become well known information that anything placed upon the Internet becomes
public information almost immediately. Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter have all become
portals for which personal information is handed out without a second thought. It appears that
simply because we type something as opposed to actually voicing the words, it is easier to
disclose personal information about ourselves. I find that individuals rarely think of anyone
other than the individual they are thinking of at the current moment receiving their information.
Next I will give examples of how these assumptions can actually hurt not only an individual’s
reputation, but also their ability to become employed.
Each one of us have established our own sense of acceptable actions for communicating
with different sets of people. Some things which we say to our friends and family we understand
are not acceptable to our coworkers or superiors. Social media eliminates this
professional/personal line and simply puts our thoughts open to everyone to perceive in whatever
light they wish. Examples of questionable acts and the way in which they prevent individuals
from receiving job offers has become a company’s greatest tool in determining how to perceive
potential candidates. This should demonstrate more than ever, the importance of keeping a clean
online image. Although I will not divulge deeper into this topic for this paper, I found the
information from the article found at Monster College very frightening. The next form of social

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media which I will discuss is that of the negative image a company can receive through
webpages established by union officials to solidify their rights to organized labor.
Honeywell is one of the top 100 companies in the World, a fact with which its employees
well know. Understanding this, along with incidents of unfavorable treatment towards individual
locals in recent years, the companies employees have decided to solidify and create a universal
union across all plants throughout the World. This would allow the employees to create a fair
playing field regardless of where Honeywell establishes residence. This is primarily being
displayed through a Facebook page which not only enables employees to post current concerns,
but also to share information in a way which is similar to that of the companies Intranet.
(https://www.facebook.com/HoneywellUnionCouncil) The discussions on this page vary from
discussing safety concerns at different plants to discussing CEO Dave Cote directly. There is
however a concern with company retribution as individuals being identified in supportive photos
are being investigated for unbecoming conduct. The next part of this paper will discuss the
valuable “Like” button found on almost every social media application (Facebook Developers,
2013).
Very few people today are not connected with a social media site in which they
receive news from others pages. Businesses have realized this and have started their own news
feeds which can be followed by individuals simply by pressing “The Like Symbol” located on
their page. In my opinion, this is an ingenious form of commercializing as all that is required is
to gain one person’s interest to view your webpage. If the information is stimulating, then the
internet becomes an instantaneous advertisement based on the concept of word of mouth.
Friends tend to have similar tastes, and this function allows them to share their interests with

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others. The next part of this paper will be to discuss the ethical decision behind some of these
actions.
Ethical decisions cannot be truly broken down as right or wrong. In my opinion, ethical
decisions can truly be described best through the children’s animated film Mega Mind.
(MegaMind (2/2011) Although that might not seem as a very professional choice to describe
ethics, In my opinion, the underlying theme is that the main character Professor MegaMind
demonstrates that labels cannot be placed upon individuals as different circumstances create
different ethical results. The end results being that public perception changes with a “what have
you done for me lately?” system. The next portion of this paper will discuss the advantages of
being able to search job advertisements through central databases such as Monster,
CareerBuilder, or even an individual State’s directory.
In today’s economical market, many companies are finding it cost effective to outsource
the process of finding potential employees. Aerotek, a staffing agency, has contacted me
personally on four different occasions simply from my posting of my resume. The State of
Delaware, notorious for being lower in pay but providing better family benefits, allows you to
create a resume which they keep on file as well as the option to browse all State openings (State
of Delaware (n.d.). This enables employees looking to hire on with the State the opportunity to
view what they are qualified for. The next part of this paper will be the summary in which all of
the information that has previously been discussed will be revisited and combined to explain the
way in which social media is forever changing the business world.
Social media has changed the way the entire World has been able to conduct business.
Potential employees now have the opportunity to locate careers all across the World and
businesses, both public and private, are able to release controlled press releases to targeted

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audiences. Friends are able to freely discuss new and exciting inventions and ideas simply by
pressing a single button, and companies are able to screen their employees simply through their
social media history. With all of these new technologies and the sudden rush of information
available, it is very hard to predict where the world of business will be in several years. It is my
personal dream that businesses will no longer be able to hide questionable actions which will
take any chance of unethical decision making out of their agendas.
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References
Anderson, Lauren Bayne, July 2011, Could a New "Social Media Background Check" Cost You
the Job?, Monster College, found at http://college.monster.com/news/articles/2145could-a-new-social-media-background-check-cost-you-the-job
Facebook Developers, 2013, retrieved at https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/likebutton/
Honeywell Union Council Homepage on Facebook, retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/
HoneywellUnionCouncil
Megamind (2/2011) Paramount Home Entertainment, Theatrical Presentation
State of Delaware (n.d.) Current Job Postings, Delaware Employment Link, retrieved from
http://delawarestatejobs.com/search/jobs.aspx