Social Media Ethics: 4 Common Dilemmas

When you think ethics, you probably think of two-faced politicians and greedy companies, or ethic involved with doctors or psychologist. I doubt social media comes to mind at all. Good ethics is essential is almost all areas of our lives. Ethical decisions foster healthy relationships, friendships and good business arrangements. However when simple good ethics are lacking, we are left exposed and uneasy.

A lack ethics can lead to a number of unfortunate situations. The take down of major corporations, public figures, and even entire nations has been caused by unethical decisions. While ethics is not a black-and-white subject, the decisions you make could affect your company or even your livelihood. In an article by Ben Par entitled “Social Media Ethics: 4 Common Dilemmas”, he gives us people most common ethical mistakes involving social media.

1. The fine line of spamming: We all want to promote our companies and their products, but there is a difference between reaching out and spamming Twitter and Facebook with links and promotional messages. When you promote your product, please remember to provide others with value in return. Answer questions and talk about subjects beyond your company. Spam is never received well.

2. Feuds with others: It’s easy to let an argument spill into a public spat within your Twitter feed, but is this really beneficial to your followers? Social media is about helping others, not about putting them down. Public feuds and calling people out is more likely to damage your reputation than help it.

3. Lying: One of social media’s core tenants is transparency, and lying is the complete opposite of that. Not only are you misleading people, but social media has revealed so many liars that it just isn’t worth the risk. It’s easier than ever for someone to do the research on what you say.

4. Misrepresentation: This also follows from the “be transparent” rule. While you may not be lying by saying you worked at Google and Yahoo, it’s misleading to use that information if you worked at each for three days as a contractor. Don’t use a brand name or an accomplishment unless you truly have the right to it. You’ll not only make enemies, but you could get into legal trouble as well. Be forthcoming.

These are only four of the many ethical dilemmas that can come with the use of social media. We are constantly faced with decisions on what we may think is ethical while using social media. Careful judgment and consideration should be used, as we put out lives and jobs online. Ethics are a part of all areas of our lives; social media ethics should be no exceptions.

http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/technology/article/social-media-ethics-4-common-dilemmas-ben-parr

http://www.foliomag.com/2011/notes-ethics-social-media-and-ad-spending

Social Media: Top 5 Reason We Love Mobile Apps

Mobile apps. We all have them and we all use them everyday. You’d be hard pressed to find a business, program or website that doesn’t have it own Smarthphone app. With a tremendous growth in the number of Mobile apps that have been developed in the last couple years we have seen the use of apps go from nowhere to everywhere. The world of Smartphone is jam-packed with countless applications. The Apple App store alone has 500,000 plus apps available to its users. According to an article by Janeera, in recent research it has been noted that in the last 3 years alone over 300,00 mobile apps have been developed. About 29 billion app were downloaded in the year 2011 alone and has increased from only 9 billion downloads in 2010. This rapid increase is showing no signs of slowing down either. The world of Smartphone apps is expanding day by day. Apparently Smartphone apps are proving to be a great benefit, one that we will continue to use. Here are Janerrs top 5 reasons we just cant seem to get enough of our Mobile Apps.

1. Makes life better and simpler:

No one can deny the fact that the advent of mobile apps has made our lives better and easier. For an individual or an institution, mobile apps are of great use to face the daily challenges confidently. You don’t need to depend on anyone to maintain your daily transactions, operations of your organization, seeking the way for a new area, searching for the best restaurant in your locality, track your incomes and expenditure, calculate your billing time, shopping needs, or to settle your bills. All these complex tasks can be performed within a matter of minutes. You can save a lot of time, which can alternatively be used for any other productive purpose.

2. The enhanced passion and love for apps:

A new dawn sets with the use of a mobile app, says a recent study. It can very well be said that people are almost addicted to the use of mobile apps. This is mainly because of the practical use and the extent of these applications in our everyday living. There is no wonder if it is said that the world cannot function actively without the presence of these mobile apps. This fact makes people love these mobile apps and remain passionate without any second thoughts.

3. The world moves with Smartphones:

The dynamic populace in today’s digital world strives hard to make money and avail the comforts that make their life uncomplicated and fulfilled. A Smartphone could be the first choice for offering such comforts for content living. It is the natural tendency of a human being to be happy if someone gives them a compliment as “Mr. Smart”. This makes it clearly evident and forces us to throw the question that how a smart guy can go for an ordinary phone? This is the kind of revolution that Smartphones and its significant apps have brought in.

4. Keeps you connected:

This time reminds me the words of William Henry Davies, which says “What is this life, if full of care, We have no time to stand and stare”. Amazing words that clearly depict the hurry-burry life of today right! In such a mechanized life, the only thing that differentiates men and machines is the ‘Smile’ brought in by our family and friends. Such Smartphones with social networking mobile apps helps you to keep connected with your near ones without a hunt for your PC or a laptop. This builds up an emotional bond with the mobile apps.

5. Ardent mobile apps development companies:

Avid and potential mobile apps development companies are need of the hour. Such companies make the right use of the growing mobile apps demand and enchant the potential users with their innovative creations. It is a win-win situation where the needs of the target audience are fulfilled and the creative abilities of the mobile apps development companies are established firmly.

Keep in mind this is only one-person perspective on the Top 5 reason we love apps, even though I bet most of us can agree with them. In fact there are countless more reasons why the popularity of Mobile apps with only continue to soar. We haven’t seen the last of this media sensation, expect A LOT more to come!

http://www.dotcominfoway.com/blog/top-5-motives-behind-the-magnificent-growth-of-mobile-apps

http://www.androidgamese.com/android-development/growth-of-mobile-apps.html

Social Medai: Geotags, Good or Bad?

In today’s world its hard to find someone who doesn’t use Facebook or Twitter. Its even harder to find someone that doesn’t frequent these site via their Smartphone or Iphone. We are in constant connection with friends a family, able to share and upload photos not only at home but while we are out and about on vacation, work or even just running daily errand. Who doesn’t love to snap a funny picture of something you saw or document that perfect sunset? We all do it. We are constantly sharing picture via our smartphones to sites like Twitter and Facebook, keeping our family and friends up to date on our current activities. But due to recent search engine optimization technology we should be aware that we are sharing more then just the image in the photo. In an article by Betty Lin-Fisher and another by Sarah Graettiinger they discuss the so called "dark side" to this form of technology. Most iphones and smartphones automatically have a setting on that records the exact location of where you take your photos. They do this by using a GPS program. Whenever you snap a picture with these setting enabled you are recording your exact latitude and longitude coordinates called with “Geotags”. It doesn’t stop there, photos that are then posted or uploaded to social media sites allow viewer to not only view the photo but are current location. So what the problem you ask? Well with some relatively easy programs online, someone without good intention can click on your photos using these geotags and gather information to pinpoint your current location. So this means someone who is trying to track you will then be able to gain access to where you and your family are, when your not home or track your favorite hot spot that you may visit on a regular basis.

Charles Johnson, who is the assistant director of the criminal justice department at UMPI, specializes in the dark side of technology of such apparently innocent pastimes. He pointed out that even if people only sometimes update their status to show where they are, that puts them in a more dangerous situation than people who don’t. Burglaries are more likely to happen to people when they geotag their location or just update their status to where they are. So if you’re a the type of person who is constantly uploading photos while on the move and in the moment it is easy for someone to begin building a profile of your schedule, where you like to go and what you like to do. Luckily for those of use who enjoy keeping friends and family up to date using these photos updates, there are precautions we can take. Here are some ways to be safer on Facebook: put your sharing on Facebook to “custom,” increase the level of your privacy settings that include photos, decide what information you want people to see and who you want to see it. Disable the “check me into places” tag and the public search tag. Enabling HTTPS support will make your Facebook slower, but will make it harder for someone to hack your account or try to view your information. By doing these small steps you are able to keeping posting those fun update while keeping a little bit more of your privacy in tack.

http://www.ohio.com/business/taking-action/betty-lin-fisher-turn-off-geotags-when-taking-phone-photos-posting-online-1.242645

http://utimes.umpi.edu/2011/11/the-dark-side-of-technology/