Social Media Ethics at socialmediaethics.net
Social Media Ethics at socialmediaethics.net
social media ethics - The best way to approach the study of social networking ethics is to first comprehend the purposes of social media, specifically, internet sites. What it is about Facebook, MySpace, etc. that attract people to join them? Which kind of relationship exists between your social network and the user? Fundamental essentials important questions to ask when evaluating the social value of social networking within a society.
First an exploration of the relationship between internet sites and users. It seems that there is a reciprocate relationship between social networks and their users that involves the consensual transfer of private information from the user towards the network; this information enables the existence of a social network. The network is able to use that information to develop in size (number of users, features, etc.) by harnessing the power of the user’s social profiles and relationships. We know that users are the life of a social networking and in fact are what gives them their value, but what are the users getting in return? The best way to answer this question is to look at what a social networking is doing: it is providing a venue by which people can connect with people they know and connect to, whether those real life interactions occur often or otherwise. So then the the next thing to examine is how social interactions on a social network are different than social interactions in the real world.
What are the differences in social networking interactions and real life interactions?
Centralization of Social Interactions - instead of having to keep track of friend’s phone numbers, emails, etc., users possess a single site that gives them access to not just their friends (meaning their friends in real life, not the “Facebook friends”), but additionally their acquaintances, co-workers, people they go to school with, people who are friend’s of their friends, etc. This can be a system of connections that essentially will include every single person on the network through some quantity of degrees of separation.
The Virtualization of Reality - users can be active participants within their social life on a virtual channel as well as in real life. The virtualization is not an alternate reality that only exists in one spectrum, but is really is something created by the users, for the users. Because of this, social networks are able to create an infinite amount of new and never stand still content that is geared to the user’s social interests and it is dictated by the interactions of everybody on the network. Make a website that has content with only your interests that is changed to fit what you would like when you want it.
Decreased Authenticity of Social Interaction - people naturally act different in different forms of communication-phone conversations work differently than texting, live social interactions can alter around different groups of people, etc.; the same thing applies in social networking communications. The lack of body language, non-verbal cues, voice inflection, etc. and also the ability to delay responses in conversation makes all text-based social interaction susceptible to alteration by the participants. Sometimes this may lead to a skewed perception of the people’s identities, if they are based totally on online social interaction. Furthermore, though people can generally assume that people are who their profiles appear at first sight, there is no way to fully know if they aren’t someone else on another person’s profile, or perhaps a person who has created a fake profile.
Preservation of Social Interactions - because all interactions are transmitted through data, they will exist virtually forever. It has some social benefits, because users can take part in social interactions that aren’t occurring instantly, but are in fact delayed response conversations. However, this can also have negative effects when the preserved content is something that can be detrimental to the user.
From the previous discussion it would appear that we can make the following conclusions. It would appear that social networks are useful for centralizing social interactions and expanding your social circle, but they also have some negative aspects because of their differences from real social interactions.
social media ethics - The best way to approach the study of social networking ethics is to first comprehend the purposes of social media, specifically, internet sites. What it is about Facebook, MySpace, etc. that attract people to join them? Which kind of relationship exists between your social network and the user? Fundamental essentials important questions to ask when evaluating the social value of social networking within a society.
First an exploration of the relationship between internet sites and users. It seems that there is a reciprocate relationship between social networks and their users that involves the consensual transfer of private information from the user towards the network; this information enables the existence of a social network. The network is able to use that information to develop in size (number of users, features, etc.) by harnessing the power of the user’s social profiles and relationships. We know that users are the life of a social networking and in fact are what gives them their value, but what are the users getting in return? The best way to answer this question is to look at what a social networking is doing: it is providing a venue by which people can connect with people they know and connect to, whether those real life interactions occur often or otherwise. So then the the next thing to examine is how social interactions on a social network are different than social interactions in the real world.
What are the differences in social networking interactions and real life interactions?
Centralization of Social Interactions - instead of having to keep track of friend’s phone numbers, emails, etc., users possess a single site that gives them access to not just their friends (meaning their friends in real life, not the “Facebook friends”), but additionally their acquaintances, co-workers, people they go to school with, people who are friend’s of their friends, etc. This can be a system of connections that essentially will include every single person on the network through some quantity of degrees of separation.
The Virtualization of Reality - users can be active participants within their social life on a virtual channel as well as in real life. The virtualization is not an alternate reality that only exists in one spectrum, but is really is something created by the users, for the users. Because of this, social networks are able to create an infinite amount of new and never stand still content that is geared to the user’s social interests and it is dictated by the interactions of everybody on the network. Make a website that has content with only your interests that is changed to fit what you would like when you want it.
Decreased Authenticity of Social Interaction - people naturally act different in different forms of communication-phone conversations work differently than texting, live social interactions can alter around different groups of people, etc.; the same thing applies in social networking communications. The lack of body language, non-verbal cues, voice inflection, etc. and also the ability to delay responses in conversation makes all text-based social interaction susceptible to alteration by the participants. Sometimes this may lead to a skewed perception of the people’s identities, if they are based totally on online social interaction. Furthermore, though people can generally assume that people are who their profiles appear at first sight, there is no way to fully know if they aren’t someone else on another person’s profile, or perhaps a person who has created a fake profile.
Preservation of Social Interactions - because all interactions are transmitted through data, they will exist virtually forever. It has some social benefits, because users can take part in social interactions that aren’t occurring instantly, but are in fact delayed response conversations. However, this can also have negative effects when the preserved content is something that can be detrimental to the user.
From the previous discussion it would appear that we can make the following conclusions. It would appear that social networks are useful for centralizing social interactions and expanding your social circle, but they also have some negative aspects because of their differences from real social interactions.
