Nicole's Social Media Blog

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Everyone is on the internet. Everyone can post anything they want to on the web, no matter what it may be. But, that also means that once the material is out there, it’s out there forever ….and it can never be erased.

Many companies are now online searching for potential employees before hiring them. They look up their Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, and even their Blog.

This is known as social media monitoring. More and more companies are doing this today. It is not the companies fault for wanting the best employee they can have. The issue arrises when asking if this practice is ethical.

Is social media monitoring ethical?

Some people say it is not ethical. Some website like PatientsLikeMe are on the web to help people with emotional problems. Many users of which do not want people to know they are on the website. In the artical ‘Scrapers’ Dig Deep for Data on Web by The Wall Street Journal, a company was hacking into the website and copying word for word what the users were talking about. They just so happen to be talking about mental health issues. Needless to say, the users did not like the fact the company was watching what they were saying.

On the other had, some people say social media monitoring is perfectly ethical. There are many companies who’s soul purpose is to offer social media monitoring to larger companies. The company Astute Solutions offer social media monitoring to find out what costumers are saying about products.

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Image Credit "Embarrased Cat" By my2angels_2009, Photobucket

I personally think that it is ethical. People who use the internet know that the information they put out there is public. They should make a decision about if they want that information out, and if they have no problem with it being public information, then it is not a bad thing for someone else to look at it. If they did NOT want it to be public information, they should have never put it out there.

It is different in regaurds to websites like PatientsLikeMe, but for Facebook and Blogs, fun social media, you should really be careful about what you put out there.

Everyone NOW should make a ethical code for what they do or do not put on the internet. Because, it can all come back to bit you in the you know what later when trying to get a job. Because, social media monitoring is a growing trend, and to many people, such as myself, it is perfectly ethical.

Don’t put anything up that you’d be embarrased of later down the road. As my boyfriend’s mom would say “Dont’ put anything up that you wouldn’t want your grandparents to see.” – Paula Burton