Social media and ethics
The Internet began to raise new ethical issues early in its development, and similar ethical questions are springing up around social media. Sure, on the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog, but is it ethical to claim you’re someone you’re not?
What about ghostwriting? It has a long history in association publications—but is it OK to ghostwrite your CEO or volunteer president’s blog entries?
What about privacy and use of personal information? If a member posts a question on their Facebook page, is it fair to target them for related marketing messages?
What about advertising and sponsorship? Banner ads aren’t anything new. But what if an advertiser offers to pay for you to attend an event and you blog about it?
What about accuracy checks? Blogs are often seen as awash in unverified, unsourced “facts” and accusations, and in some blogs, that’s certainly true. What are your obligations (especially if you’re not a professional journalist) to make sure what you’re writing is correct?
The Word of Mouth Marketing Association has done some nice work in this area, with a “practical ethics toolkit” intended to help organizations develop ethical guidelines for marketing in the Web 2.0 arena. The WOMMA code of ethics, which centers around honest and respect, is also worth a read—and worth considering for adoption in your association’s own social media efforts.
| | Permalink |
Comments
Lisa, you raise an interesting point about the free invitations and stuff in the mail sent with hopes of review.
For years, associations have sent invitations (media releases) to the media making them aware of the association's events/products/new findings with hopes they will promote it and report on it.
Just prior to the event/release/etc., communication and pr folks make calls to contacts to try to confirm a camera will be present.
Now days, some press folks are stretched so thin they are hoping that you send the article about the event/product/etc. as well as photos they could possibly use in their publications.
Is all of this so very different from sending a similar invitation/media release to a blogger? You don't hear a tv anchor person say "I got to go for free so I decided to bring a camera with me..."
Just food for thought.
Cynthia
Cynthia
Posted by: Cynthia D'Amour | November 28, 2007 12:38 AM
That is the question, Cynthia. There are definitely practices that are often accepted in the journalism world--free press passes to events, or review copies of books or software--that tend to upset bloggers' audiences. Is it because blogging has a different ethical threshold than more traditional reporting? Or is it because a lot of bloggers' readers aren't aware of a lot of what goes on behind the scenes at traditional newspapers and magazines? Or because they think that a single blogger who isn't a professional journalist is more likely to be swayed toward a positive report by freebies?
Or maybe blogs, being more transparent and offering more direct feedback from readers than traditional publications often receive, are showing us a problem with the way we often do things. Perhaps traditional publications should offer more disclaimers--maybe they should be saying, "Just so you know, for disclosure purposes, I'm here on a free pass from this event's sponsor." What do you think?
Posted by: Lisa Junker | November 28, 2007 9:39 PM