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Social media websites allow everyone to share their ideas and opinions with a wide range of audience. Simple and convenient. As such, many companies are making use of these sites for business purpose as well. It blurred the boudaries between personal and work life and many employees are accessing these personal sites at work. A survey found out that social media is used for personal and work related activities by 95% of employees. (Institure of Business Ethics, 2011)
With such increasing statistics, companies are exposed to even greater ethical challenge for their business.
Intergrity Risk
Reputation of a company can be tarnished with just ONE irresponsible employee who either uses her own account or the company’s account. Take Nestlé as an example:
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This particular employee who manages the content on the Facebook Fan Page posted an offensive comment in response to negative remarks by nitizens. This violated the business principle of integrity and their commitment to “avoid any conduct that could damage or risk Nestlé and its reputation.” (Nestlé, 2007) This angered many and affected the reputation of Nestlé greatly (Of course is the negative way)
Apart from using the company’s account, many do post nasty or negative comments of the company on their own personal account. To our dismay, this is much more difficult to control (yes, freedom of speech but please remember, be responsible). This will affect the intergrity and reputation of the business as well.
Any solutions?
Companies should provide guidance to employees on how to address the ethical challenges on social media. This policy should provide guidance in two areas: 1. employees‟ use of social media on behalf of the company, and 2. employees’ personal use of social media. (Institure of Business Ethics, 2011) Employees can be encouraged to apply high privacy settings for personal social media accounts. It should also emphasise on the need for employees to reflect on their responsibility to the company while being on the web. These policy need to be reviewed and communicated to necessary parties regurlary.
Some companies choose to screen the personal accounts of their employees to ensure all content posted are appropriate. However, employees should be informed on such acts and the reason behind it. There should be an agreement between the company and their employees.
Of course, all employees should practise self disciple. Everyone should be a responsible user on the web. Do not post contents that might affect your companies reputation. If found liable, the consequence for you will be very serious.
References:
Institute of Business Ethics, 2011. The Ethical Challenges of Social Media [Online]
Available at: http://www.ibe.org.uk/userassets/briefings/ibe_briefing_22_the_ethical_challenges_of_social_media.pdf
[Accessed 5 December 2014].
Rick, B., 2010. Nestle’s Facebook Page: How a Company Can Really Screw Up Social Media [Online]
Available at: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nestles-facebook-page-how-a-company-can-really-screw-up-social-media/
[Accessed 5 December 2014].
Yanyi . 