What is unethical means to you? What it takes for you to be successful? Have you ever thought that what you see may not be the truth of what is being represented? What can we do to avoid unethical acts on social media?
Using social media has very much instilled in my life. Whenever there is free time or when I wanted to look out for information, my natural instinct was to browse through social media for reviews. Instagram and Blogs are very much used in Singapore and people gauge the success and reliability based on the number of viewers and followers. However, is that really the truth?
One ethical issue that I’m most particular about is the way of conduct of the businesses or person that is using the social media. As a marketer, what we look for is to understand our target audience and find the best way to reach out to them and make our businesses or product known. With the thought of success in mind, people tend to forget what is wrong and right to do. In order to succeed, there are people buying followers to prove that they are well-received by the readers and there are businesses paying well-known bloggers to write reviews that may not be the truth as to what their products have to offer.
From my previous post, I have talk about creating an authentic professional online profile helps to improve credibility to your viewers. In my opinion, authentic professional profile does not mean creating false information and post it on the web to influence readers to do a certain action like buying of products. To me, even they are being paid to do so, they should disclaim it so that viewers knows that to a certain degree the information may be further exaggerate or the bad points of the products is not being mentioned.
You can find many ways online to show you how to spot an unethical post but here is my tips to you.
1.Read up on different reviews from different bloggers. It does not matter whether they have many followers or viewers.
2.Check out whether the bloggers have the habit of putting #sponsoredpost and you know she/he is speaking the truth that it is a marketing post.
3.Cross reference with the review from the bloggers and the comments of the readers and other reviews sites to see if there is a consistent of information.
In conclusion, it is important to be honest and responsible when using social media as a channel for information. For the past few post, it is a point that I emphasize on repeatedly to be responsible in online activities. Hence, please keep in mind that no matter what you are using social media for, it is important to be smart and responsible.
Reference
Xiaxue.blogspot.sg,. (2015). Xiaxue.blogspot.com – Everyone’s reading it.. Retrieved 9 November 2015, from http://xiaxue.blogspot.sg/
Lieber, C. (2014). The Dirty Business of Buying Instagram Followers. Racked. Retrieved 9 November 2015, from http://www.racked.com/2014/9/11/7577585/buy-instagram-followers-bloggers
Instagram,. (2015). Wendy Cheng ❄️ 下雪 🦄 Xiaxue on Instagram: “Whether you’re looking for quirky or classic footwear, Madame Flamingo has a wide variety for you to choose from! The sizes available range…”. Retrieved 9 November 2015, from https://instagram.com/p/9qStPuFvO5/?taken-by=xiaxue
BuzzFeed,. (2015). 19 Companies That Made Huge Social Media Fails. Retrieved 9 November 2015, from http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/19-companies-that-made-huge-social-media-fails#.fi1yxGGlm
Edutainment,. (2014). 7 Ethical Dilemmas Faced in Content Marketing. Retrieved 9 November 2015, from http://blog.socialcontentmarketing.com/7-ethical-dilemmas-faced-in-social-media-marketing/
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