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[christopherrucker]

Blog 3 - Chris Rucker

Chris Rucker

The current state of social media ethics: what trends are happening in the industry?  

An increasingly alarming trend in the industry is artificial intelligence (AI) and what to do about it. There doesn’t seem to be an overwhelming verdict on if AI is truly good or bad. But when it comes to social media ethics, there is much to discuss. Firstly, there must be accountability for AI generated content. Unfortunately it is too easy to spread potentially harmful misinformation and disinformation using AI. Staying authentic will be even more critical as the content becomes more convincing.  

Another relevant trend is data collection transparency and privacy. Many notable companies such as Meta, Google, and TikTok have been exposed as shady data collectors. These companies have faced big fines for tracking user location, selling data and information to third parties, and misleading users on what data is being stored and collected. 

Lastly, influencer marketing has seen a big rise over the last few years after TikTok and Instagram have grown into the markets that they are now. Misleading potential consumers and a lack of clear disclosures of partnerships have been on the rise, influencing decisions based on misleading information. 

What are two current cases related to social media ethics? 

Meta & Google youth addiction lawsuit: In March of this year, Instagram and YouTube were found liable in a Los Angeles lawsuit claiming the platforms caused mental health issues to a minor by getting the user addicted to the platforms. This case is one of many in a long-lasting struggle between the youth and social media. The case highlighted these apps addictive features which have no safeguards. Algorithm curation, infinite scrolling, and short-form video are some of the most damaging and addicting features. There is a clear lack of ethical responsibility from these companies. The deliberate use of addictive features have damaged developing brains and are purely designed for engagement and long-term usage. This case ruled that unethical social media had caused the anxiety and depression of the plaintiff. 

Netchoice v. Fitch: Netchoice vs Fitch is an ongoing Mississippi court case in which it argues the merits of age verification laws on social media. The law, HB 1126, would require socail media users to verify their age through personal data like a state ID. Furthermore, any minor would need parent permission to join an app and possibly be restricted from several forms of content that are deemed harmful. This has been a hotbutton issue across the country as the debate centers around privacy and child safety. Many argue it is unconstitutional and violates freedom of expression and choice.  

Outline the current code of ethics for social media by a professional organization you would be interesting in joining as part of their social media staff. 

USA Today has a strong code of ethics for social media that include seeking and reporting the truth in a transparent, impartial way from trusted, credible sources. USA Today also holds themselves to high standards when it comes to serving public interest during emergencies, which includes giving free access to coverage. Correcting themselves when necessary is also important; they are prompt and transparent when addressing errors. They are transparent in their sources, only using confidential sources as a last resort or when it best serves the public. Lastly, they remain independent from outside interests and businesses that would compromise their integrity. There are no outside influences to the way they report the news.    

What brands are utilizing proper social media ethical practices? (Do not use the following brands: Patagonia, Everlane, Allbirds, Bomba, Ben & Jerry's, Dove, IKEA, Tom's, or The Body Shop. 

Lush uses proper social media ethical practices by engaging in proper user safety outlines including data safety and user health. So much so that they actually detached themselves from major outlets like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook in 2021. They did so to get away from addictive algorithms and manipulative features that encourage users to engage. Lush believes that these platforms are doing more harm than good as they state in their “People over platform” stance. Lush believes in providing a safe, toxic-free space for their audience.  

Fairphone doesn’t just use social media to market their product. The company values transparency with their audience including honest updates about supply chain challenges and their impact on the environment. Fairphone heavily promotes user interaction and DIY repairs and solutions instead of pushing the next product onto people. Their community guidelines also indicate a genuine call for a healthy online environment, stating to avoid posting hateful comments, spam, and misinformation.  

Are there any professionals that you feel practice strong ethical behavior on social media? 

Members of the medical industry are often reliable for providing strong ethical behavior on social media. Many creators and professionals such as Dr. Karan Rajan and Dr Ali Mattu use online platforms to promote unbiased education on important topics regarding health. They also work to reduce stigma and provide clear information and resources for an audience that may need it.  

What are some takeaways you can bring forth in your own practices? 

Personally, for my own social media practices I would ensure honesty in my content. I want to be a credible, consistent source for my audience in order to build up my brand. Doing so may take time but I can also highlight my other values such as creating a safe, non-toxic environment, always crediting my sources, and avoiding clickbait content. 

What main concepts do you think are necessary to adhere to for your own personal conduct online? 

The main concepts for my online conduct are maintaining professional behavior at all times, being thorough to ensure accurate and transparent content, and being active in comment sections to clear out toxic content such as misinformation, propaganda, and hate speech. Being consistent in all of these concepts will give me a strong, respected brand. Keeping a professional face to my audience is key. I need to be seen as someone who is competent and trustworthy. Which is why always having the correct information and posting accurate content is vital as well. Once you put something online, it’s out there permanently and it reflects on me, good or bad. Lastly, there’s a lot of bad spaces online, providing a safe, non-toxic digital environment for users will make me standout in a positive light.  

What main concepts do you feel strongly against and want to make sure you avoid on social media? 

There are a few concepts that I feel strongly about in a negative way. Clickbait or misleading titles, statements, or media is one of them. They drive so much negativity in people on purpose and are unfortunately an easy way to spread misinformation and disinformation for the sole purpose of driving engagement or interaction. A lack of transparency is another issue for me that I would want to avoid at all costs because if exposed as poor information it could tank a brand’s image permanently. This includes false representation of a product or information. Faking status or credentials is an unethical hack to gain trust.  

List 5-10 core concepts that you will follow as a practicing social media professional. Include citations that you used 

Consistent messaging/branding: I want to be consistent in my message and have my audience know who I am and who I stand for. This gives users a reason to follow and support. Having a bellief or idea to align to rather than just appearing to post aimlessly or randomly is key in marketing. 

Consistency in posting/activity: You never want to fall behind on social media. Having a consistent and active presence in your posts, comments, and pages is ideal. This builds trust and recognition. People need to know I am active in the online community and always working. If not, they will forget about me. 

Build a community: Responding to comments appropriately and respectfully and engaging with my audience is important. This builds trust and imbeds me into a community. Doing this is important in maintaining a safe environment and allows me to have a better handle on who interacts with my content. 

Keeping up with trends: When necessary and appropriate, staying up to date on trends is a great way to stay fresh and popular.  

Be authentic: Authentic posting builds trust and steers away from promotion-only content that gets lost with the millions of other places that products get pushed. Being authentic also means being transparent when a mistake happens.  

Follow guidelines: Avoiding spam, clickbait, and fear/hate mongering content is necessary for an ethical social media presence. You want real engagement that is safe for users. Not inflated numbers because you’re manipulating people.  

Avoid plagiarism: I want to always credit my sources and produce original content. If my content or ideas are based off previous work, it is ethical to make that information public.  

Content accuracy: My content has to be reliable and correct for users to make their own well-informed decisions. 

Citations 

“Safer Socials, 2025.” We Are Lush, 28 Mar. 2025, weare.lush.com/lush-life/our-staff-room/safer-socials-2025/. 

“Landmark L.A. Jury Verdict Finds Instagram, YouTube Were Designed to Addict Kids.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 25 Mar. 2026, www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-03-25/social-media-lawsuit-trial-meta-google-verdict. 

“NetChoice v. Fitch.” American Civil Liberties Union, 12 Dec. 2024, www.aclu.org/cases/netchoice-v-fitch. 

“Official Website.” Fairphone, www.fairphone.com/. Accessed 10 Apr. 2026. 

“Dr Karan Rajan: About.” Dr Karan Rajan | About, www.drkaranrajan.com/about. Accessed 10 Apr. 2026. 

Mattu, Dr. Ali. “About Dr. Ali Mattu.” Dr. Ali Mattu · People Not Pixels, Dr. Ali Mattu · People Not Pixels, 4 Mar. 2026, www.alimattu.com/about/.

[christopherrucker]

A New Day for MLK

Chris Rucker

In 2026, having a social media presence and plan is critical and even expected of non-profit organizations in order to promote their mission to their audience. Their branding should showcase their purpose consistently across all platforms to secure sponsors and fundraising. Being active on their pages can be just as important as being active in the community.  

Recently accomplishing over 100 years of service in 2022, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center is a central service source for under-privileged children, families, and seniors. Commonly referred to as the MLK center by locals in Newport, Rhode Island, the non-profit organization has a steady presence on all major social media apps including Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube. The MLK center’s largest following comes from Facebook, with just over five thousand followers on the app. Unsurprisingly, Facebook is where they are most active with a touch beyond four thousand posts on their page. This is an impressive following they have amassed for a local organization. Their level of consistency and interaction surprised me as well. They are effective at keeping their audience informed on any and all updates throughout the community. Although their following is at a respectable number, their level of engagement on posts varies. Most of their posts received minimal attention, often garnering anywhere from three to eight likes with a few standouts occasionally reaching 20, 50, or sometimes 80 likes. The more successful posts featured young children or partnerships with other local businesses, reaching the interests of a broader audience. On the more mundane posts there seems to be less effort put into them. Fewer descriptions, tags, and photos. Increasing the consistency of content and providing more of what gets them clicks is what I recommend for their Facebook page. Short-form videos such as a day-in-the-life at the center or community stories can drive local engagement and boost their content in the algorithm. Facebook actively pushes “reels” to compete with other social platforms. This would give the MLK center a greater “reach” which is more valuable than followers because they’re expanding into a larger audience. Giving people an experience to watch rather than a graphic with information on it will increase engagement. According to Sproutsocial, 48% of users on Facebook engage the most with reels.  

The MLK center’s Instagram account currently has its second biggest following compared to their other accounts with 3,364 followers. However, their level of engagement on their posts in the last month has been underwhelming. The most liked post had 114 likes but with zero comments, which is consistent with the majority of their content on the app. The MLK center needs to drive more interaction on the app. InfluenceFlow states that saves, shares, and comments are all weighted more than likes are on the app because it is a low-effort interaction. Even if they aren’t increasing the likes, by simply getting more people to interact with the post or even save it will boost their engagement. By taking on a livelier presence in their captions, they can hook people’s attention and create conversation and engagement. 

For the MLK center’s Instagram, I reccomend tracking their conversion rate (advanced metric). They have a link tree posted in their bio that they should be utilizing more often with calls to action. Tracking how many people are visiting their website as well as donation centers and partnerships is key information for growth. This would give the team valuable insight into what events and businesses attract most people. Instagram makes this easy for accounts to track by allowing accounts to also post links on their story and making those insights quickly attainable. Profile visits (channel metric) is another key area the center needs to be monitoring on Instagram. It is critical to know how many eyes are visiting your base of operations. An appealing profile picture, consistent story posts, and engaging in comment sections can lead people to your profile. Influencer impact, a behavioral metric, is another important metric on an app such as Instagram. This can be a shortcut to boosting brand awareness and trustworthiness compared to a formal ad. Being a local establishment like the MLK center, partnering or interacting with well-known local figures and businesses can increase likeability the more those accounts share or engage with content from the MLK center’s page. 

The MLK center has just 75 subscribers on YouTube. One key advanced metric I would be tracking is time spent and content retention. Knowing how long users are viewing the videos and where they are skipping or exiting is crucial. A majority of their videos are under ten minutes, meaning they need to hold viewer attention for a majority of the runtime. Clever editing and fast-paced videos may keep viewers engaged longer, even if the subject of the video is less interesting. Along similar lines, video views as a channel metric are another key area to focus on. On YouTube, a view typically counts when the video has played for 30+ seconds. Having an engaging hook to the video is vital in securing these numbers as well as a proper thumbnail and title to get clicks in the first place. Finally, click-through links, which measure the percentage of users clicking on a link. This is a good indication on how effective the video is at capturing the audience’s interest or motivation to volunteer or donate. You will need a well designed thumbnail, title, and hook to capture your audience's interest. Here is a good breakdown video on the basics of CTR and how your audience, video design, and consistency matters. Based on the results, increasing or decreasing the number of videos that try to inspire their audience may be required.  

[christopherrucker]

Chris Rucker

How I would define social media is a giant, interconnecting platform designed to bring people together over polarizing topics. Especially in today’s day and age, a lot of apps are now syncing with each other such as Instagram, Facebook, and Threads for example. I look at “social media” much more as one giant platform now rather than separate apps or websites. They are all interconnecting and each are designed to be addicting and to push narratives and to create controversy and conversation in the name of recognition. A lot of people get wrapped up in emotion and opinions online over something they see that is specifically geared towards getting them to react that way. Which is something that is dangerous and not everyone understands. Which is why I would characterize myself mostly as a somewhat passive social media user. Often just observing and taking in information from other users. I like to use social media as entertainment and people “watch” or study. I enjoy looking at memes or coming across cool facts or videos. Social media can be an excellent source of information on topics I’m interested in, so it can be used as a tool as well. Yet when I find myself reacting to something particularly negative charged or purposely false information, that’s about the time I put the phone down. My strengths in understanding social media are understanding that a lot, perhaps the majority of content whether that be from a random user or big brand is always being geared towards getting a specific reaction or emotion out of you. There is often a narrative or product that people are trying to get out there, and social media is an immense opportunity to do so, especially now in 2026 when almost everyone is online. Information can spread quickly, false information at that. Comparing this to a wildfire would be accurate. If not tamed and controlled quickly, it can spread and cause damage. Another strength for me personally is what makes good, engaging content. Right or wrong, the posts that receive the most attention are usually the ones that feature click bait and controversial or polarizing statements. My challenge of social media could be how addicting it is. I sometimes "doom scroll" for too long or too often than what I think I should. It isn’t healthy to rely on that false dopamine rush and eventually it will hurt your attention span as well. I also find it tempting to argue with people on the internet if I find their content or post to be something ignorant or against my views on a topic. But I think I do a fine job of letting it go and not engaging. What I want to get out of this class is a better understanding of how to capitalize on current trends, and how to see them coming. Learning about how people or companies effectively utilize social media and how they choose to represent themselves or spread their message is fascinating to me. I sort of view it as an art form. When you create something on/using social media, it is a piece of content intended for an audience. What you do with it and how you use it to your or anyone else’s benefit or disadvantage is an interesting topic.