Social media ethics, reviewed via bullet points
Hello Tumblr! Today we’re going over bullet points provided by my class.
Starting off, we have;
“The current state of social media ethics: what trends are happening in the industry?”
One trend in the industry revolves around using children to sell products to other children. A youtuber known as Ryans World (channel link) follows Ryan, a 13 year old according to famousbirthdays.com, reviewing products such as costumes, toys, games and gadgets.
These reviews provide a want, as other children viewing this content want to be like Ryan.
Another trend in the industry relates to privacy of information. Recently, gaming giant Take Two has updated their terms of service, basically allowing the company to legally acquire all of your data to sell to other companies.
This sucks. As a gamer, some of my favorite games are owned by Take Two. Bioshock, one of my all-time favorite games, falls under Take Two’s terms of service. There are workarounds for the terms, such as not using the online services, but this leads to missing out on some content, such as online exclusive content.
I love bioshock, I even got the same tattoo that the protagonist has in the first game.
For our next bullet point, we have;
What are two current cases related to social media ethics?
Looking at the first case, privacy concerns;
Now, anyone on the internet knows/should know that anything you post is now public and never will be private again. However, does making an account in the first place already mean your information will already become public?
Now unfortunately, yes. Living in the digital age means we live in an age of surveillance, everything digital can be tracked, found, hacked, etc.
I would go as far to say that even if you aren’t on social media, chances are your information is already open to the public and being sold. Who’s to say our government doesn’t sell our information?
Phones can track what you say, I’ve had my phone advertise products I mentioned in conversation the day before, it’s absolutely terrifying knowing that everything I say and do has likely been saved somewhere.
The second case is addiction;
Social media is designed to capture the attention of the viewers, with some content specifically designed to retain audiences for the set amount of time that would be required to count as a view.
I dated someone last year who would never put their phone down. Every meal, every conversation, every activity they would have their phone out, scrolling TikTok.
Addiction is a real problem when it comes to social media.
Social media is a drug, and an incredibly addictive one at that. There are ways to prevent addiction, but the best way is to not be online entirely. Unfortunately, social media can even be a ploy to affect social status, those in school who aren’t following the latest trends would be frowned upon, “out of the loop.”
Furthermore, there really isn’t a sound method for dealing with addiction to social media. The best strength there is shutting down your phone when you want to go back and consume more content, but other than that again there isn’t a sound method.
Moving on, our next bullet point is;
Outline the current code of ethics for social media by a professional organization you would be interested in joining as part of their social media staff.
Now while there is no specifically listed code of ethics/conduct page, I would very much be interested in joining Semiwork’s social media staff. Semiwork is the developer team behind R.E.P.O - An online co-op horror game
Semiwork has tried their hand at the game industry in the past, with Voidigo being their first game (link: Voidigo on Steam)
Unfortunately, Voidigo did not provide the traction that they were looking for, and as a last-ditch attempt, they created R.E.P.O Semiwork’s ethics:
Semiworks takes inspiration from various franchises, while not copying directly. For example, they have provided (presumed) references to the 1982 film ‘Thing’ via R.E.P.O’s in-game maps with similar art styles.
Unlike games like Nuclear Nightmare, R.E.P.O draws small inspiration from the film while remaining in their own direction, rather than being extremely like the film with not much differentiating it like with Nuclear Nightmare.
Semiwork does not plagiarize, Semiwork does not overcharge for their games, and Semiwork has set up a very nice online presence, not turning to intrusive advertisements and rather focusing on making a difference in the game industry ever filling with overpriced games, borderline copyright infringement, and lack of creativity with games such as Call of Duty.
Semiwork charges $10 per copy of R.E.P.O, and unlike some CEO’s looking at you, Randy the developers of R.E.P.O have not stated that true fans will “find a way” to afford their game.
Moving on to the fourth bullet point;
What brands are utilizing proper social media ethical practices?
Once again using Semiwork as an example, instead of posting “BUY OUR GAME” every 3 posts, Semiwork has focused on sharing clips from their games, so that rather than demanding the audience buy their product they instead show the audience what their product is about, sharing funny clips from gameplay to get a laugh from the audience.
Here is a post for example.
Moving on, our next topics is;
Are there any professionals that you feel practice strong ethical behavior on social media?
CD Projekt Red, the studio behind the games Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher, provide a safe social space, sharing support for the LGBTQ+ folk as well as many other minorities, I believe they practice very strong ethical behavior on social media and in the games they have produced. The game Cyberpunk 2077 has wonderful queer representation, during my gameplay I followed the romance route of Judy Alvarez while playing as feminine V (the main protagonist of the game), I enjoyed every moment between the two characters and made sure I did everything I could do during my playthrough.
What are some takeaways you can bring forth in your own practices?
As a toy photographer, I can make posts oriented towards celebrations of all kinds of humans, sharing my support even if I don’t fit into the groups I share support for! As a content creator, you aren’t limited when it comes to sharing support for everyone. Even if you aren’t queer, you can still show support as an ally, even if you aren’t a person of color you can still share support for those who are, even if you aren’t experiencing emergencies yourself you can still show support to all those who are!
I want to focus on more inclusive posts, more colorful content, looking at social media’s ethics has given me motivation to do more to support those around me.
What main concepts do you think are necessary to adhere to for your own personal conduct online?
The main concept is to make sure my content does not make fun of or offend specific demographics. The point is that you don’t have to be offensive to trend, which is something that the millions of trolls online need to hear.
When I post I want my posts to be enjoyable, I don’t want them to feel like homework, and I certainly don’t want them to look like advertisements.
What main concepts do you feel strongly against and want to make sure you avoid on social media?
I want to avoid being mean. It just isn’t fun and there’s so much more than I could do with my time than write hateful posts.
I detest any content designed to make me want to buy a product, intrusive advertising is the worst. I also never want to see concepts that take the burdens of other people and uses that to trend. Part of the reason why I quit using TikTok was because I would constantly see people “pity posting” – a post where someone would fake a mental illness to generate clout. As someone who struggles with severe depression myself it pains me to see others make it sound like it’s something you choose to experience, because it isn’t. I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone, and to see people trying to profit from it just feels like a gut punch.
List 5-10 core concepts that you will follow as a practicing social media professional.
Never trick the viewer into voluntarily viewing an advertisement. If I am to advertise, I will not design my ad to look like just another post. I will be clear this is an advertisement.
Do not offend people for clout. If content is made from hurting others, it should never be posted.
Do not use children to sell products to other children.
Explain if a product review has been sponsored, make it clear if there will be bias or not.
Never post without credit. If I use a graphic someone else made, I will always; verify I am allowed to use the graphic and always credit the artist.
That’s all folks, see you next week!