Trey McCaffrey Blog 3
Current social media ethics is on a hard down turn in our modern society. One major trend that is happening everywhere is the spread of misinformation and disinformation. Misinformation is information that is spread because of the thought that it is true but in reality it is false. One very recent example is the picture that became big on social media was a wildfire that seemed to be engulfing the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles. This was made by someone and posted most likely as a joke, but then someone who saw it and thought it was real spread it and it spread like a disease around social media. Although this could be counted as disinformation on the part of the person that originally made it and posted it in the first place, everyone else posting it is counted as misinformation. Disinformation is information that is spread by someone even though they know that it is false. One big example of disinformation is defamation. A big case we witnessed recently was the court case of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard where Depp was suing Heard for a defamatory article she had written for the Washington Post stating that she was a domestic abuse victim. Although she had not mentioned him by name in the article it was clear to everyone who the article was about.
The Hollywood sign on fire image and the Depp V Heard case are two examples of recent and current cases on social media ethics.
An organization that I would be interested in joining as a social media staff member would be Hasbro. I feel that being able to spread information for them would be amazing. The main part of their code is that all social media posts have to be authorized by the top designated people before they can be posted. One obvious part is that it must comply with and adhere to Hasbro’s overall code of conduct. Social media posts must preserve the image of Hasbro and nothing hurtful or defamatory to their name can be posted on their social media. The final piece that I found, that not everyone may think about, is compliance and adherence to COPPA or Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. This basically means that, because Hasbro is a children focused organization, posts made to their social media must be acceptable to be viewed by people of that demographic.
After searching for some brands that use proper social media ethical practices I settled on one brand that really stuck out to me as using their social media for good ethical purposes, Patagonia. Their most recent post on Instagram follows two of their trail run ambassadors who were taking part in the Bhutan Snowman Trek. They both filmed their experience and the glaciers that surround the trial of the race. One of the ambassadors Luke Nelson said that just two years before he had done the same trek and the glaciers were much smaller than what he had seen them at the two years prior. This post brought many people to the comment sections voicing their own concerns about climate change. It was a very strong video that moved me as I watched the whole thing. The Snowman Trek also happens to be focused on climate change and how it affects the glaciers along its route.
I feel that all professionals practice strong social media ethics but everyone has that one moment where they slip up and do the wrong thing.
A practice that I can take into my own social media ethics is to make sure that I don’t spread misinformation by checking the validity of a story and/or an image that I want to repost or quote.
I think I need to make sure I try to find every side of a story and compare them all to see what information lines up and what info doesn’t so I can determine differing views between different news sources or news social media accounts.
Something I definitely want to avoid doing on social media is spreading disinformation. Spreading disinformation is a terrible practice that I don’t think anyone should be doing at all.
Do not spread misinformation and disinformation
Validate any outside source, image or story
Make sure all posts are ethical and that they don’t harm anyone
Always make sure any information I post is true and legitimate
Make sure my posts do not infringe on any intellectual property
Have posts respect people of all groups
This race of a lifetime follows the trail of the famous Snowman Trek, which has been completed by fewer people than Everest. The audacious e