If you were to peek into the social media world for the very first time, you would probably think that it is a place similar to the old Wild West – lawless, a place without any rules. In part, you would be right. But even the old Wild West had an unspoken code of conduct. Honour amongst thieves one might say.
In social media, people police themselves. People will self-select those they trust, people they view as ethical and reliable and the others they will tune out, disregard or even block. You can act like an obnoxious spoilt child, but like real life, you will find it has consequences.
Most of the unwritten rules in social media are very similar to other forms of communication and interaction. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Don’t dominate conversations, listen to people respectfully, don’t lie, don’t shout, don’t spit and put your toys away when you are done.
But some of the other rules are less obvious. Like disclosure. Is it ok to let the people you are interacting with think you are someone you aren’t? Is it ok NOT to tell whom you are working for or what your affiliations are? All of these things are possible to do in social media, but like many other things in life, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
When in doubt, ask yourself this question “would this be ok or ethical if it wasn’t social media?”
Would it be right to extol the virtues of a particular product to your friend without telling them you would derive financial gain if they buy it? Is it appropriate to use your good name and reputation to influence someone’s behaviour without telling them how it benefits you? To quote Michael Cohn “Having hidden agendas will only count against you”
When I wrote a blog critiquing municipal election candidates from a communications perspective, I was upfront in saying that I would not be addressing the rural candidates because one of them was a client of mine. Could I have gone ahead and done it without saying anything? Definitely. I wouldn’t have been breaking any laws, but it wouldn’t have been ethical and if it came out, it would hurt my reputation and credibility.
This has become such an issue that the Federal Trade Commission in the US has put into place guidelines that tell advertisers how to handle disclosure.
Have you also noticed how in the United States political candidates who run TV ads have a tagline saying which commercial was endorsed by which candidate? One reason is to stop people from purchasing advertising and saying whatever they want, with no accountability.
Disclosure is about playing fair. Without all the information, like who is telling you something, people can not make informed decisions or opinions. Taking into consideration who is sending the message is part of deciding how much credibility that message has.
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