Ethical Use of Social Media Research Project
Ethical uses of social media include, but aren't limited to, being truthful about your identity, respecting others privacy, opinions, rights and being responsible for what you say and post. Social media serves as a way of communicating, connecting and staying updated with your friends and family. It allows individuals to share information, thoughts and opinions. However, social media can also be used as a way of spreading intentionally false or harmful information. That's what makes it so important to spread awareness and gain understanding about what proper and ethical use of social media should look like.
Social media have access to sensitive information such as profiles info, location data, personal interests and employment info through cookies, geofencing, third-party sharing and privacy setting loopholes. Your information can now be used for identity theft and spreading false information. Because of these risks, it creates the ethical dilemma of what's acceptable to share with the world.
Social media use can be both a positive and negative influence for our mental health. With the use of social media, you could feel more comfortable with self-expression and increase your awareness about yourself and those around you. In addition to this, you constantly have access to more information and different, more creative ways of thinking. Despite this, there's always a risk of mental health issues, cyberbullying, division between various groups, misinformation, antisocial behavior.
Information is constantly moving on social media, whether it be content, comments or a video your friend sends you. But how does all this get to you in the first place? Social media platforms use algorithms to decide what content to show each specific user based on what you’re interested in. But this means you could come across content with false information. This could happen through misinformation or disinformation. Misinformation can be false information spread unintentionally, but cause problems such as confusion and changing people’s judgment and views of certain topics.
Social media is bigger than the apps on your phone, it's in our everyday lives and affects our relationships, including creating connections or isolating yourself and or others. By allowing you to learn about events in your community and meet new people with similar interests as you, it becomes more convenient to form new relationships. However, by normalizing substituting face-to-face interactions with social media interactions or entertainment, it's easy to unconsciously isolate yourself from real everyday life.
What Are Social Media Ethics?
Social Media Impact: How Social Media Sites Affect Society
6 common social media privacy issues
The Social dilemma: Social Media and Your Mental Health
Everything You Need to Know about Social Media Algorithms
Does Social Media Create Isolation?
The illusion of closeness: how social media redefined respect