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Essay on Ethical Issues with Social Media

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Current Ethical Issues with Social Media
People are increasingly sharing their lives online through social networking sites with little concern for who may be viewing their information. This has become an issue in current times and is up for debate based on the ethical issues associated with Social Media. People don’t realize joining a social network is like joining a community. As any community in real life, your business has a place in the community but should not invade one’s privacy. Social networking is one of the most popular methods apart from forum marketing that is available to Internet users today. Places like MySpace and Facebook among others have gone from just social interaction spaces to a part time marketing program as …show more content…

There is no legitimate appeal beyond them. That which produces the greatest amount of happiness is morally obligatory and nothing else.

Legal Perspective
In fact, the principle applies not only to morals but also to legislation. The purpose of laws is to maximize the total happiness of the community. Most ethics questions about the use of technology can be adequately answered by existing ethics rules without regard to medium or application.
On a more fundamental level, most of the ethical pitfalls related to social networking can be prevented by a little forethought and exercise of common sense, without regard to ethics rules. The qualities of social networking which are so potentially problematic for lawyers are its immediacy, its accessibility, and its permanency. As a result, like all users of social media, lawyers can react to a situation instantaneously and publicly, with an online posting that will remain on the internet in some form forever. Instead of sober reflection, social media encourages a reactionary and emotional post. Instead of one-on-one communication with a colleague or friend, social media encourages a broadcast to an expansive audience. Instead of ethereal and temporary communication, social media encourages an indelible post. You can get yourself into serious trouble by tweeting an emotional reaction to a judge's adverse ruling from your iPhone as you are walking out of the courthouse, instead of

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