Ethical Considerations of Social Media in Professional Practice

This report delves into the ethical dimensions of social media, focusing on its impact on professional practice. It begins by highlighting the prevalence of social networking and its influence on global communication, while also addressing the privacy concerns and ethical challenges associated with this technology. The report emphasizes the importance of ethical guidelines in navigating the online landscape, particularly in light of the rapid advancements in technology. It explores the ethical issues that arise from social networking, such as deceptive practices and the creation of defamatory content, and stresses the responsibility of social networks to protect user privacy. The report references key studies to support its analysis and underscores the need for a critical examination of social media's ethical implications to ensure responsible and beneficial use.

Running head: ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Ethics and Professional Practice
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Ethics of online social network
Social media or social networking sites have become very common in the modern day
digital communication. Millions of people all around the world are connected throughout this
network positively (Oh, Ozkaya & LaRose, 2014). These social networks are very much popular
and they are used for the proper communication between all the people. Some privacy-related
problems have been observed in this scenario. The use of the technology has some social impacts
as well. These impacts can be good or bad (Simon, 2012). This can either be good or bad. These
impacts will affect the daily lives of the people. There is a huge ethical dimension in all this.
These privacy-related problems have not been dealt with much efficiency. The internet has been
expanding so fast in this age of technological advancement. The ethical guidelines are not met
properly met by the various social networks. Many ethical issues had emerged in this context as
well. The standard online social networks are Facebook and Twitter. Since these two online
social networks had emerged, the need for the keeping good relationships among the global
citizens had begun to increase a lot (Oh, Ozkaya & LaRose, 2014).
With the increase in popularity for Facebook and Twitter, the critics began to say that the
users most times violated the ethical norms. The ethical analysis was being made in the light of
the developing countries in common. The social exchanges had become quite common in many
aspects as well. The users of internet have been quite enchanted with the attracting power of the
online social networks. These social networks have the capacity of increasing the communication
between various people (Simon, 2012). There are some social networking codes or etiquettes in
the contemporary digital age. The question of deception comes into mind whenever the talks of
sending friend requests to unknown persons are supposed. Other ethical issues that have arisen
in this issue are the social grooming and creating the defamatory contents. These issues have

2ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
raised the ethical questions properly (Moreno et al., 2013). The ethical issues should always be
taken as the primary responsibility of the online social networks to secure the privacy of the
users. Most people are not aware of the dangers of using the social networks so these users are
prone to be targeted at a public sphere. These issues have been really regarded as the ethical ones
to ensure better outcomes in the society.

3ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
References
Moreno, M. A., Goniu, N., Moreno, P. S., & Diekema, D. (2013). Ethics of social media
research: common concerns and practical considerations. Cyberpsychology, Behavior,
and Social Networking, 16(9), 708-713.
Oh, H. J., Ozkaya, E., & LaRose, R. (2014). How does online social networking enhance life
satisfaction? The relationships among online supportive interaction, affect, perceived
social support, sense of community, and life satisfaction. Computers in Human
Behavior, 30, 69-78.
Simon, B. M. (2012). The Implications of Technological Advancement for Obviousness.