Topic 4 Reflection

This week’s topic revolved around ethics in social media and internet use itself. For a lot of students in this module, one of the things that came to mind was Justine Sacco’s tweet that gave her worldwide notoriety. This tweet gained traction across the internet for it being ludicrously racist. As a result, the whole internet criticized her for posting something so racist and called for her employer to fire her.

I read in Leah’s blog about how the event came to be, thanks a to TED talk video on that blog post. Justine only had 170 followers on Twitter at the time the tweet was posted. One of her followers leaked the tweet to a journalist who then spread it even further. In the space of ten days in December, Justine Sacco was googled over a million times. This example shows how quickly something can get around the web and that people who post things on social media need to be careful as one of their ‘followers’ or friends’ could leak your post you found to be funny, while the whole internet finds it offensive. Things on the internet can spread like a disease and before you can explain your racist post, you’re vilified by the whole world.

Tom‘s blog looked at the idea of ethically tracking personal data with companies. I did something similar to this, but Tom looked at how companies track what websites we visit and anonymise the searches so that it no longer ‘constitutes’ personal data. Even though it improves service, a company can look at my browser history without my consent. We both discussed how an employer can spy on their employee through the company bandwidth, which is something that needs to be thought about whoever is working in an office.

Word Count: 297

Blogs commented on:

https://tomburrellblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/22/ethics-of-tracking/comment-page-1/#comment-22

https://leahcowan.wordpress.com/2015/11/22/public-shaming/

Using and Posting on the Internet with Caution

As mentioned in previous posts, the amount of impact the internet has on our lives is enormous. Every little thing you do, be it a post or a something you search for, plays an important role in how you use the internet. This is because your employer can spy on you in many different ways. Your employer is capable of checking your searches within the company computer you are using and can perform monitor searches. These two things can be done through the company’s bandwidth, which is very unsettling to those working in an office now that they’re aware their employer is potentially spying on them.

Despite this being unethical, not using the internet carefully can potentially be very damaging. One case is Justine Sacco’s Tweet, which got Justine fired for posting a racist tweet without considering who could see the tweet. Another similar incident occurred when Sir John Sawer’s cover was blown because his wife posted family pictures on Facebook without changing any of the privacy settings. One thing led to another and all of London was able to see all the photos the former chief of MI6’s wife had posted onto Facebook.

Here is a video which shows an example of what happens when you don’t mark your posts as private and are not careful about what you post on the internet.

It is unethical how your employer can spy on you and look you up on google, but I believe it is necessary for the employers to make sure they know who they’re hiring and monitoring their progress in the office. Though its unfair that my employer can spy on what I’m searching while at work, but I shouldn’t be surfing through Facebook, I should be getting those required tasks done as soon as possible. Though it is a little bit harsh to argue against someone’s privacy, that same individual isn’t paid to come to work to surf Facebook.

Large Man Looking At Co-Worker With A Magnifying Glass — Image by © Images.com/Corbis

On the other hand, for people like Justine Sacco and Sir John Sawers to be subject to such scrutiny, they had it coming. Not so much John Sawers as it was his wife’s fault, but Justine Sacco should’ve never posted that Tweet as Tweets and status updates are so easily accessible by so many different people. By not making the most of your privacy settings and posting on social media with caution, incidents like the ones mentioned above can be avoided.

Word Count: 404

References:

How social media can ruin your career, video, KroesKontroltv, 15 March 2013. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CImhaCY1YP4 [Accessed 21 November 2015]

Litty, M. (2014) 6 Ways Your Employer Can Legally Spy on You, Recruiter. Available from: https://www.recruiter.com/i/6-ways-your-employer-can-legally-spy-on-you/ [Accessed 20 November 2015]

Ronson, J. (2015) How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life, The New York Times. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html?module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Magazine&action=keypress&region=FixedLeft&pgtype=article&_r=3{Accessed 20 November 2015]

Sengupta, K. (2011) A spy in Speedos: Wife blows cover of MI6 chief on Facebook, The Independent. Available from: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/a-spy-in-speedos-wife-blows-cover-of-mi6-chief-on-facebook-1732759.html [Accessed 20 November 2015]

Siciliano, R. (2015) Be careful what You post in Social Media, LinkedIn. Available from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/careful-what-you-post-social-media-robert-siciliano [Accessed 21 November 2015]

 

Topic 3 Reflection

This topic was all about developing a professional online profile, which includes websites like LinkedIn. LinkedIn has become a very important website for people who want to connect with companies and potentially get work from companies on LinkedIn. However, from reading other blog posts, LinkedIn isn’t the only website to look at if you’re trying to promote yourself online. By reading Chris‘s blog, which focused on musicians and photographers, websites like Instagram and Soundcloud play a large role in promoting one’s photos or music. He goes on to say how it is crucial for artists to constantly share their work in order for them to get noticed, otherwise no one will be able to see their work if they don’t share it as much as possible.

In Georgina‘s blog, she talks about the importance of making a good impression with employers who quickly glance at your online profile. She stresses the point of how it is important for you to have multiple online profiles so that you are much easier to find on google, so having an account on Twitter or Facebook will serve as a benefit to you. Georgina also used a personal example of how her blog’s views skyrocketed after applying for multiple jobs.

Both blogs discuss that making your presence known is the most important thing about maintaining a professional online profile. I completely agree with this because if you don’t make your presence known online, potential employers won’t be able to see what kind of skills you offer. This can potentially prevent any fantastic work opportunities from happening because you didn’t promote your work and profile as much as possible.

Word Count: 280

Posts commented on:

Creating a Digital Professional Profile to become a Freelance Content Creator

Developing an authentic online professional profile

Ways in which you can develop your online profile

Websites like LinkedIn are becoming more and more popular, especially the idea of using an online profile to try and attract potential employers. The important part about this is making sure your profile is spot on and that people from various companies like what they see from you.

Here is my LinkedIn profile to show you my attempt at creating a professional online profile. However, there are many ways you can impress with your linked in profile:

Make Your Profile Look Professional

First of all, you’re going to want to upload a picture of yourself on your profile, particularly a professionally taken picture. Keep it simple, while only keeping a headshot of yourself so people can see what you look like. Your name should be your name and your name only, while maintaining a snappy headline to capture potential readers’ attention. You’re going to want to add links to all your different websites to help you appear more in searches online. Be sure to keep things on your other links hidden so that viewers don’t see things you don’t want strangers to see. For websites like twitter, which are usually open to almost anyone, make sure your profile looks professional and doesn’t contain photos from nights out.

Keep It Updated

Keeping an up-to-date profile is essential in order to make your profile stand out. Things like status updates and keeping your work/educational history is important for companies to get a clearer picture of who you are. By remaining inactive on LinkedIn, it isn’t possible for other people to see what you have been doing with your career in recent times.

Presenting Your Skills

Be sure to present your skills by using various different keywords, such as marketing or public speaking. Beware, however, generalizing, or showing people that you’re the jack-of-all-trades kind of individual, doesn’t sit well with companies as they want to see what specific and specialized skills you offer so that they can see what field you fit into as a potential employee. Adding to that, using words like outstanding and excellent aren’t very believable, so it is suggested that you show them what you did instead of potentially praising yourself too much.

By maintaining a solid LinkedIn profile, you should be able to impress almost anyone who comes across your profile in the future. Nowadays, we are seeing social media and technology have a much larger impact on our lives, so companies and potential employers will follow suit and use social media to recruit people.

Word Count: 417

References

Dartmouth, “6 Steps to Creating a Professional Profile”, Dartmouth, (Electronic Resource) <http://www.dartmouth.edu/~csrc/docs/linkedin_howto.pdf

Dodaro, Melonie, “21 Steps To The Perfect LinkedIn Profile”, TopDog Social Media, (Electronic Resource) <http://topdogsocialmedia.com/linkedin-training-creating-the-perfect-profile/

Dummies, “How to Create Effective and Professional Online Profiles”, For Dummies, (Electronic Resource) <http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-create-effective-and-professional-online-pr.html

Gant, Jesse, “7 Ways to Optimize Your Professional Profile”, Mashable, (Electroinc Resource) <http://mashable.com/2012/07/17/optimize-online-professional-profile/#AhPa.O6k0Sqx

Reflecting Upon Topic 2

This is a topic that a lot of people from younger generations are quite familiar with, as the internet grows more and more popular as time goes by. After working and getting familiar with this topic, I have learned a lot more about why people have more than one identity and why having more than one identity can be harmful to others. To be specific, I learned more about catfishing by reading about it online and on Lphenix‘s and on Hollie‘s blogs.

Catfishing is something that anyone can easily come across, especially if using a dating website like Tinder, but by reading about it on the blogs mentioned above and with articles, I have come to understand why some people would consider using an alternative persona despite the fact it can be quite unethical. I have also learned that by creating multiple online personas, people are at greater risk of being a victim to identity theft. I for one do not have multiple accounts from the same social media website, and by reading about it on other blogs, I may not want to create multiple identities regardless of the situation. It should be mentioned that Facebook now has privacy settings that can be altered so only your friends can see your profile for example.

On the other hand, I have come to understand more why people under constant scrutiny have multiple personas, like athletes and politicians. A world-known musician can’t necessarily share a Facebook account for his/her fans and his/her personal life because they may not want all the attention from people they’ve never known and/or seen before, especially if its something better kept within his/her personal sphere.

All in all, this is a topic I was somewhat familiar with before writing about it, but it is something I understand a lot more now. This is the case for speaking for multiple identities as it was something I never knew could be thought of as a positive and I never thought about how multiple identities worked for famous people.

Word Count: 338

Blogs commented on:

Multiple online profiles: An accident waiting to happen?

https://holliekinch.wordpress.com/2015/10/21/online-or-offline/comment-page-1/#comment-2