Essay On Ethical Issues In Social Media

The greatest ethical problem that is facing American businesses today is the secured and unsecured use of social media by both employers and employees. Should employers be able to use social media networks as a way to recruit future job candidates? Or should employers be able to dictate what their employees put out on their own social media accounts when they are not on the job hours? These are all questions that arise from the employees’ point of view, what about the employers point of view. Would you want your employees talking bad about your business on social media? It would be equivalent to the employee holding up a sign that says, “This company sucks!” These are just a few of the unanswered questions that arise with the secured and unsecured use of social media. That is why it is still a big ethical issue today. Many employers use social media as a way to communicate with their stakeholders, such as their employees, suppliers, and especially their customers. These

In a survey done by Joyce LeMay and Jonathan Segal, they found out, “31 percent of the 212 respondents (about half were in HR) said they believed that using social media for screening applicants is unethical.” The secured use of social media done by the employer could decide if the candidate gets the job or not. Economically speaking the decision of the job candidate not getting the job based on what they say on their social media accounts, could make them lose out on money or salary for that job. This is one economic conclusion that can come from this example. The other is when the employers’ use social media as a way to decide if they want to hire someone or not, they could be picking the best candidate possible, which could lead to maximizing business benefits. Which could help the company economically in the long