Social Media in the Workplace

Abstract

Applications using social media have skyrocketed in the past few years. Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, etc. have rapidly gained an enormous amount of popularity. Social network sites which are web based services that allow users to set up public or semi-public profiles and connect with others that they share a connection to. This new world of always being wired brings with it new challenges for companies and their employees. With all of the new technology, it is also easier for people to afford phones, tablets and computers that they can use off the network of the company to communicate with family, friends and even strangers. These sites also allow users to express their views and values on many different types of networking sites. Companies, in turn, use social media as a way of recruiting and marketing. With all of the social media sites available today, it makes it more attractive to employers to use these sites to find possible sources to hire. Companies also use this service to help promote their business. A main concern in today’s world of networking is whether the current law provides sufficient protection to employees and their rights to privacy in the workplace.

Ethical Problems

Misuse of Resources. Most companies have a policy that disallows the use of corporate resources for personal use. Companies believe that employees that use corporate resources for the use of social media are in affect stealing from them. Ethically it is wrong to steal. Stealing by using social media is similar to taking pens or other items for personal use. (Linda K. Trevino, 2011)

Employee Adaptations. With the emergence of new technology on cell phones, tablets and cheaper computers, employees are able to connect online without the company’s ability to track the usage. (Lunday, 2010) While this eliminates the company’s ability to track employee’s usage, it still allows the employee to utilize company time to use social media. The benefits of companies allowing social networking to be utilized in the workplace is that allows the interaction of users that can be utilized to share information and create comrade between individuals for the purpose of benefitting the company.

Company Responsibility

Rights Perspective. Users of social media are learning about more and more perspective employers looking through their social media sites. What users feel is private online use, has become a concern and elevates new challenges where consent is concerned. (Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, 2014) This is a great debate at this time.

Overstepping their Boundaries. It began when two reporters at the AP, Manuel Valdes and Shannon McFarland, identified several incidences where jobseekers had been asked to dish out their Facebook passwords to potential employers.