Despite the ‘self-correcting adhocracy’ of social media through the work of vigilant peers, there are still, and there always will be, major concerns in relation to the spread of misinformation.
Breaches of privacy and security; attacks by trolls and hacktivists; and cyberbullying are constantly happening on a day-to-day basis.
Unfortunately, we cannot turn a blind eye towards these problems, we must face them as they are not going away easily. Because, one can argue that cyberbullying is just the digital version of normal bullying, which has been around forever.
Freedom of Speech
Governments, civil organisations, companies and social leaders, all have these issues in the focus of their attention — understandably. Unfortunately they are hard to resolve, as they are part of a long-running debate over media regulation versus self-regulation.
The rule in all media, is that rights to freedom of speech and freedom of media need to be balanced against the rights of individuals. People have the right to privacy, security and freedom from bullying and harassment. However, in the case of social media, everything that is posted is public. How can we adhere to these rules in the digital age? This is something that needs to be borne in mind and communicated throughout an organisation.
Even if someone deletes the given content from live pages, many servers and computers connected to the internet will have it cached and will continue to distribute it. ‘What happens on the internet stays on the internet forever’ — a well-known proverb, that has never been more true.
Power, Wealth, Ethics
Commercial and political interests can ‘colonise’ social media, blatantly exploiting it for marketing and propaganda purposes. In addition, political parties and candidates in many countries have flocked to social media to garner support for their various policies and causes. This raises concerns about these channels, as people are still looking at them as trustworthy sources.
Monetisation is a buzzword in today’s online world. Because, owners of sites and applications try to find ways to generate income from their products and services. In societies with free enterprise systems in place, companies can modify their platforms for commercial activities, such as advertising. Monetisation is legitimate practice on the internet and in social media.
For the aforementioned reasons, PR companies and professionals will always have to bear in mind the essential differences between commercial media advertising and social media. The excessive commercialisation of social media can lead to a backlash.