Previously, I talked about how an individual’s professional profile reveals one’s personality. It goes the same for a business. Its social sites are a representation of the company’s brand, reputation and image. The internet enabled businesses to influence people easily with the increase in accessibility, reach and transparency.
However, people tend to overlook the ethical concerns behind social media marketing, leaving consumers vulnerable to deception.
This leads us to a significant issue – Unethical endorsements, in which I will elaborate on (1) unreported endorsements and (2) distorted endorsements.
Unreported Endorsements
Are you able to distinguish between normal tweets and those that are sponsored? If a brand is providing any form of remuneration to an individual (blogger, tweeter etc.) to promote the company, it is considered a paid endorsement which should be disclosed.
Simply put, who would you trust more? An individual that was paid to write in favor of the brand or an honest and unbiased opinion? I would definitely go for the latter as it presents higher credibility. This makes companies trying to conceal endorsement by deliberately not declaring it.
In 2006, a folksy blog – ‘Wal-Marting Across America’ gained huge social media traction. It featured the journey of a couple in a recreational vehicle, touring the U.S. and parking at Wal-Mart’s parking lots for free. They wrote positive stories about Wal-Mart and readers were led to believe that the couple had no relation with the company.
It turns out that the blog was supported by a PR agency where the trip expenses were being paid indirectly by Wal-Mart. With the truth revealed, Wal-Mart suffered a slew of negative publicity.
Distorted Endorsements
According to a survey by BrightLocal, 88% of consumers read and trust online reviews. I am certainly guilty of this. It seems astounding as most online reviews are posted by total strangers.
As mentioned in topic 2, individuals have multiple online identities and this makes it easy for anybody to conceal their identity to post comments anonymously on social media sites. It may seem tempting to create favorable comments or fabricate stories to promote the company’s offerings, which is of course, unethical.
The infamous case of Amazon and TripAdvisor:
Conclusion
All these unethical acts mislead consumers, affecting their purchasing decision. Damaging consumers’ trust and crushing their confidence, it is hard for consumers to have trust in the authenticity of the opinions posted.
It might also make companies lose potential employees. As companies screen our social media sites during the hiring process, we ourselves also search up on the potential companies that we might work with. It’s a two-way street, we want to know the authenticity of a company as much as they want to know about us.
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References:
Bloomberg.com. (2016). Wal-Mart’s Jim and Laura: The Real Story. [online] Available at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2006-10-09/wal-marts-jim-and-laura-the-real-storybusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016].
Mail Online. (2016). Five stars for effort: Amazon and TripAdvisor at centre of scandal as companies post fake reviews. [online] Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1393412/Amazon-TripAdvisor-centre-scandal-companies-post-fake-reviews.html [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016].
Edutainment. (2016). 7 Ethical Dilemmas Faced in Content Marketing. [online] Available at: http://blog.socialcontentmarketing.com/7-ethical-dilemmas-faced-in-social-media-marketing/ [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016].
Forbes.com. (2016). Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2015/12/28/how-important-are-customer-reviews-for-online-marketing/#7c81dc45788c [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016].
O’Brien,J(2014). 4 Native Ads and the Media’s talking about, Mashable. Available at: http://mashable.com/2014/09/30/native-ad-campaigns/ [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016].
David, V (2011). Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidvinjamuri/2011/11/03/ethics-and-the-5-deadly-sins-of-social-media/#114a2bec37ad [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016].
(www.dw.com), D. (2016). Paid-for tweets and posts raise ethical issues for advertising industry | Technology | DW.COM | 30.04.2013. [online] DW.COM. Available at: http://www.dw.com/en/paid-for-tweets-and-posts-raise-ethical-issues-for-advertising-industry/a-16781522 [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016].
vrevzine. (2016). Ethical Issues in Social Media. [online] Available at: https://vrevzine.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/ethical-issues-in-social-media/ [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016].
the Guardian. (2016). Twitter abuse: easy on the messenger | Editorial. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/24/twitter-abuse-abusive-tweets-editorial?CMP=twt_gu [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016].
Greenwald, G. (2016). Why privacy matters. [online] Ted.com. Available at: http://www.ted.com/talks/glenn_greenwald_why_privacy_matters#t-765452 [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016].
Ronson, J. (2016). How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html?module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Magazine&action=keypress®ion=FixedLeft&pgtype=article&_r=3 [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016].
BBC News. (2016). UK jumps up internet scoreboard as digital divide grows – BBC News. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-24426739 [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016].
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Living & Working on the Web 
Hello Angeline,
A very interesting and in-depth take on the ethical issue of how the business exploits social media. My post defer quite a bit from yours as mine has a more generalised view of the challenges an organisation experience, and how to thwart it.
I certainly agree that fraudulent online reviews are unethical, and it certainly questions the organisation’s integrity. So, what are the type of measures do you think an organisation can administer? In my post, my proposed solution to tackle ethical issues is the enforcement of social media governance within the organisation. Do you think this could help to crack down and prevent future cases of unethical endorsements? Would be happy to hear more about your views on this!
Cheers!
Nicol
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Hi Nicol,
I think that the enforcement of social media governance within the organisation is a great idea! Great read on your blog, it allows me to see it from a different perspective. Read the article you shared regarding social media governance.
Prevention is better than cure. All these positive reviews from surfacing even before consumers have already made their purchases. Being transparent about their operations and regularly maintaining their social media sites is a must-do.
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Hi Angeline!
I enjoyed reading your blog post and loved the fact that you made your points really clear by categorising your content under unreported endorsements and distorted endorsements! Similar to you, I am someone who reads reviews widely before making any purchases or trying out a certain product/service!
A question that I have is, what if a non-profitable organisation pays influencers to encourage anti-drug campaigns for a good cause in order to spread the word to their followers to stop doing drugs, and influencers are told not to mention that it is actually a sponsored post. Does this make it an unethical endorsement even though it is for a good cause? If they do disclose that they are being paid, they wouldn’t be able to influence their followers as much to stop doing drugs. What do you think about it? Do let me know!
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Hi Zoey,
Hi-5, I definitely need online reviews before making most of my purchases.
You got me thinking! Hmm. Personally, given this context, I would not consider it as an unethical endorsement. Ultimately, the intention of the post is to encourage a good cause, there is no intentional deceive in this case. Of course, the influencer himself/herself should portray a positive mindset about spreading the good cause. If the influencer carries the mindset that the doing is purely for money, then it will surely defeat the purpose.
I believe the lines of ethics and integrity is blurred in this case. What do you think? haha!
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Hi Angeline
I would be lying if I disagree that I would trust paid endorsements more. However, having unpaid and seemingly unbiased opinions around, we never know what existing in the Internet is true. Percentages of online hoaxes and scams are still growing (Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/crime-rate-down-in-first-half-of-2016-but-online-scams-on-the/3081968.html) and we shouldn’t believe everything on the Internet, especially from a single source (Source: http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/06/26/dont-believe-everything-you-read-on-the-internet-and-6-ways-to-be-more-skeptical). Even with statistics proving that majority trust online reviews, we cannot deny that there is still scepticism, which is why we compare opinions from multiple websites. That itself, is a way to avoid biased ideas at the consumers’ point of view.
These unethical acts however, do not affect consumers purchase decisions. In fact, it is our mentality and approach to these endorsements. If people are educated to know the difference between opinions and facts, these unethical acts would not cause a big ripple on decision-making, don’t you think so?
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Hello Angeline,
I was able to appreciate your well-structured breakdown on the practice of astroturfing and the issue of undisclosed endorsements.
However, I would like to discuss the actual nature and birth of this practice.
“The development of these new astroturf tools is both a response and a result of the openness inherent online.” (Bienkov, 2016)
As the article points out, online platforms give power and voice to people to carry out genuine movements but also enables businesses to crowd out opposition. It seems like you can’t have one without the other. What would be your thoughts on this sentiment?
In addition to that I would also like to know if you think there are feasible solutions to these problems. It seems that trying to allocate resources to track down those who take part in the practice of astroturfing is not an easy thing.
Cheers!
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Hello Angeline,
Interesting topic 4 you’ve written on business social media ethical issues.
Personally I do know of such practices online however I did not know the correct terms to them until I read your entry. I do agree with you that user reviews is what I would look out for before acquiring any product/services and these reviews can affect how I perceive the product/service.
Usually, what we do is scan through the comments quickly without knowing who is giving the review because of anonymity and we may be blindly following the opinions which ultimately misleads us.
An example would be TripAdvisor, where we read the comments and review of a hotel to check its credibility before deciding on it. Though most of the reviews on TripAdvisor is genuine, some reviews are obviously fake.
To reduce this, I would like to suggest that one do a self research on the web first even after reading the reviews or endorsements. This is to help us get a more comprehensive view on the topic and also develop our own opinions and deciding our perception of the product/services.
What would you suggest?
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