Ethical issues with social media and Advertising regulations

Social media has become an integral part of our everyday lives and corporate communications in the workplace however, like other media, it faces many challenges. Ethical issues have been raised including the following headings:

1.       Privacy and Reputation

2.       Truth and Honesty

3.       Security

4.       Safety

Clapping Tress Web 2.0

Organisations need to have an understanding of such ethical issues before an advertising campaign is implemented. In today’s society, brands cannot be freely advertised not knowing the rules associated with the media they use and how they portray themselves to the public.
Having existed for nearly 50 years, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) http://www.asa.org.uk/ allows for any member of the public to voice a complaint about a specific advertisement which they find is inappropriate or offensive to them.

There has been a recent development in the regulation of advertisements by the ASA this year as they are now going to regulate online content: New online remit . Before March 1^st 2011, content online was free of any regulations and companies were allowed to advertise their brand however they wanted without having to think, for example; of ethical issues. The new Advertising Associations Online marketing regulation will ensure that consumers are not exploited online by false advertising claims. This will help ensure that the public are not taken advantage of and made to believe false advertising claims online and will encourage organisations to be socially responsible so consumers can build trust with their brand.

There are daily complaints to the ASA; in 2010 they received over 26’000 complaints. I have included two examples below:

•    Tesco’s anti-Asda advertisements being misleading – ASA realised that 13 fresh foods were not included in Asda’s price Guarantee. Tesco just said that they didn’t realize this and it was a mistake. Lies?  This shows that false advertising claims will soon be found out especially when a company decide to bring down another in it’s advertsing. 

·         Lush  creating a campaign that was against fox hunting and wanted to stop it saying it was still happening and giving out leaflets in-store. Postcards were given out to the public encouraging them to send it to their local police stations. People complained that Lush were being offensive to hunters. There was also a claim found that "... a whopping 75% of the population want to see hunting with hounds remain a criminal activity" which shoots Lush down a level. There was also the concern that this campaign would cause violence amongst protesters and the public.

        The new online remit adopted by the ASA suggests the extent to which the internet is being used today to develop communications between brands and potential consumers online. There is a huge opportunity for brands to develop integrated online communications experimenting with their brands through various media forms and making it interactive with its users. Now brands have to be careful to portray the right message to the right audience at the right time or else the ASA will be on their case!



Clicktivism

Digital activism has become a key topic in today's society. Many groups and organisations have been using the internet as a vehicle to create hype and change around social, political , economic and environmental issues.

I came across this website which suggested how much campaigning has evolved; talking about the lunchtime dance outside the Bank of England. The dance was organized by a group of bloggers ands activists posted on Facebook and publicized by people who were interested in it on Twitter. Activists have embraced the internet like never before.

This means of activism is known as clicktivism. Where such information has the ability to be dispersed around the internet and create hype. Examples include videos posted up on YouTube such as Charlie bit my finger or the Sneezing Panda.

Clicktivism = The act or habit of using the internet as a primary means of influencing public opinion on matters of politics, religion or other social concerns. On the other hand organizations such as UK Uncut are attempting to stop this trend of activism and bring back traditional forms of activism.

Cow Clicktivism…?

I bumped into Ian Bogost’s blog from March 3^rd 2011 which introduced a  corporate social game which has the ability to have an impact on the world. The game is known as Cow Clicktivism where your cow online is turned into a virtual cow. Depending on whether you click on your cow enough every 6 hours your bar will increase online and if the optimum level is achieved a cow is donated to to a less fortunate family via Oxfam America Unwrapped. This game also offers an opportunity for advertisers online; if a cow is sponsored they can obtain the benefits of being ethical and socially responsible.

Since July 2010, more than 50,000 people have clicked over 50 breeds of cows over 5 million times!

I have just done my first click and I will be able to doncate a cow if I keep updating my clicks every 6 hours for about 20 days... I don't know if this is possible... am I allowed to sleep? anways I am going to try and see how it goes!

Do you want to join in and help donate a cow? Visit http://cowclicktivism.org/# every 6 hours and also try make a difference!

Privacy and Data Mining

Technology is a key driver of digital privacy and is an issue rapidly developing in the online digital environment. Social networks are a great business because users generate the content themselves, which attracts more users and increases the average time spent in those networks. Privacy is defined as "someone’s right to keep their personal matters and relationships secret" ... but surely this is not the case with social networking? This blog talks about how your private information can be invaded by the public and data mining.

So why do people want privacy when they put all their personal information online? Surely it is going to cause implications. I myself do not put personal information online such as where I live or any contact details on Facebook, I think someone who wants to know more about me should just ask and any of my good friends would have that information anyways.

On Facebook users can be segmented according to their age, gender, civil status, place of employment, job title, interests and activities. This brings about the question of how advertisers and marketers and infringement of user privacy? Advertisers are able to target segments by defining their target groups and therefore targeting their advertising to these groups. An interesting read from WARC journals online, which I did not know about myself, stated that:

“Since the average Facebook user has 120 friends, and 61% use Facebook on a daily basis^, this would generate more than 75 daily news feeds. To make the user's Home page more manageable, Facebook chooses 20 news feeds based on the profiles and the type of content in which the user is normally most interested” (Mindshare, 2010)

The text extracted from the Journal by Mindshare above shows an example of invasion of privacy in a way that Facebook assumes what the individual user will want to see and so manages the content which appears on their home page. I think you should be able to see what you want to see, even though you can hide news feeds from certain people it is wrong to assume what an individual user will be interested in. Even though this is not a big deal its the principle that Facebook is personal and should it should not interrupt user content.

The Youtube video below on “Click Rain interview on Social Media data mining” shows how marketers want more and more information on consumers. Is this ethical? Mark Henderson on Facebook Rapleaf have documented his information which concerns him. Out of the many other aggregators, Rapleaf has created profiles of over 400’000’000’000 consumers without them knowing and used their information and sold their data to other companies such as banks. I think this is crazy that they are making money from us that we have no idea about- do you think our personal information abused? I certainly do. Their is a search engine called Spokeo where you can locate people’s profiles by typing their name in and see information about them. The more you pay for this search engine, the more information you are able to retrieve. The example of Tyson Plastow shows how he looks up information on himself and how some of it was incorrect like saying he was African-American and he was not.

Privacy in the digital age

Online we might have information about ourselves that might not want the public to see such as Google Earth or Google Street View. This kind of information about our lifestyles and demographics is increasing and being utilised for the benefit of marketers and advertisers. On the plus side people are becoming more informed about privacy on the internet.

“Such sentiments will make it imperative for marketers and tech giants to become transparent and to put maximum control into consumers' hands - ease the "creepy" factor and enhance choice”

Consumers supply a vast amount of data about themselves beyond their laptops such as their mobile phones where people say where they are at a moment in time on whatsap which is a free instant chat messenger available to iPhone owners.

The Chicago Tribune reported that "Advertisers are eager to seize on the popularity of location-based services that allow phone subscribers to map their whereabouts and get localized content”This shows that privacy implications will most probably escalate and consumers have to become more aware of what information they put out there about themselves not only on their laptops and computer screens but on their mobiles as well.

Sniff (2008) is a service which works in conjunction with Facebook. Sniff stands for Social Network Integrated Friend Finder. This piece of software allows networks of people to find each other. It launched in Sweden where it claimed more than 80’000 users as well as Denmark in the UK (2008). Sniff does not need GPS but needs information of consumers locations. This is great for people who want to find friend but what about all those people you can’t trust online? This is where privacy can have huge ethical issues and could put people in potential danger. What do you think of Sniff? Sniff said that they give people control over how their information is dispersed online and that they cannot be located without their consent. Users can also change their settings as to who can locate them, however I personally think this is an invasion of privacy. If you want to know where someone is you can call them can’t you? Why disclose such information online? People are so hungry for the digital world and online communication and it seems to be getting more and more entwined in people’s everyday lives.

So internet users reading this post...think twice before you put up personal information online as you are feeding it to the public!



There is a lot more to Google than you might think...exploring Google Adwords, Analytics and SEO

This blog discusses how products and services can be advertised through Google and how organisations can keep track of their online advertising success.

I use Google just about every day to search for anything and everything however I have not researched its abilities and resources it offers for advertisers. After attending a lecture on Google Adwords, Analytics and SEO I found that there is more to Google than it being a basic search engine. Even though I was aware of online advertising, I have never looked into how organisations can utilise Google to its maximum advertising potential.

Google Analytics

Google analytics is a sophisticated tracking tool for organisations. It is a great tool for organisations to use as it gives them insights into their “website traffic and marketing objectives”. This can help closely target consumers with advertisements when they are searching or “google-ing”; a term we have all become familiar with. In specifying key search terms and linking them to an advertising message, organisations can create better-targeted advertisements and strengthen their marketing plans.

Google Adwords

Advantages of Google Adwords is that an organisation can test and measure changes in real time. Here an advertiser can measure how changes to their campaign impacted on their product’s or service’s performance. The use of Google Adwords also provides better ways to improve advertisers ROI (return on investment)

Organisations can have an “Adwords” advertisement which consumers can click in the right-hand column on their Google search page. How to make Adwords work for organisations can be done in five ways:

1)      Target

Need to understand which potential consumers would be interested in your product or service you want to advertise.

 Locations you target are important as online advertising means your product can be delivered around the country or even abroad.

2)      Budget

The amount an organisation wants to pay for an advertisement is up to them. There are 3 ways in which they can manage their advertising budget:

a) Daily budget

 b) Cost per clicks (CPC) you can raise how much you want to pay for different keywords which will rank you higher on the page; this could be a product which is most popular.

 c) AD quality –Here an organisation needs to choose the maximum amount they are prepared to pay when someone clicks on their advertisement. Google Adwords is also known as a traffic estimator which can help an organisation decide how much to bid (CPC).  Google looks out for organisations who decide to manage their online advertising budget manually and will stop showing their advertisement when it is reached.

AD quality is an important aspect when it comes to Google Adwords as it affects which position your advertising will appear on the page. Your advertisements, keywords and landing page need to be relevant to what your customer is looking for. You can improve your quality by tweaking your keywords in your advertisements to make them more relevant and provide efficiency for those searching for your product; this can be time consuming and will require in-depth research.

3)      Focus

Organisations must focus on one product at a time and make sure their advertisement is very specific. This will help reduce the risk of confusion of a brand and give the consumer a clear sense as to how the product or service will benefit them if they were to invest in it.

4)      Advertisements

Need to be engaging and specific to the product you are advertising. It is vital to create awareness of any USP (Unique Selling point)that will make an advertisement stand out from its competitors. Potential consumers need to be convinces that they will find exactly what they are looking for.

5)      Keywords

These can trigger your advertisement. Short phrases so consumers can look for specific aspects of products which suit their needs and wants. In return, this creates a mutually beneficial exchange process for both the consumer and the organisation.

The effectiveness of using Google Adwords and implications

Google Adwords are effective as internet users are immediately targeted to advertisements which are specific to their search therefore linking searchers and sellers together.

Organisations who use Google Adwords can keep track of how effective their online advertising is and the aspects which are good about it such as their keywords used. Another advantage of using Google Adwords which I found interesting in the lecture was the point that organisations using this technique should put themselves in the minds of consumers who may not have heard about their product or service. Such implications need to be considered and thought about when considering what they might search for online.

On the other hand, a disadvantage of Google Adwords is that consumers may not have the motivation to buy something online however they may still receive advertisements which are irrelevant to their search. This could result in negative associations with a brand as people may view it as intrusive. Such advertisements may also be a distraction from work so could also be effective depending on the consumer’s interests and likeability of the advertisement.

SEO  = Seach Engine Optimisation.

After reading Google’s online starter guide of search engine optimisation I found that SEO is about making small modifications to your website to optimise the users experience and seeing what is best for the visitors of your site. This is important today as consumers interests and motivations change on an on-going basis and advertisers need to keep up with them.