Lecture to UniSA undergraduates, 24th October 2011

1. Advanced communication strategies and tools
ethics &
social
media
Lee Hopkins
UniSA - 24th October 2011

2. effics So what’s wrong with this?

3. a branch of philosophy which seeks to address
questions about
 morality
 meta-ethics
 normative ethics
 applied ethics
 moral psychology
 descriptive ethics

4. Applied: a discipline of philosophy that
attempts to apply ethical theory to
real-life situations
Descriptive: a value-free approach which
examines actual choices made by
moral agents

5. a hybrid of applied ethics and
descriptive ethics
applying ethical behaviour
to real-life situations

7.  No hiding
 Punishment
 Cynicism

8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7gKCFAEldk

9. “If you don’t want to talk about it with
your family at the dinner table, and
you don’t want to read about it on the
front page of the Boston Globe, it’s
not ethical.” Chris Brogan
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/the-ethics-imperative-in-social-media/

13. 2002: ELLEgirlBuddy chatbot that used
teen lingo and chat acronyms, had a
history and a personality:
16 year old girl, 5’6” tall, straight red hair,
green eyes and freckles. Lives in San
Francisco with parents and brother, listens
to music, favourite band is No Doubt.
Favourite book: Catcher in the Rye.
Favourite tv: Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
One month after launch of ELLEgirlBuddy:
Traffic up 83%; magazine subscriptions up 50%;
adverts on ELLEgirlBuddy had 10% click-through

19. At its core – the Honesty ROI
Relationship
(say who you are speaking for)
Opinion
(say what you believe)
Identity
(never obscure your identity)

26.  One ‘real life male person’,
several avatars (male, female,
robot, warrior, etc.)
 Each of his female avatars is a bot
with pre-programmed text
responses to text questions,
making it appear they are really
engaged in a conversation with
the questioner
 Question: is there an ethical
dilemma?

28. It can be very tempting when
you see an online community
that matches your
demographic to wade in and
start selling your wares.
Don't. It's just rude. It's like
walking into someone's party
in a park and trying to sell
everyone stuff. Or using the
emergency lane on the
freeway because you're
running late!

29. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHwgI4e0VH4

30. Last Thursday, an anonymous message was posted to
the comments section of an article about the recent
controversies surrounding Sam Newman on the AFL
Player Spectator blog…the message was out of context
and irrelevant, promoting an event at Melbourne’s
Federation Square and a ticket give-away:
“Hi guys, NAB is giving away free tickets to the
Collingwood v Carlton game on Saturday afternoon @
the MCG. Hop on down to Fed Square tomorrow… this
is all to launch the new NAB SMS Banking! Thank you”

31.  Honesty: State only what you know to be
true – and be clear about opinion or
conjecture vs. fact.
 Transparency: Be straightforward about who
you are – and who you’re representing online.
http://www.ruderfinn.com/blogs/ethics/2009/07/ethics-and-social-media.html

32.  Respect: Respect for yourself, your peers,
and even your adversaries.
 Privacy: Treat the intimate details of others
as you would your own personal information.
http://www.ruderfinn.com/blogs/ethics/2009/07/ethics-and-social-media.html

33.  Relevance: Ensure that the content you’re
posting is relevant to the audience and the
venue where it’s being posted.
 Responsibility: Take ownership of your
online activities, the content you’ve created,
and any missteps you’ve made along the way.
http://www.ruderfinn.com/blogs/ethics/2009/07/ethics-and-social-media.html

34.  A ‘win’ at work
 Celebrations at the local Karaoke bar
 A smartphone with video capability

35. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHwgI4e0VH4