Rights & Responsibilities of Social Media
Social Media has became part of every day for many people and even businesses that use it but that doesn't mean that their aren't rules to follow whilst online and many people tend to forget this and this tends to put them in bad situations but they also have rights of there own so it is important to know your rights and responsibilities online be it an everyday user of social media or businesses.
Rights & Responsibilities on Social Media for Users
The rights that you have when using social media is that you have the right to feel safe and not feel threatened about others have been posting as many of the social media sites are regulated. You also have the right of freedom of speech across social media platforms as long as it isn't derogatory or inappropriately directed at an individual which would cause offense as this could be taken into account as a form of cyber bullying.
What Individuals also have to take into account is that whatever is posted online is there for good and even if you think what ever you have posted is gone there will still always be that digital footprint that has been left so it is the responsibility of the user to be aware of what they are posting as this could affect potential career prospects as employers will usually tend to want to see the person that they are considering hiring their social media activity and if they see things that are inappropriate they would reject you outright they wouldn't want to hire somebody who is a risk of damaging the reputation of the business. For instance the Defamation Act 2013 as this means people can be held accountable for derogatory comments that can affect and persons/businesses reputation this means they can be taken to court for damages so always be careful of what you post online as it can land you in deeper trouble than just losing your job.
Another responsibility that a user has is to follow protocols that have been suggested to keep accounts safe and secure at all times for instance regularly changing their passwords as to help keep hackers at bay so if you do not follow these protocols and your account has been hacked then you would be partially liable for it happening should you not take the extra measures to help keep you account or accounts safe.
Rights & Responsibilities on Social Media for Providers
For providers of social media such as Facebook, Twitter among others it is a fact that they need to make sure that they are not giving away more information than required to 3rd party companies or the like. The companies usually have terms and conditions that a user would have to read, agree and comply with before signing up to the social media site so by giving them the terms and conditions for the site and for users to comply and agree to them then that would give providers the right if it says so in their terms and conditions to give information on individuals to these parties for marketing purposes etc.
Another responsibility that the Providers of these sites have to make sure they are secure as there are alot of users on these sites meaning alot of information is also so they need to make sure that each of their own sites are safe and secure for users to use without being at serious risk of getting their accounts hacked into or stolen which leads into another thing as they also have the responsibility to inform users of any changes within the site as for instance if the site gets updated they need to inform individuals of what has been changed and also to make sure that when these changes are implemented that the individuals privacy setting are what they should be and not set to default because of an update and they would have to make sure that this was dealt with as soon as possible.
To find out more information click on the links below:
Good blog Aaron, well written with an emphasis on who should take the blame for their actions. A few people don't understand that they alone are responsible for the implications of their writings / postings on social media sites, some just think ok, that looks good but they don't realise that what looks good to them may not have the same effect on 1 or more readers, or worse, what looks good to them looks better to someone else i.e: the new profile picture of the holiday in the sun. Some people do copy / download other peoples posts content, some because they like it and can relate to it but there are some who would, sadly, use it for different purposes then someone will state, "why me?" well, just check back track on their internet activities and the answer could be there somewhere, on theirs or a friend / family members social media.
ReplyDeleteI found the link to Ulster University particularly informative, although I did read all 3, this is the one that I got engrossed in. I am not a social media user, personally I use the internet for research and not for social interaction but now and then IF I hear of or see reference to a link I may be interested in I will click on it, but I am always careful of the content in case the so n so has something in there that will fry my laptop.
I hold the right and responsibilities of MY social media travels by choosing to ABSTAIN from it :) sorted ;)
really good read. very informative and links were very interesting.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely have to agree with Martha, many people, especially people our age, don't realise just how much damage they could cause to future career prospects just with simple social media posts.
ReplyDeleteA great blog Aaron, lots of good and useful information on the rights we have using these sites, also very interesting to read and find out what we are allowed to do and not allowed to do online. Some very good tips as well on how to use online medias safely.
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