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Ethics in Information Technology, Sixth Edition
Ethics in Information Technology, Sixth Edition
Chapter 9
Social Media
Self-Assessment Questions
1. b. is approaching 4 billion
2. c. Facebook
3. False
Discussion Questions
1. Do research to identify a for-profit organization with an effective social media marketing
program. What makes its program successful? Next, identify a nonprofit organization with
an effective social media marketing program. What makes its program successful?
Student’s answers will vary. Social media marketing involves the use of social networks to
2. MIT professor Sherry Turkle has written a book, Alone Together, which is highly critical of
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social networking. She argues that the manner in which some people frenetically
communicate online using Facebook, Twitter, and text messaging is a form of modern
madness. Turkle thinks that under the illusion of enabling improved communications,
technology is actually isolating us from true human interactions. Others disagree and argue
that the use of social media has led to more communications, not less. What do you think?
Students’ responses will vary. Some students may agree with Ms. Turkle, noting that by some
estimates, women in the United States spend six-and-a-half hours each week using social media,
3. What are the pros and cons of using paid media marketing based on cost per thousand
impressions versus cost per click? Can you define any guidelines for when you might use one
approach over the other?
Students’ answers will vary. Cost per thousand impressions (CPM) ads are billed at a flat rate per
1,000 impressions, which is a measure of the number of times an ad is displayed—whether it was
actually clicked on or not. There is no additional charge for any clicks that the ad receives. CPM
4. Keep track of the time that you spend on social media for one week. Do you think that this is
time well spent? Why or why not?
Students’ responses will vary. It might be surprising to some students to learn how much time they
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5. Develop an idea for a social media marketing campaign for one of your favorite consumer
products. Document how you would turn your message viral.
Students’ responses will vary. Viral marketing is an approach to social media marketing that
encourages individuals to pass along a marketing message to others, thus creating the potential for
6. Identify two significant advantages that social media advertising has over other forms of
advertising.
Two significant advantages that social media advertising has over more traditional forms of
7. What advice would you give a friend who is the victim of cyberstalking?
Students’ answers will vary; however, the National Center for Victims of Crime offers a detailed
set of recommended actions to combat cyberstalking, including the following:
• Contact local law enforcement authorities to obtain a restraining order prohibiting any further
8. What measures would you use to gauge the success of a social media promotion designed to
get people to try a new consumer product?
Students’ responses will vary. Some metrics to consider include:
• Overall sales volume—the total sales for the product during a given time period (starting
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9. What type of online information about a job candidate should employment managers
consider when screening candidates for an interview? Give three examples of information
that might be found that should automatically disqualify a candidate from a job offer. Give
three examples of online information that should increase a candidate’s chances of a job
offer.
Students’ answers will vary. Many students will likely advocate that employment managers should
only consider a candidate’s intelligence, job skills, education, employment history, and soft skills
10. Review your user profile on your most frequently used social media platforms. Do you think
you need to make any changes to this profile? If so, what changes?
Students’ responses will vary, but most students will probably find some things they would want
to modify in their user profile prior to beginning a job search. Proposed changes will likely
11. Check out the privacy policy of three social shopping platforms to see if they say anything
about selling user data to retailers. Write a couple of sentences summarizing your findings.
Students’ responses will vary. Three of the many social shopping websites are:
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What Would You Do?
1. Students’ answers will vary. Students should recognize that the ethical choice would be to refuse
to post a dishonest review. However, other students may point out that the threat of losing one’s
2. Students’ responses will vary. Ideally, students could answer truthfully that their social media
3. Students’ responses will vary. Some students might suggest just accepting the requests because
they do not believe they pose any real risk. Students will likely point out that networking through
4. Students’ responses will vary. Some of them may say that what a person has experienced or done
in his or her personal life should not be taken as a benchmark to assess a candidate’s job
5. Students’ responses will vary. Most students will likely say that what the friend is doing is
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Cases
Case 1: CDA Protects Social Media Companies
1. Students’ answers will vary. Some students’ may feel very strongly that social media companies
should not be in the business of censoring content. Those students may also point out that most
2. Student’s responses will vary.
3. Students’ answers will vary depending on their research. In general, students will find that the
lawsuits mentioned in the case study are only a few of many that have been filed against social
media companies in connection with incidents of international and domestic terrorism. Most of
Case 2: Google Losing Revenue in Dispute over Placement of Ads
1. Students’ responses will vary. Title II (Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act) of
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act section enables website operators that allow users to post
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2. Students’ answers will vary. Google is actively researching new technologies that will allow it to
more accurately identify content that is objectionable. Such technologies likely involve the use of
3. Student’s answers will vary. Some students may believe that Google can and should do more to
provide guarantees to advertisers regarding the types of content their ads will appear next to.