#ethicalcommunication

Social media ethics are changing as more people become aware of manipulation, misinformation, and hidden ads. Being transparent is really important, especially with AI content, sponsored partnerships, and algorithms. Users want to know why they’re seeing certain posts and if creators are getting paid. Authenticity is also key, with brands sharing real stories and genuine values. Concerns about data privacy are growing after scandals involving user tracking and data sharing. These trends affect trust, which is crucial for influence.

For example, some influencers don’t disclose paid promos on TikTok, and the FTC warns that hiding sponsorships can be misleading and even illegal, showing how common undisclosed ads are. Meta gets criticized for AI-generated political ads that lack clear labels, raising questions about misinformation and manipulation a sign of how AI rules are evolving, and platforms are struggling with responsible guidelines.

PRSA's ethics code focuses on honesty, transparency, fairness, advocacy, and loyalty, which fit well with responsible social media use. It promotes truthful communication and protects private info. Joining PRSA can help social media pros stay up-to-date with modern standards.

Rei is a good example of ethical social media disclosing partnerships, avoiding manipulative ads, and pushing for environmental responsibility. Glossier emphasizes community content and transparency. Both show that honest communication helps build trust.

Influencers like Hank Green promote transparency, fact-checking, and responsible messaging. Dr. Courtney Tracy focuses on audience safety and ethical practices. They’re great examples of responsible influence.

Being open about partnerships builds trust. Fact-checking and respecting personal boundaries, along with being authentic, are key. For personal conduct, honesty, respect, accountability, inclusivity, and privacy help create a trustworthy online presence.

Avoid spreading misinformation, performative activism, clickbait, exploiting trauma, and fake branding. Ethical social media is all about honesty and respect.

Core Concepts I Will Follow:

Transparency

Honesty

Accountability

Inclusivity

Respect

Freberg, K. (2022). Social media for strategic communication: Creative strategies and research-based applications (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications.

Poynter Institute. (2023). Ethics in the age of social media. https://www.poynter.org

Public Relations Ethics in the Digital Era Public relations ethics in the digital era focus on maintaining honesty, transparency, and accountability in an environment where information spreads instantly and audiences are highly informed. With the rise of social media, influencer marketing, and AI-driven communication, PR professionals face increased responsibility to ensure accuracy, disclose partnerships clearly, and avoid misleading or manipulative practices. Ethical PR protects both public trust and long-term brand credibility.

Hope without honesty misleads. Reality without hope defeats.” Description: “Healthcare professionals walk a delicate line: telling the truth while keeping hope alive. This balance is what makes ethical communication powerful.

#BanishCancer #CancerAwareness #HopeAndReality

Chapter 1  - Finding Your Voice

This chapter had some important concepts to introduce us to Public Speaking. The one that stood out the most to me was about the Public Speaking Ethics. 

Public Speaking can be beneficial to all if done the right way when done the right way. For this reason, there are guidelines called Public Speaking Ethics which are used to measure the “rightness or wrongness of public communication behaviors - both in speaking and listening” (Turner et Al, 2017) . This is important because it helps people to be considerate of their words while exercising their freedom of speech right. The NCA (National Communication Association) set up a Credo for Communication and I have listed below some of the points mentioned on it. The full list is attached in the reference section . 

* the advocacy of truthful, accurate, honest and reason as the essence to the integrity of communication.

* the endorsement of freedom of expression, diversity of expression, tolerance of dissent to achieve the responsible decision making fundamental to a civil society.

* commitment to the courageous expression of personal convictions in pursuit of fairness and justice.

* accept the responsibility for the short and long term consequences for our own communication and expect the same of others.

This code guides and  protects the rights of those involved in the communication process because if communication (especially one done in a public forum) is given a free for all it can have disastrous effects. During President Donald Trump’s  presidential campaign 2015, he sometimes used language that was used to incite violence at certain times. The New York Times made a compilation of some of them right here:

https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000004269364/trump-and-violence.html

This video shows that he broke the ethical code stated on the Credo as  “communication that degrades individuals and humanity through distortion, intimidation, coercion, and violence, and through the expression of intolerance and hatred.” It seems like these speeches were made with total disregard about consequences. 

References

Turner, K. J., Osborn, R., Osborn, M., Osborn, S. Public Speaking. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780134401355/

Tiefenthaler, Ainara(2016). Trump’s History of Encouraging Violence culled from https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000004269364/trump-and-violence.html

Chapter 2  - Visualization

Visualization is “systematically picturing yourself as a speaker and practising your speech with that image in mind”  (Turner et Al, 2017) . Visualization is one of the ways to keep your anxiety in check. It also doubles up as a speech preparation tool. It enables the speaker to have a mental image of the “audience” and prepare accordingly. I saw this video where the speaker the Cool Communicator explains that visualization helps us have an indirect feel of what it would be like presenting for an audience of X amount of people. He even goes as far as googling to see how large a crowd of 500 people or less will be. This makes it as realistic as can be for him.

Our text further explains that visualizing helps calms the nerves. This method is used by actors, singers and athletes. The Cool Communicator even suggests visiting the venue before time (if possible) this is just to familiarize yourself with the place. Also practice, practice, practice to make the presentation flow nice and easy.

References

Turner, K. J., Osborn, R., Osborn, M., Osborn, S. Public Speaking. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780134401355/

Visualization for Public Speaking, Cool Communicator, Retrieved from