Social Networking - Risks and Ethics

Earlier this summer, a Miss America contestant was blackmailed with pictures from his old page of Facebook to try to get dethroned from her title of Miss New Jersey. Amy Polumbo had deleted his Facebook page before the state competition, but this has not prevented an anonymous sender, who called themselves the "Committee to Save Miss America."

Polumbo is not giving up her crown, and the pictures that were sent were not as bad as they were made out to be. But it teaches us a lesson, especially entrepreneurs, how to open one should be on social networking sites.

Be Careful What You Post

As an entrepreneur, you want to project a positive image at all times, no matter what. This goes for your personal website, as well as any business-related communications. You do not want potential customers to see you in drunken revelry, as it could ruin your reputation. Even if we consider the implications before you put it on your personal website and think it's not a big deal, given the acid test: would you post this on the website of your company?

At a time when everyone uses Google to look up a person, think about your online activities and how they contribute to your business. It's called the World Wide Web for a reason. Activities of the past year could capture forever, even posts on some forums you can display in a web search. Privacy is a thing of the past, how people can consult with their home address and telephone number online, as well as getting a map to your house! If you do not believe, try it yourself. You will be amazed at what comes up.

Risking Privacy

Another potential risk for the use of social networking sites for commercial purposes is related to privacy. When you join Facebook, MySpace, or any other social networking site, read their privacy policy carefully. The privacy policy of Facebook, for example, not only gives them permission to share information with third parties, it also says that they can obtain information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs and the like. So not only are able to collect information about you from their site, but may use information gathered from other sources.

One of the hottest topics right now is the new social policy for Facebook, which allows you to become a virtually free advertising for all companies that share information with. For example, when you rent a movie from Blockbuster Video, the information is shared with Facebook. Then all your friends know what you have rented. This can be embarrassing if your co-worker to see your Facebook page.

It means that you should not use these platforms to promote your business? Absolutely not! Instead, these platforms offer a great opportunity to do so and have better success with advertising based demographic (eg Facebook Social Ads). All that says is that we must be very thoughtful and plan your campaign carefully to comply with their conditions at all times. Just as a side note: if you step outside the terms of Google AdSense, for example, allowing you to correct your ad so that it does. Facebook will not - will terminate your account immediately without notice.

So, be sure to think carefully about your activities online. If you're a small business owner, it is particularly important to conduct all transactions online, where you can be monitored as if it is your business. You want your personality online to reflect that of your business, and nobody wants to know you are working your profile Adult FriendFinder. Your life depends on it....