Is it Ethical?
On May 10, 2010, Andrew Sullivan, blogging for The Atlantic, posted a blog entitled “So is She Gay?” in reference to Elena Kagan. His post began:
It is no more of an empirical question than whether she is Jewish. We know she is Jewish, and it is a fact simply and rightly put in the public square. If she were to hide her Jewishness, it would seem rightly odd, bizarre, anachronistic, even arguably self-critical or self-loathing. And yet we have been told by many that she is gay ….
Sullivan’s post generated a firestorm response with many critics raising concerns over the ethics of a blogger – not a traditional journalist – floating rumors about a political figure’s sexual orientation on a well-respected news site.
On July 7, 2010, another online backlash ensued after a new blog at the popular and highly-regarded ScienceBlogs called Food Frontiers promised the following in its first post.
The focus [of this blog] will be on innovations in science, nutrition and health policy…We have some exciting things planned for this project, including a video series that will begin with a look at the role the food industry plays in health issues, and how industry research into chemistry, physiology, neuroscience, behavioral economics, medicine, and nutrition can improve health outcomes around the world…
Sounds great and many scientists welcomed the addition until it was revealed that this “nutrition” blog was written by PepsiCo scientists.
New Media Strategies Create New Leadership, Governance, and Ethical Dilemmas
In a world where consumers increasingly turn to the Web and social networks for information to inform decision making, it has become imperative that organizations and businesses across industries and sectors adopt new media strategies, including blogging, microblogging, and social networking. Since companies with corporate blogs see 55% more traffic to their Website than companies that do not have a blog, it is of strategic importance.
In the online world, the division between private and public information is blurred and companies gain unprecedented access to information about customers and their behavior. Many questionable practices have emerged to date. For example, employees of companies may join social networks aiming to gain consumer insights and competitive advantage. In addition, bloggers with large followings have come under fire for receiving payments to review or write about products and services without disclosing the fact.
The immediacy, speed, reach, and ease of sharing information on the Web also pose a dilemma to industries and individuals – like the founders of ScienceBlogs – who haven’t typically been in the “content” producing industry, and who are also struggling to monetize their work. Additionally, many CEO’s of publicly-held companies are struggling to provide both the transparency demanded by consumers and the risk management demanded by investors. Simply stated, consumers want CEOs to blog, but CEOs are afraid of saying the wrong thing and getting sued by investors.
The Ethics of Blogging, Microblogging, and Social Networking
As more and more people turn to the Web for community, information and news, the need for strong ethical practices and guidelines increases. The examples described above, however, can be viewed through already established principles, including:
- Fiduciary principle – requiring diligence, candor, loyalty to company, disclosure of conflicts of interest
- Property principle – requiring respect for others’ property
- Transparency principle – requiring accuracy, truthfulness, and honesty prohibiting fraud, deceit, misrepresentation
- Citizenship principle – requiring civic contribution prohibiting injury/damage to society
- Responsiveness principle – readiness to listen, responding to complaints/suggestions, addressing legitimate concerns of others1
Because new media is still in early stages of adoption, it may be tempting for companies like PepsiCo and journalists like Sullivan to test the waters of a seemingly fluid environment, where standards, guidelines, and regulations have yet to take hold.
However, the risks of doing so are great. By permitting Pepsi to promote content (or should it be termed advertising?) on its site, ScienceBlogs damaged its credibility, the credibility of its scientists, and years of hard work building a respected brand and readership. In fact, ScienceBlogs lost its most popular science writer, who left because of the gaffe. The Atlantic faced similar brand damage. In sum, company ethics and conduct in the online world have strong implications for its functioning, ability to manage risk, reputation management, and standing in the community in the offline world.
Establishing New Media Standards
To establish blogging and new media standards, companies need look no farther than to widely endorsed standards like the GBS Codex or, in the case of blogging, the American Society of Magazine Editors, who have been dealing with these kinds of conflicts of interest for years.
As companies enter new media, they must also adopt new internal controls, including policies and guidelines for company use of social networking, microblogs, and other third party Websites. These policies must include clear guidelines on the intent of new media engagement, use of company brands, tone of voice, editorial content, approving or making “friends” online, when it is okay to retweet and link online, advertising versus sharing, and other legal and rights issues, to name a few.
The good news for companies getting started with these internal controls is that in the spirit of transparency demanded by the online world, many existing corporate new media polices – like Microsoft’s and the BBC’s – are widely shared on the Web. What internal controls has your company used and been successful with in this regard?
1 Source: Based on Lynn S. Paine, Rohit Deshpande, Joshua D. Margolis, and Kim E. Bettcher, “Up to Code: Does Your Company’s Conduct Meet World Class Standards?” Harvard Business Review (December 2005).
