Social media can have both positive and negative affects on the job application process for potential employees

I. Describe how social media can help applicants get a job 

a. More and more employers are using social media to help recruit potential employees (note: this is different    than when  employers use social media to screen potential employees who have already applied - this is seeking out people they want to apply)

b. Explain what LinkedIn is and how it is influencing how recruiters find potential employees

i. 93% of recruiters are using LinkedIn, 89% of recruiters have hired through LinkedIn

c. Recruiters are also using Facebook (66%) and Twitter (54%) to find potential employees

i. Not just looking for talent through their own profiles, but also using Facebook to create and promote

 company pages, post job entries on Twitter accounts

*Insert image about use of social media in job recruiting*

II. Prevalence of falsified information on sites like LinkedIn

a. Although it seems counterintuitive, resume sharing sites like LinkedIn foster greater honesty for most    important claims to employers (ex: experience, responsibility) 

i. Public availability of information influences decisions 

ii. However, still adapted lies based on if they could be verified online or not

III. Recruiters also use social media to screen job applicants, which could potentially have a very negative effect for prospective employees

a. Discuss why employers use social media to screen applicants 

b. Discuss percentage of employers who use social media to screen applications

c. Discuss which types of social media were used to screen

d. Discuss when in the application process it was used

e. Discuss why candidates were accepted/rejected based on social media

i. More detail about what were turn-offs for recruiters when they saw it on social media

*Insert answer to interview question #2*

*Insert image about social media pitfalls in application*

IV. Conclusion

a. There are both pros and cons of using social media in the  hunt for a job

i. However, when used appropriately, social media can be beneficial for potential employees

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The combination of utilitarianism and social justice makes consequence ethics the most appealing ethical system

All four major systems of ethical reasoning – character ethics, duty ethics, consequence ethics, and relationship ethics – have both positive and negative aspects. However, if I were to pick one ethical system for the media, my vote would go to consequence ethics, which includes utilitarianism and social justice. The basic premise of consequence ethics is that “our actions matter and must be taken into account as we make ethical decisions”.

Utilitarianism aims to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people

The basic theory of this ethical system is that the right action is the one that does the most good for the most possible people. While the theory tries to benefit the greatest number of people possible, this naturally means that there will be a smaller group of people who

In the photo above is John Stuart Mill, an
influential contributor on utilitarianism 

suffer at the expense of the greater good. An example that the book uses to illustrate this is scientific research. Researchers are willing to harm or kill a small number of animals in order to find a cure for a disease like cancer. In the end, finding a cure for something as important as cancer is much more beneficial for the population than the lives of the animals who were tested on. For many people, the fact that there will always be a group that is disadvantaged by the greater good is a problem with utilitarianism. People think that we can never be completely sure about the consequences of our actions. It is extremely difficult to apply value to something like time or a life. However, I believe that this aspect of consequence is beneficial to the media and is part of the reason why I picked the consequence ethical system. The book discusses the relation of utilitarianism to media. An example of this is how the media may report a government wrongdoing, which will benefit the Americans in general because we will be more informed about what is going on in our government. However, it may result in somebody in the government losing their job or going to jail. I believe this theory is important because it attempts to do the greatest good for the largest amount of people possible. While it is true that it will harm others along the way, that number is not as significant as the amount of people it is benefitting. There will always be somebody who isn’t happy, so making an ethical decision by helping the largest amount of people makes sense.

Social marketing is a part of utilitarianism that attempts to change behavior

This is an example of one of the ads that was
part of the CDC anti-smoking campaign

Social marketing is a part of utilitarianism that uses advertising and marketing techniques for social causes that attempt to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people by changing their behaviors. This is especially related to the media as they are the ones who would be creating campaigns and conveying the message to people to change their behavior. I think this is very favorable because it has the ability to help millions of people with little to no negative impact on others. Safe sex campaigns will hopefully educated people about preventing STDs and unplanned pregnancies, so there are clear benefits. However, unlike other examples of utilitarianism, there are virtually no consequences that can harm someone. An example to support consequence ethics is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) anti-smoking campaign, which is an illustration of social marketing. The campaign showed real people talking about their personal health consequences as a result of smoking. These consequences ranged from throat cancer to strokes and heart attacks. After the campaign ran ads for 12 weeks in the spring of 2012, a study was conducted. The results showed that these ads helped persuade more than 10,000 Americans to quit smoking. This shows how social marketing is an extremely useful tool that conveys the consequences of a negative action like smoking in order to help the greater good. 

Social justice plays off of utilitarianism beliefs

In the theory of social justice, philosophers believe that the greatest good that was discussed in utilitarianism is what brings “the most fairness for everyone”. Like in utilitarianism, the main problem with this is defining what exactly is fair. In order to follow this theory, a person essentially needs to take a step back and view the situation they are in from the other person’s perspective. In an example related to media, an advertising executive may be running an ad that is offensive to another ethnic group. If this executive took social justice into consideration, they would put themselves in the shoes of that ethnic group and realize that their ad is offensive, and make the necessary changes to ensure it is fair for everyone. This can be applied to many other media situations, like a journalist changing their story after thinking about how they would feel if it was written about them. I think social justice helps illustrate why the consequence ethical system is the most important because it shows how we can make the media the most fair.

While all ethical systems have their respective plusses and minuses, I feel that by bringing the fairest treatment for the greatest number of people to the media, the combination of utilitarianism and social justice makes the consequence system the most attractive.