Ethics In Public Relations

Ethics are an important facet in all aspects of society. They are social and professional rules that go beyond laws, which are usually far easier to interpret. Anyone working in media or communication deals with ethical dilemmas all the time, and since much of what these people do is in the public spotlight, it is important for them to practice proper ethics standards at all times. 

But why are ethics important? Without ethical guidelines, the industry is vulnerable to corruption, an issue already plaguing so much of society.

A hot ethical topic in the public relations world is the phenomena of “pay-to-play journalism.” Pay-to-play journalism is an undisclosed exchange of value, some might call it a kickback or bribe, between public relations professionals and journalists. It’s the undisclosed exchange of value that is considered unethical here. 

In 2009, the PRSA updated its Member Code of Ethics and published commentary on the issue stating, ”The code now specifies that public relations practitioners must disclose any exchange of value with journalists that is intended to garner or influence editorial coverage.”

According to the PRSA’s Code of Ethics, it does not appear that offering journalists incentives including cash, gifts, travel, or favors is unethical, so long as it is fully disclosed to the public. This goes in line with the PRSA’s prime ethical objective, which is to promote integrity and transparency throughout the industry. 

Ethics obviously play a vital role in the world of communication and public relations, but some say that the strict ethical guidelines followed by the industry professionals have not always been so strict. Shannon Bowen, a researcher at the University of South Carolina who specializes in PR, wrote an article for PRWeek discussing how the obsession with ethics in the PR world is a recent occurrence. Bowen says that having ethics courses be required in public relations degree plans is also a new trend. Bowen suggests the recent rise of interest in ethics is because of the general public’s increasing awareness of how corrupt many parts of society (politics, banking/finance, and private corporations) really are. 

To add to Bowen’s thoughts, I think the internet has played an incredibly important role in the enlightening of the masses. Information can move from any source, to any consumer instantly now. Information is controlled by “fat-cats” and powerful people far less than it was before the internet. The public eye can now peer deeper into places it once was not able. The “opaqueness” of government and corporate America is being destroyed, and transparency is becoming a major concern for more and more average people. 

In just the past year, the issue of transparency became front page news and is a common discussion topic amongst Americans. The ethical models, of not just the public relations industry, but all industries will be tested and surely reformed over the next several years. I believe it is important these guidelines are taught and instilled in all primary and secondary students before graduating and moving into the real world. Proper ethical guidelines need to become a social standard if society wants to call itself civilized.

Citations:

 "PRSA Speaks out on "Pay for Play," Strengthens Code of Ethics' Transparency Provisions." PRSA. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. http://www.prsa.org/SearchResults/view/8138/105/PRSA_speaks_out_on_Pay_for_Play_strengthens_Code_o#.UuXb2GTnY18

 Bowen, Shannon. "Explaining PR's 'newfound' Interest in Ethics." - PRWeek US. PRWeekly, 13 Sept. 2013. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. http://www.prweekus.com/explaining-prs-newfound-interest-in-ethics/article/311265/# 

Consumer Data + Robot Cars = Creepiest Marketing Theory Ever

The increasingly ubiquitous nature of marketing is fascinating. It seems like ads, personalized content, and other marketing tools have managed to creep into every corner of civilized life. Advertising, itself, is both a curse and a blessing. On one hand it is easy to become annoyed and bothered by ads, but an individual can also learn about products and services that they are genuinely interested in. With the internet, marketers have the ability to build profiles for individuals and target specific messages to them. We see this all the time online. Products on Amazon, eBay, Facebook etc, are suggested to us based on past purchases, search history,or even our private messages on Facebook!

But how can marketers apply these techniques and target ads and promotions to individual people in the real world? Patrick Lin, a journalist for The Atlantic,wrote an article discussing the use of advertising in vehicles. He suggests that in the future, vehicles equipped with onboard computers and internet could theoretically see that you are driving by a particular business, and would then display a pop-up with an advertisement or coupon for the business. The system can use personal data about the driver that has already been collected to figure out what types of promotions would most likely interest you. This is pretty similar to technology we already have on the internet. Nothing too futuristic here. 

But it’s the other part of Lin’s theory that is wildly futuristic. Automated robotic cars are inevitable. Google has been working on and test driving them on public streets with great success for several years. The marketing technique described above + robotic cars presents an eery possibility for marketers. Lin’s idea is that robotic cars in the future could not only display promotions on a dashboard computer, but could actually re-route the car and drive you near a particular business. This presents a cornucopia of legal and ethical dilemmas, but certainly doesn’t seem too farfetched to ever become real. 

1. Gullo, Karen. "Facebook Sued Over Alleged Scanning of Private Messages." Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 2 Jan. 2014. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-02/facebook-sued-over-alleged-scanning-of-private-messages.html

2. Lin, Patrick. "What If Your Autonomous Car Keeps Routing You Past Krispy Kreme?" The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 22 Jan. 2014. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/01/what-if-your-autonomous-car-keeps-routing-you-past-krispy-kreme/283221/

3. "Self-Driving Car Test: Steve Mahan - Google Jobs." Self-Driving Car Test: Steve Mahan - Google Jobs. Google, n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.

http://www.google.com/about/jobs/lifeatgoogle/self-driving-car-test-steve-mahan.html

Do Social Media Platforms Like Fake Metrics?

I read an interesting article yesterday discussing the phenomena of artificial web traffic being used to boost ad prices. 

This got me thinking about social media and artificial metrics/traffic. I remember reading about how Facebook regularly deletes swaths of “fake” Facebook accounts, used by companies (who charge Facebook page admins money) to create fake metrics for Facebook pages. There are several online services that do this. But what if there was a way to boost traffic without using advertising/marketing nor faking it completely? 

Soundcloud is a social media site for musicians (and just about anyone who creates audio content) to share their work. Having a lot of plays and comments on Soundcloud is just as important, if not more, than having high numbers on Facebook for musicians. One unique service that provides users with extra plays and feedback for their work is Cloudkillers. This company doesn’t use fake accounts to generate fake metrics, but instead allows users to use listen to songs on other users’ Soundcloud accounts via a portal, and for every comment they leave, they earn a point. The more comments you leave, the more points you earn. And the more points you earn, then more users will leave you comments. Cloudkillers encourages people to truly listen to the song and give real feedback, and those who “spam” comment are banned. Cloudkillers earns revenue by charging people money to let them earn more points faster. It’s a pretty crafty system. The traffic is from real people with real accounts, but not necessarily 100% genuine. 

Cloudkillers is somewhat of a mix of buying advertising and fake traffic. I have experimented with Cloudkillers in the past (I’m a music producer by night). Does it work well? Yes. Is it ethical? Maybe, maybe not. But my sense of accomplishment is diminished when I’ve used Cloudkillers enough to the point where I’ve chosen not to use it.

Ok now I’m going to get to the point of this whole blog entry: I wonder how social media sites feel about these fake metric services. When you first think about it, it makes sense that social media sites would do all they could to block people from utilizing these illegitimate services. But actually, wouldn’t it make sense for facebook and sound cloud and others to like what these services do? Not only do they help out individual users by making them seem more popular, but these services are also inflating the numbers for the platforms themselves. If all the fake comments and plays on Soundcloud could instantly be deleted, Soundcloud would probably lose a large portion of it’s total activity. It might sound kind of “conspiracy theory-ish” but what if these platforms were intentionally staying their ability to cut these services out of their users’ toolkit. It makes a lot of sense for them to appreciate these fake metric services.