Ethical issues in social media - Essay Example

Analysis Ethical Issues in Social Media Affiliation Introduction For organizations today, social media is an important toolof marketing through advertisements. This is because social media has the power to direct traffic into one’s website, blog or social media pages. This means that when promoting global products, social media allows persons from various locations globally to meet in a particular end and state their views. However, the more traffic there is in one’s site, the higher the risks on the issue of privacy and this ends up ruining the organizations reputation.

This paper analysis the negative impacts of social media on organizations and their clients.Analysis of PayPal clients’ Phishing The affected organization was PayPal. Cyber criminals managed to develop a fake website that aped the original PayPal website. In order to obtain clients’ trust to reveal financial details, the conmen directed people to fake website through link in an email (Shannon, 2013). In the email, they required the users to log on to purported PayPal website and change their passwords only to give fraudsters critical financial details that left them penniless.

For some PayPal clients, financial details were used to transfer money to fake recipients (Shannon, 2013). In the PayPal Incident, the client is the loser (Shannon, 2013). For instance, after reporting to the real PayPal about their incident, most clients are dismissed and PayPal calls it as the fault the client who did not identify the email as fraud. The damage was caused by lack of proper customer education on how to prevent online fraud. This could also be connected with user ignorance as there are terms and conditions that one abides to when registering as a member in companies like PayPal (Shannon, 2013).

The root cause of the problem was increased cases of phishing where criminals target online banks and companies for their customers’ personal details. Consequently, target companies should work on educating their clients and require them to take all necessary precautions to keep personal security information secret. However, there is a requirement that with evidence of fraudster involvement, organizations are required to refund their clients (Shannon, 2013).Situational Crisis Communication Theory In the case of PayPal phishing, the organization dismissed the client for relying on speculation and this made the situation worse as the client did not know who else to turn to (Coombs, 2009).

The organization should have understood that the client is the boss and with such an alarm raised, there was need to understand the type of crisis the organization was facing. With a clear definition of the crisis, PayPal would have treated the case as phishing and related it to others that have been reported and this have caused negative reputation of the organization (Coombs, 2009).Appropriateness of Organization’s response Instead of blame shifting, PayPal would have assisted the clients to deal with cybercrime issues facing them (Coombs, 2009).

First, clients would have been assisted to prevent more harm from getting on their way. This would be achieved through creating awareness to the client that they should never receive emails requiring them to change email or to log on to their account. Such instructions are only common during log on at the website. Secondly, the organization would have assisted the clients to cope with the problem psychologically. When clients are blamed for their misfortunes, they are psychologically affected and this may result to more problems for them and their families (Shannon, 2013).

ReferencesCoombs, T. (2009, October 5). Situational Crisis Communication Theory. Retrieved from YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zctIlJUeoA‎Shannon, L. (2013). Avoid an Email Fraud-and Save Yourself a Fight to Reclaim Cash. London: Mail on Sunday.