Mediaboss Marketing

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

As social media usage continues to rise, its only natural that statistic correlations will be made about the individuals who use the medium. This isnt a bad thing; its common to deep-dive into demographic information and behavioral data. While there will always be exceptions to the "correlations" that emerge from such data, universal truths about social networking usage and user behavior can be valuable.

[More from Mashable: Encyclopedia Britannica vs. Wikipedia [INFOGRAPHIC]]

The Ethics Resource Center (ERC) is the oldest non-profit organization in the U.S. dedicated to independent research and advancement of high ethical standards and practices in both public and private institutions. Since 1994, the ERC has produced the National Business Ethics Survey (NBES), available for free to the public, to gather information about employees perspectives of ethics in the workplace.Dr. Patricia J. Harned, president of the ERC, says the NBES is the only longitudinal study that represents the views of the U.S. workforce in business.

The ERCs latest report is one of the first to explore the possible connection between ethics and social media. Social networking has become very important in our culture, and we wondered if the technology is influencing employees views about ethics at work," Harned explains. "Additionally, over the past few years, we have seen companies establish policies concerning social networking in the workplace, so this year it seemed fitting to add questions on the topic.

[More from Mashable: 8 Reasons People Arent Following You Back on Twitter]

One of the most fascinating conclusions in the report is that "active social networkers show a higher tolerance for activities that could be considered unethical." But Harned says the findings are not an indictment about the character of social networkers: It appears that they are more willing to consider things that are gray areas -- issues that are not always clear in company policies as wrong; and thats an area for further study.

The report also points out that active social networkers are at higher risk for observing misconduct. Harned stresses that it's observing wrongdoing, not necessarily participating in it.You could also look at another set of our responses -- particularly the high number of active social networkers who reported misconduct -- and say that social networkers behaved appropriately, she explains.

In order to understand any potential connection between ethics and social networks, it only makes sense to step back and discuss what ethical behavior means. Jay Shepherd, author of the book Firing at Will: A Managers Guide, sums up unethical behavior with a sentence.

Its like pornography: You know it when you see it. Its as simple as knowing the right thing to do, then doing the wrong thing.

See original here:
Ethics and Social Media: Where Should You Draw The Line?