Ethics and social writing sites

Several years ago I wrote an article on Business Ethics. I crated the diagram used in this article and explained how the whole process surrounding business ethics was a never ending cycle. What is interesting is that the same cycle can be applied to writing on social websites.

Act with Integrity

Integrity is defined as having ‘the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles”. As a writer this is one of the most important qualities you can have. Anyone can copy an article, or spin an article so it looks like your own, but this is not honest – in fact it is considered stealing.

Having the strength to realize this and only create original content is important especially when posting to a social website. The reputation of a website depends on the integrity of its users. If one user copies an article, then the whole community is impacted not just the copier.

While it is OK to copy articles with explicit permission of the original author, if you are truly being honest with yourself, you’ll understand that this does not benefit you as an author nor does it benefit the social website.

Engage in Dialogue

What is the best way to learn? Ask questions. This is a main principal in life and it applies to writing on social websites too. If you are unsure of the rules, ask. If you want feedback, ask. If you are unsure whether you should copy an article (with permission), ask.

There are many users who have experience beyond the realms of the website who will answer questions and there are also administrators who will have more of an idea on what the social website’s core principals are.

Don’t be afraid to ask even if you think the questions are insignificant or silly – there are probably hundreds of users who are thinking the same questions.

Work Together

As a writer this is a very difficult concept to get. Writing is often a solitary business, but by their nature, social websites allow for far more collaboration than regular writing media. What this means is that you can collaborate on posts (ask someone to allow you to use one of their pictures etc.) or create a series of linked articles created by different authors.

As someone who has written on the web for over ten years, I feel this is one of the most exciting developments in online writing.

Respect the individual

Not everyone is going to be an expert writer, or not everyone is going to have the same views or opinions as you; however, everyone, even is allowed an opinion – in fact differing opinions and different qualities of writing must be encouraged. Diversity is one of the foundations of any social website ad if we seek to negate any writers who do not meet our own subjective ideas, then we are simply demising the social aspects of the site.

Seek facts and provide insight

The idea of a social website is to allow differing cultures and ideas merge. Posting a picture of a flower and stating ‘this is a pretty flower’ is OK, but to be honest there are thousand if not millions of the same flower and description on the web.

It’s OK to provide facts about the flower, but adding insight makes the post far more social. For example, I recently wrote a post about a pretty daffodil. I didn’t fill the post with facts about the daffodil, instead I wrote about how it represents a message from my mother who passed away – it was a very personal and reflective post.

It was a unique and personal insight into something that everyone knows, and I hope that it added just a little by of ‘color’ to the humble daffodil. It’s these personal touches or inspirational thoughts that really make the social writing sites different from sites like Facebook.

Open and honest communication

Do you remember at school when you tried to create rumors about someone to get them in trouble? Or do you remember participating in spreading gossip that you have no idea if it’s true or not? Communication that is not open and honest is very damaging – not just to an individual, but also to a site. It breeds distrust, which builds barriers.

A site with distrust and barriers will fail.

If you see problems with anything on a social website then bring it up – but bring it up in a respectful manner that doesn’t point fingers. Allow everyone to discuss the problem. By doing this, and allowing an open and honest discussion you’ll hopefully find a common solution that not only keeps everyone happy, but forms guidelines for future users.

….and this leads us back with ‘Act with Integrity’