Can Social Media be transparently audited?
Web -based technologies, along with providing consumers and businesses with new means of interacting with the world, has also empowered them to control things on internet media according to their idiosyncratic reasoning and thoughts. For businesses, while making of plans and developing marketing strategies, consideration of “Online Activism” has become indispensable. Such activism has got a support of a variety of internet-based media which have emerged in recent years. Among all such online channels, Social Media has appeared as the commanding one.
It is an acknowledged belief to check for soundness and trustworthiness of any entity bestowed upon with power. With majority of human race’s conviction on this view, Social Media should not be given an exemption. But fortunately for social media platforms or unfortunately for those being negatively affected by social media, this idea has not been put at work yet. The phenomenon referred here is an establishment of a transparent auditing of social media specifically, introduction of checks and balances on social media.
The foremost question that could appear after such a thought is: Is this practically possible? Ostensibly, this is difficult to answer until we are clear about objectives we want to achieve through such an audit. Further it is not that, that an audit of a particular application of social media is intended here; a transparent audit of social media should be launched across the board. This should include ‘click hoisting’ of red flags on malicious comments given on community-based blogs to blacklisting of banned videos shared on multimedia aided websites.
An answer to the question, that why there is a need for such an audit, needs to be found first. A very few of many reasons to establish such an audit are:
- A way earlier, when anyone used to have an opinion which is in defiance to societal norms and values, he or she had nowhere where his or her stance can be illustrated to others. Now thanks to availability of unruly blogging websites; no matter how negatively weird, one thinks, he or she can find his or her backers located at any part of the world.
- The nonexistence of any sort of censoring of blogs and social networking facilitators has made such social media types horrifically perilous. Spamming the comments and authoring contemptible posts on social networking websites have become quite common.
- Ranging from, converting of an ordinarily marketed product to a big brand to throwing away of governments, social media can be used for any agenda worthy enough to bring in dollars which strengthens a thought – Social Media is dangerous.
- How many people read terms and agreements while signing up for Facebook, Twitter or MySpace? Or how many do the same while registering for any blog? Not more than one in a million. By showing such an ignorant behavior, people do not only compromise their ‘privacy’, but they also provide administrators of such websites with a license to exploit their personal content, the way web managers want.
Holding of such a massive power has made social media as somewhat a communicating channel which ought to be auditable. A million dollar question still needs to be answered: Can it be done?
The answer is markedly ‘Yes’. The basic steps in this regard are:
- Whatever service, falling under the umbrella of Social Media is offered by any website should have a support of internally controlled audit systems.
- The population of social marketers is growing at an increasing rate. Online training campaigns and workshops should be started on by social media networkers in order to educate, new entrants in the world of social media, about making an effective use of this media.
- The Policy Statements, stating terms and conditions to be followed during the use of a particular social media website should be concise and readable.
- Best ethical practices should be applied with going after some strict measures as for example, continuous monitoring of such political blogs which are perceived as politically bias.
Beneficiaries of a social media business should play a vital role in founding of such organizations responsible for transparently auditing activities of every stakeholder of social media. This can triumph chances of success for social marketers in achieving every positive objective, they want to achieve via this source of media.
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