I recently watched the documentary the Social Dilemma. The documentary is an original film by Netflix and directed by Jeff Orlowski that highlights the issues of unethical practices on social media and the potential harm it may cause. Companies are using social media sites to track and predict the actions of consumers to better advertise to potential customers. The film argues the collections of people personal data is invading their privacy and considered unethical.
I think that marketing on social media has its pros and cons. It does help companies personalize their product and to reach their target market in more efficient ways but on the other hand many people do not know that their personal data is being used to sell them products they might not have purchased otherwise.
The film also highlights the issue of fake news. The film states fake news on twitter spreads six times faster than true news. It is important to fact-check all information obtained on social media because the platforms are most of the time unable to prevent the spread of fake news.
In the future there may be more problems related to privacy and tracking on social media sites and someday regulations may be put in place to prevent some of these problems. Until then marketers must be cautious how they are using social media to market their product to ensure they are making ethical decisions to prevent any negative repercussions.
Social media is meant for connecting with friends and sharing your life with people. I think social media platforms should shift their focus back to that purpose and decrease the amount of advertising on their platforms. I personally don’t like seeing ads on my social media sites and I feel that they are becoming increasing more common.