In my Online PR class at Centennial on Monday, we got into a fairly spirited debate about online ethics. Some questions that were explored include:
Is it ethical for an employer to search Facebook profiles when hiring?
Should bloggers and journalists be transparent about what they accept from companies they write about?
And, as this post will discuss, is "ghost blogging"-- or writing a blog pretending to be your company's CEO or senior executive-- appropriate?
Much has been written about this, as many (including my classmates and I) have differing opinions on what constitutes as ethical and what kind of "rules" should exist in social media.
One might argue that ghost blogging is the same as writing a CEO's message in a publication, or preparing a speech for him or her to read. Plus, it is true that people have been ghost writing books for years and no one's really said anything. An example I like to use is the Nancy Drew books, which were written under the pseudoym "Carolyn Keene", who was actually a collective of several different authors. Keith McArthur, in his post "In Defense of Ghost Blogging,"argues that it is no less ethical than any other type of ghost writing.
I, on the other hand, contend that it is in fact very different.
As David Jones of Hill and Knowlton notes in a comment on the same post, a blog is supposed to be a conversation between the reader and the author. Jones makes an interesting analogy-- when you call a CEO, you expect to be talking to the CEO, not someone pretending to be the CEO. Why? Because it's a conversation.
A book is not a conversation. Neither is a speech, an internal publication, or a news article. A blog, however, is--or at least it should be. Michael O'Connor Clarke sums it up: "a blog that doesn't include and encourage active discussion is not a blog."
To elaborate: When someone writes blog post, people comment. The blogger comments back, and they engage. Bloggers may link to each others blogs and discuss previous posts.
Take this blog. It's called A Public Relations Conversation for a reason. Not A Public Relations Ongoing Speech, or A Public Relations Novel. The purpose of my foray into social media isn't to talk at people, but rather to learn from them and discuss the PR field and communications industry. Granted, I'm not a CEO and I have a lot more time on my hands. Still, this doesn't entirely disprove my point-- if you don't have time to write one, don't have one. Simple.
Ghost blogging cuts the conversation short. An example that came up in class as well as in Dave Fleet's post, "The Ethics of Ghost Writing in Social Media" is Kanye West. Though I don't subscribe to Kanye myself, if I were a fan I would be a little disheartened to find out that the blog was still being updated even after he landed in the slammer. Meaning? It wasn't really him, and for someone who thinks they're connecting with the man himself, it's damaging.
Fleet so rightly states that ghost blogging is bad for PR because it leads to brand damage and loss of trust. It's deceptive and goes against the very purpose of social media-- to engage, build relationships and converse.
What do you think of ghost blogging? Does it differ from other forms of "writing behind the scenes?"
Is it ethical for an employer to search Facebook profiles when hiring?
Should bloggers and journalists be transparent about what they accept from companies they write about?
And, as this post will discuss, is "ghost blogging"-- or writing a blog pretending to be your company's CEO or senior executive-- appropriate?
Much has been written about this, as many (including my classmates and I) have differing opinions on what constitutes as ethical and what kind of "rules" should exist in social media.
One might argue that ghost blogging is the same as writing a CEO's message in a publication, or preparing a speech for him or her to read. Plus, it is true that people have been ghost writing books for years and no one's really said anything. An example I like to use is the Nancy Drew books, which were written under the pseudoym "Carolyn Keene", who was actually a collective of several different authors. Keith McArthur, in his post "In Defense of Ghost Blogging,"argues that it is no less ethical than any other type of ghost writing.
I, on the other hand, contend that it is in fact very different.
As David Jones of Hill and Knowlton notes in a comment on the same post, a blog is supposed to be a conversation between the reader and the author. Jones makes an interesting analogy-- when you call a CEO, you expect to be talking to the CEO, not someone pretending to be the CEO. Why? Because it's a conversation.
A book is not a conversation. Neither is a speech, an internal publication, or a news article. A blog, however, is--or at least it should be. Michael O'Connor Clarke sums it up: "a blog that doesn't include and encourage active discussion is not a blog."
To elaborate: When someone writes blog post, people comment. The blogger comments back, and they engage. Bloggers may link to each others blogs and discuss previous posts.
Take this blog. It's called A Public Relations Conversation for a reason. Not A Public Relations Ongoing Speech, or A Public Relations Novel. The purpose of my foray into social media isn't to talk at people, but rather to learn from them and discuss the PR field and communications industry. Granted, I'm not a CEO and I have a lot more time on my hands. Still, this doesn't entirely disprove my point-- if you don't have time to write one, don't have one. Simple.
Ghost blogging cuts the conversation short. An example that came up in class as well as in Dave Fleet's post, "The Ethics of Ghost Writing in Social Media" is Kanye West. Though I don't subscribe to Kanye myself, if I were a fan I would be a little disheartened to find out that the blog was still being updated even after he landed in the slammer. Meaning? It wasn't really him, and for someone who thinks they're connecting with the man himself, it's damaging.
Fleet so rightly states that ghost blogging is bad for PR because it leads to brand damage and loss of trust. It's deceptive and goes against the very purpose of social media-- to engage, build relationships and converse.
What do you think of ghost blogging? Does it differ from other forms of "writing behind the scenes?"
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