Writing for Social Media

Overview

• Social Media Ethics
• Copyright
• Privacy & User Agreements
• Accesibility
• Equity & Inclusion

Ethical Considerations

What is Ethics?

• A set of moral guidelines & principles that influence our behaviors and interactions

Social MEdia Sins

• Misappropriation/trendjacking
• Abandonment
• Manipulation
• Ignorance
• Monotony
• Narcissism
• Uniformity

But wait, there's more:

• No diversity, equity, inclusion or representation
• Bullying
• Lack of authenticity
• Not crediting others
• Sharing too much
• Flame war outrage
• Automation
• Going rogue

Is social media good or bad?

Copyright

Copyright in a nutshell

• Copying without the creator's permission is infringement
• Only the creator can hold others liable
• Maximum penalty is $150,000 per work
• You don't want a copyright suit

Don't use things you find on Google Image search.

Doing things right

• Ask for permission
• Pay for licensing
• Use public domain or Creative Commons assets

Even if you link back to the source or give attribution, it's not enough.

Creative Commons is a free licensing system.

Creative Commons

• Attribution
• No Derivative Works
• Share Alike
• Non-Commercial

Fair Use

• Transforming the work (e.g. parody, criticism)
• Purpose & character of usage
• Nature of the copyrighted work
• How much work was used
• Impacts to market or value of work

Privacy

Privacy on social media

• Still being defined
• Facebook data disaster
• FTC oversight
• GDPR, CPPA, etc.

Terms of Use/User Agreements

• Codes of conduct
• TOS defines terms of use and how it may be used
• What users can and cannot do
• Sometimes addresses copyright
• Evolving documents

Accessibility

Accessibility

• ADA guidelines
• Estimated 15% of web users have disabilities that require assistive technology
• Brand must make their content accessible

Making Content Accessible

• #CamelCase in hashtags
• Use closed captioning or share the transcript
• Be mindful of contrast
• Always use alt-text
• Say where the link is going: [AUDIO], [PIC], or [VIDEO]

Equity & Inclusion

More than 50% of American adults get their news from social sites and social media users are an incredibly diverse group across race, gender, income levels and community type.

Key Terms

• Diversity: All the ways in which people differ.
• Equity: Fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all people. One's identity cannot predict the outcome.
• Inclusion: A variety of people have power, a voice, and decision-making authority.

Diversity is where everyone is invited to the party; equity means that everyone gets to contribute to the playlist; inclusion means that everyone has the opportunity to dance.

Making It happen

• Diverse language and storytelling
• Gender neutral language
• Diverse imagery, icons, emoji
• Engage and share with diverse voices
• Respond to and remove offensive comments
• Honor identities of your audience members
• Using person-first language

Any questions?