Children Identity Theft Happens – Online Safety Tips

Child Playing on Ipad Tablet1 out of 40 Deal with Underage Identity Theft

Identity theft is an ever-growing problem as generations grow up with the Internet at their side. This isn’t a crime that only happens to adults, as the Identity Theft Assistance Center reports 1 out of 40 households deal with identity theft of underage members. Thieves target minors for social security numbers not already used to obtain credit and jobs. The Parent Teachers Association and LifeLock have teamed up to help parents and children understand online dangers and how to avoid them so they stay safe.

Interactive Tools to Present Dangers of Identity Theft

The PTA and LifeLock are creating interactive tools and learning kits to present the dangers of identity theft and online activity in a kid-friendly way throughout 2014. The goal is to have engaging tools that teach children to stay safe during online activities. The program also teaches the specific dangers to keep in mind when they use the Internet. The tools target several audiences during the tools development process, with some kits designed to help parents thoroughly explain the issues to their kids, and others designed for classroom use.

Tips for Family Safety Online

First consider an Internet Filter or Monitoring program such as CovenantEyes for your children. It will not only help you keep tabs on what kind of websites they visit, but will allow you to filter dangerous or inappropriate website as well as monitor how often your child is on the internet.

SEE: CovenantEyes Review

Teach your children to only enter personal information on secured Web forms for approved services and websites. Make sure they know “https:” indicates secure webpages, as do common security seals such as McAfee Secure. Point out red flags in phishing emails that mimic a login page of a legitimate service. Often the phishing emails have bad spelling or grammar, use a website address that is close to, but not exactly, the legitimate URL, or send you to a different URL than the link’s anchor text. When your child discovers a phishing email, send it to the company it’s spoofing so they shut down the scammer.

Use anti-virus software that includes email and Web protection as part of the package. A typical anti-virus program only scans the files on your computer. Instead, use an anti-virus application that also checks email and websites to protect your children against phishing, malware, and trojans. The scheduling function ensures that your computer gets a full scan every day without fail, helping to minimize potential damage caused by a virus that got through the active protection.

Configure Windows Firewall or a third party firewall software to select which installed programs are permitted to access the Internet. Whitelist programs like Windows or iOS, your anti-virus software, and trusted online games. A whitelisted program always has firewall permission to connect to the Internet, while you get prompted by the firewall to allow other programs access on a case by case basis.

Social networks such as Facebook provide a range of tools to fine tune privacy settings on profiles, statuses, and other content shared on the website. Only allow your children’s Facebook friends or a custom list of friends to see their status updates, pictures, and other social network content. In addition, Facebook allows you to control who sees personal information on a profile, such as phone numbers, email addresses, and physical addresses.

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How Facebook can Hurt Teen’s Chances for College

Facebook LogoDid you know that last year, Facebook changed the minimum age requirement for joining Facebook to 13 years old?

Yet a survey in 2012 showed that 38% of children on Facebook were actually under 13. In fact over 5 million users were under 10 years old!

So what’s the big deal? Teens are at a time in their neural development where they are more likely to take risks and not consider the full reach of the consequences. According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the still-growing teenage brain causes teens to engage in risky behavior and act impulsively. It is no different in their user of social media. Ok so, they post a few bad pictures up on the web or they say inappropriate or explicit “teen” things on the web, what has that got to do with college?

Are Colleges looking at Social Media?

The application process for college has always been extremely competitive. Good grades and high SAT scores matter a lot, but so does extracurricular activities, a great essay, world experiences and so on. But with so many similar applicants and rising competitiveness, it is becoming more commonplace for admission officers to visit social media sites in order to gain additional information on their applicants. With the growth of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram among many social media outlets, teenagers are laying out their lives all over the net making it easier for admission officers (and in the future, job interviewers) to get a deeper look into a person’s character. In a recent 2013 survey of admissions officers by Kaplan Test Prep, they found 31 percent of the admission officers visited an applicant’s Facebook or social networking page. This is a whopping 3x more than in 2008.

Social Media Documents Everything

Unlike their parents, when teens make poor decision in life, often it is marked on the internet forever. It doesn’t simply disappear like it did for past generations. One bad picture or comment can haunt them for a long time. Teens need to be careful and recognize that what they do now can have repercussions for many years to come. Simply posting and deleting a image from Facebook or other online medium does not mean it is gone forever. It still can get picked up on the web, get caught in cache, stored in social media company servers, or copied by other readers.

Of course social media isn’t evil in itself. if your social media presence shows you are an upstanding individual with many awards and good extracurricular involvement, it can be for your benefit.

Related Post: Internet Accountability for Children

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Facebook Now Allows Teens to Post Publicly

Facebook Like Dislike Image

Facebook allows Teenagers to Post Publically

Facebook is now allowing teenagers of age 13 to 17 to post publicly and get followers on their profiles. Previously, teens were not allowed to post publicly. They were only able to share content with friends, friends of friends and custom groups. Now teenagers are allowed to post anything they’d like for the whole world to see.

Facebook LogoGood Idea or Bad Idea?
Like or Dislike?

On a Facebook blog post: “Teens are among the savviest people using of social media, and whether it comes to civic engagement, activism, or their thoughts on a new movie, they want to be heard… While only a small fraction of teens using Facebook might choose to post publicly, this update now gives them the choice to share more broadly, just like on other social media services.”

The change happened on Wed (10/16). It does not affect historical posts.

Can 13-17 Year Olds Discern the Dangers?

We know the dangers of Facebook especially for children. How one bad photo can haunt you for the rest of your life. One piece of information you probably shouldn’t have shared leading to destroyed reputations or even burglary of homes. Inappropriate links shared by other friends. Will 13-17 year olds have the discernment to discriminately know what is publicly appropriate to post on Facebook and what can cause trouble down the line? Do they know how best to protect their privacy?

Good Idea or Bad Idea?
Like or Dislike?

Chime in below!

Related Post:

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Are Teenagers bored of Facebook? [Infographic]

Are Teenagers bored of Facebook?

Did you know…

  • Facebook usage among teens in the US has declined 7% in the last 6 months?
  • Facebook users are getting older?
  • Tumblr has become the biggest player in teen usage?
  • Mothers are taking over Facebook!?

Amidst the article after article describing the growth of social media or the ill-effects of Facebook on children, there are some statistics that suggest we are seeing a shift away from a Facebook dominated world. As more mothers come onto Facebook and it becomes more popular among the young, the ever “trendy” teens may be seeking other venues to share their lives. Instagram, SnapChat, and Tumbler are being adopted quickly especially as more and more teens are being granted smartphones and thus constantly connected to the internet.

Enjoy this, bright and slightly nauseating infographic from Right Mix Marketing.

  • What social media app do you use the most?
  •  Have you unfriend your parents before?

Teens Facebook Social Media Use

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Amazing Social Media Image Size Infographic

Social Media Image Dimension Infographic

For social media marketers as well as social media ethusiast. Check out this beautiful infographic displaying all the graphic image dimensions for the Facebook Timeline, Twitter Profiles, Google+ Pages, YouTube Branded Pages, Linkedin Profiles and Pinterest Boards. What a great resource.

Have you spruced up your social media pages?
Drop a word on our facebook or twitter and let us know so we can take a look! Perhaps we’ll highlight some of the most creative ones we find in a future post.

Social media Image Cheat Sheet Infographic

Social Media Graphic Dimension Infographics

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Teens Standing up to Cyber Bullies on Facebook

It’s Back to School & Cyberbulling

It’s back to school time. Many schools will be starting this week or the next. It’s the time to think about new classes, new teachers, perhaps new friends, but also a time to think about the many issues in present youth culture.

One of the biggest is cyberbullying. According to a new study, 1 in 4 kids claim to be targets of cyberbullying, nearly 2 of 3 teens have witnessed cruel behavior online, but only 10% of parents are aware that their own teens are one of the recipients. Most of these attacks happen on Facebook where a whopping 92.6% of teens say cruel behavior takes place. It also happens through other mediums such as Twitter 23.8%, MySpace (17.7%), and Instant Messenger 15.2%.

Is Standing up to Bullies Online Safe?

But what is interesting is how teens stand up to bullies more often online. 40% tells them to stop, nearly 21% ended up telling an adult, while 65.8% responded to the attacker. In the small security of not being physically present, teens respond more frequently.

However, beware, 35% of students also end up responding in person and 4.5% of the teens end up in physical fights. 15% avoided school altogether due to an online incident. Worse, 6.3% of people join in the attack.

It is important that parents are aware of what is going on in the online space because it can have dramatic impact on teens especially during the difficult and emotional years of youth. If your child is is often emotionally down or wants to avoid school, you should be aware that cyberbulling is not a simple issues to be ignored. If that doesn’t move you, know that teens who are cyberbullied are 3.5x MORE likely to attempt suicide! Now that is a scary reality.

Check out the infographic below, and let us know your thoughts. Any of the statistics surprise you?

Cyberbullying Statistics Infographic

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Should Children be Allowed on Facebook?

Child Laptop Internet Facebook

Children Allowed to Open Facebook Accounts?

News is spreading.

Facebook is considering allowing children under the age of 13 to have accounts on Facebook.

The question would had to have come sooner or later as means for continual Facebook growth. Previously anyone under the age of 13 were not allowed to have accounts, though a Consumer Report study estimated that out of 20 million minors on Facebook, 7.5 million of these children were younger than 13. Among these users, 5 million were 10 years or younger and were not being supervised by their parents. Age restrictions have always been difficult on the internet.

This is not a simple matter of whether to let kids have access or not. Keep in mind, part of the reasoning in keeping young children on Facebook is the incredible dangers that it poses.

There are the obvious factors most people would know, such as the presence of sexual predators, and creepy people talking to kids. Also one million kids were harassed, threatened, or cyberbullied on the past in the last year (Consumer Reports). There has been numerous studies on how the internet and social media cause anti-social behaviors in hyper-connected children. We here at Clean Cut Media even posted an infographic about how the internet is ruining your brain! But even more than these obvious issues, there are many other dangers not as well known. For example:

Dangers of Children on Facebook You May Not Know

Photo Accessibility: Photos posted on Facebook or the internet in general can easily spread very quickly. As they say once it’s on the internet, it’s there forever, even if you delete them. Even if you were careful, it can easily be grabbed by someone and posted elsewhere. There are many instances were lives were ruined because of some poor Facebook photo going viral. This is not only for photos you upload, but photos your friends may upload or you upload of your friends. Many lives are ruined because of one photo uploaded by someone who didn’t think through the consequences.

Abuse of Knowledge: Another example many do not consider is how sites like Facebook are used for theft and burglary. Did you just say you and your family are going on a awesome 3 month vacation to Europe? You just announced your home will be vacant for 3 months. It’s scary to think about, but consider how else more dangerous people can utilize such information.

Inappropriate Content: How about dangerous and inappropriate links shared by friends, strangers, malware or clicked on by accident as they surfed the web?

Is your daughter posting pictures of themselves all over the net? Who can access those? Download those?

Any Other way of Handling Pre-Teens on Facebook?

Some may argue that the children are already on it anyway and more should be done to help allow parents to monitor. Is that Facebook’s responsibility to provide the tools to do so or does it mostly lie on the parent? How about the idea that Facebook create a separate sub-site for those under 13 with strict monitoring tools and filters as well as an easy way to transition the account to the main facebook platform? Food for thought. Share your ideas!

Should Children be Allowed to Use Facebook?

So Question:

  • Do you support Facebook opening up to pre-teen accounts?
  • What is the best way for parents to help monitor or prevent children from making terrible mistakes?
  • At what age do you think, children have the capacity to think intelligently about these things?

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Facebook Success Summit Conference 2011

Facebook Success Summit 2011 [Conference]

For the Social Media Marketers and those who are interested in the growth of Facebook and how businesses are using it, I wanted to highlight a conference called the “Facebook Success Summit 2011”. It is a conference that is completely online thus doesn’t require you to travel.

19 social media experts will hold various web seminars to discuss what they’ve learned and the successful strategies they use. They are basically answer the question:

“What do experienced marketers and business owners know and do with Facebook that makes them so successful?”

Facebook Success Summit Review

I personally attended the Facebook Success Summit last year and found it to be pretty helpful. For 90% of the people out there who do not have an extensive background in Facebook, they would find this conference super helpful as it really does cover a lot of different aspects of Facebook marketing and Facebook uses. For the other 10% who have a decent working knowledge of Facebook, you will still find it useful.

I will be attending again this year.
Just so you know this isn’t just hollow words. I work at a small firm, we are highly selective of what we attend and highly sensitive to price. It’s worth it.

Here are what I consider the biggest benefits of Facebook Summit:
Facebook Success Summit Conference

  • No travel – All Online Webinars
  • Session Recordings – Miss a seminar? watch the recording.
  • Ask Questions – Ask lot of those pesky social media questions that you can’t find answers on the web from actual people who’ve done social media. Social media is growing rapidly, there is no true “expert” in this growing field, but there are those with a lot more experience. This summit will have many of those speaking about their experience.
  • Network & Private Forum – There is a private Linkedin group you can join. This was the most useful as a huge FAQ discussion starts to form in there where everyone asks all the questions they ever had and others who are in the know chime in and discuss the answers. I found this to a great resource.
  • Cheap & Money Back Guarantee – As this conference is online, it’s considerably cheaper than those $2,500-3,500 conference which also involve hotel costs, travel costs and so on. If you sign up before SEPT 15th, it’s only $297 (50% off). I was not a math major, but price will probably double that after that date. Also after the first 2 days, you can cancel for a full refund if you think it’s not for you.
  • UPDATE: It is now $397 – 34% off ($200 off original price). This sale ends Sept 20th.

Facebook Success Summit Seminars Samples [FSSSS!]

Below are some Seminar Samples:

  • 5 Steps to a Successful Facebook Marketing Strategy
  • 7 Proven Strategies to Grow and Engage Your Facebook Fans
  • How to Build and Manage a Thriving Facebook Community
  • Gain Insight and Sales with Facebook Commerce
  • How to Successfully Measure Facebook Marketing Campaigns
  • Don’t Sell on Facebook! Make it Easy & Compelling to Buy: How & Why
  • How to Build a Loyal Fan Base Using Facebook
  • How Big Consumer Brands are Using Facebook
  • Facebook Application Development for Dummies
  • 10 Ways to Bring the Power of Facebook to Your Website

I always like the more hands-on, practical seminars which this summit provides. On top of this you’ll get 16 free bonus webinars (I assume from past events and blog seminars they’ve had…)

Link to Facebook Success Summit Information Page / Sign up Page

Who should attend this Facebook Conference?

Straight from their site:
The Small Business Owner: You’re looking for a boost—likely a consultant, coach, local business owner, writer, agent, blogger, artist or general “gun for hire”—and see the potential of Facebook marketing, but want to speed your path to success with the least effort and the greatest return.

The Corporate Marketer: You work for a corporation and have been tasked to manage the company’s Facebook initiative. You likely face internal battles to convey how Facebook could help the company, but you know there’s real potential.

The Experienced Social Media User: You’ve been using Facebook for a while, but want better results. You’re ready to take your business to a whole new level by following the proven tactics of the pros and leveraging the latest techniques. Better response. Less work. More profitability.

LET US KNOW IN COMMENTS IF YOU ARE ATTENDING and WHO YOU ARE!
It’s $297 up until Sept 15th (early bird). Then price doubles.

UPDATE: It is now $397 – 34% off ($200 off original price). This sale ends Sept 20th.
Link to Facebook Success Summit Information Page / Sign up Page

Some More Facebook Statistics

  • 92% of Marketers use Facebook
  • 75% of Marketers plan to increase their use of Facebook in 2011
  • 44% of North America companies see Facebook as important or critical to their marketing plans.
  • 750 million active Facebook users
  • 31% of Facebook users are on the site multiple times a day (Pew Internet & American Life)
  • 1 of 6 minutes online are spent on Social Networking sites (ComScore)
  • 24% of consumers consult Facebook friends before making a purchase (Edison Research)
  • 53% of Facebook users would recommend brands to friends.
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Study says Facebook Users are Narcissist! [Study]

Child using Laptop MediaFacebook & Social Networking Influences on Children

As social media continues to grow in popularity, we are slowly starting to see more psycholgical research regarding the risks and benefits of social media / social networking use.

In a talk called “Poke Me: How Social Networks Can Both Help and Harm Our Kids,” Larry D. Rosen PhD, professor of psychology at California State University, Dominquez Hills, discussed the negative effects social media (e.g. Facebook) has had on children. Rosen conducted a study to determine how overuse of Facebook can lead to the development of psychological disorders in teens. The study was based on a sample size of 1,000 urban adolescents.

Negative points of note:

  • Teens who use Facebook show more narcissistic tendencies.
  • Young adults who use Facebook show more psychological issues such as mania, anti-social behavior and aggression.
  • Children who overuse media and technology (ex. Facebook, Video Games, TV) tends to show negative effects on health. They are more prone to depression, anxiety, and other psychological problems.
  • Middle school, high school and college students who checked Facebook frequently received lower grades as Facebook served as a distraction from studies.

Note all research was negative. Below are some positive influences of social networking.

Positive points of note:

  • Adolescents learn how to socialize
  • Young adults who use Facebook are better at showing “virtual empathy”.

Are these really “Positive” Facebook Influences?

I am not sure whether these “positives” are much of a positive at all. It is good to learn “virtual empathy” but in the long run, time is better spend for a child or an adult to learn REAL LIFE empathy. The practice of interacting and socializing in real life context may cause some awkwardness and anxiety, but it is important for children and adults alike to practice so we can become fully functioning contributors to society, our friends, and our families. I do agree that social network does have incremental opportunities to interact and socialize with others, especially those who live far away, but the fear here is when people start to opt to send messages, emails, wall posts over phone calls and real life interactions where real life opportunities are lost.

Larry Rosen’s Advice for Social Networking Use for Children

Larry Rosen, offered some advice for parents by encouraging them to pay attention to the online trends and the latest technologies they are using but be aware that it will be difficult to monitor all of your child’s social networking activities.

“If you feel that you have to use some sort of computer program to surreptitiously monitor your child’s social networking, you are wasting your time. Your child will find a workaround in a matter of minutes,” he said. “You have to start talking about appropriate technology use early and often and build trust, so that when there is a problem, whether it is being bullied or seeing a disturbing image, your child will talk to you about it.”

Social Networking Monitoring Softwares

Despite Rosen’s comments about monitoring your children, if you feel a desire to protect your child from harm, different Social Networking Monitoring tools are slowly coming to public. One such option is ZoneAlarm Social Guard. I have not used this product before, so please by all means, if you have any feedback please share in the comments below. Video introduction of ZoneAlarm Social Guard is below.

Click Here for More Info: ZoneAlarm Social Guard

Social Monitoring Tool Features:

  • Alerts you of “friends” who are much older than they claim to be.
  • Alerts you of inappropriate discussions about drugs, suicide, violence, and sex.
  • Alerts you of inappropriate links that is shared with your child.
  • Alerts you of discussions that suggest cyberbulling.
  • Parents do not need to be on Facebook to receive alerts.
  • Watches your signs that your child’s account has been hacked.

Share Your Thoughts on Social Media Usage

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  • What is your thoughts on this study?
  • What are some other positive and negative effects you see of using Facebook?
  • In the name of irony – like our Clean Cut Media’s Facebook Page
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Does Social Media Work for Small Business?

Social Media Marketing Benefits

Social Media Usage by Small Businesses

Social Media is in a very interesting stage of it’s life in terms of how it is used by different businesses and organizations. It’s growth is undeniable but the level of usage varies across the board. Many companies have jumped in. Some are showing great profits, others just see it as a good “brand” play, while others are skeptical just dipping their toes and seeing what happens. It reminds me where SEM and SEO was just 6-7 years ago when businesses would hire interns to figure it out for them. But look where online marketing is now…

A full fledged social media play may not be for everyone, but no matter what business or organization you run, there is great benefit of using this medium to interact with your customer. Whether it is to drive sales, gain brand exposure, to get feedback from customers, or perhaps to lower cost of customer service, there is numerous ways social media is being used with great results. See this nifty little video below:

Social Media Is Becoming More Important

Michael Stelzner has released his third annual social media study that surveys 3342 marketers, half of whom are small business owners. Here are a few key points found in the study:

  • Important: 90% say social media is important to their business
  • Increased Exposure: 88% of social media marketers found social media increases their exposure
  • Increased Traffic & Subscriptions: 72% of social media marketers found increased traffic and subscriptions
  • New Partnerships: 56% reported gaining new partnerships via social media
  • Improved Sales: 48% of small business owners saw improved sales as a direct result of social media efforts
  • Reduction in Marketing Costs: Small Business Owners were more likely than others to see reduction in marketing costs due to social media marketing
  • Get Qualified Leads: Small Business owners twice as likely to find qualified leads via social media efforts
  • Video Marketing: 77% of marketers plan on increasing their YouTube and Video Marketing.
  • Facebook Still King: 92% of marketers are using Facebook, 75% plan on increasing their activities

Social Media Icons Facebook Twitter YouTube

Time Equals Money in Social Media

This report also showed that the more time businesses invested in social media, the higher the success rate. For example:

  • 80% of those with 3+ years of experience in social media marketing report forming new partnerships. (25% for less than 3 years)
  • Those who spend 6+ Hours per week are TWICE as likely to generate social media leads as those spending less than 5 Hours per week.

Social Media Marketing Hours

Download the Full Report Here: Social Media Marketing Report 2011

Social Media on Clean Cut Media

For the curious, Clean Cut Media has both a Facebook and a Twitter Account.

Clean Cut Media Facebook : ‘Like’ Us!
Clean Cut Media Twitter : ‘Follow’ Us!

For Clean Cut Media, Facebook is the second largest referral of traffic after Google. Our readers have been gracious enough to post our articles on their walls (thanks it really helps!).

  • Let us know if you found social media helpful for your business or organization.
  • What has worked well, and not well?
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Change Your New HTTPS Facebook Privacy Settings Now

Facebook Logo - Large Square

Facebook Brings HTTPS Protocol Controls

Facebook is finally rolling out the option to use encrypted “HTTPS” protocol. Turn it on immediately!

HTTPS WHAT? What in the world does that mean you say?

Long story short – Without it, your information is sent and received without any protection (encryption). When you login, let’s just say it stores it in files called “cookies” so websites know each time you click around that it’s you! Attackers can hijack these cookies especially on wireless networks. It’s actually quite easy to do. When you log into GMAIL notice it’s all “https” because it’s protecting your information. Good for them. Facebook? FAIL.

Firesheep Facebook Hijack

There is even simple plugins (e.g. firesheep) that allows anyone to hijack without being much of a hack nerd themselves. Stealing 30 some identities within 30 minutes – easy. Oops did I just create more hackers? Resist the urge fellas!

When Facebook Rolling out this Feature! I Want It!

Facebook should be rolling out to all users today, but seems to be taking their sweet ol’ time, so you may or may not see it yet.

So how do you do it?

Go to “Account Settings” then to “Account Security” and look for “Secure Browsing”. Check it. If you don’t see it, check it later.

While you are there, see “Account Activity” below. Did someone ELSE login to your account from New York when you live in San Francisco? Yikes! Better end his\her session and go change your password…

Facebook HTTPS Privacy

BOOKMARK: Also update your BOOKMARK to have “https” as opposed to “http”.

Note that encryption does take a little bit longer to load so you may see pages opening more slowly. Also note, this is just for websites, your Facebook iPhone app has no such security.

Did you Change your Security Settings?

  • Were you able to make the security change?
  • Did you know that your Facebook connection was not secure?
  • Did you find anyone else logged into your account?
  • Scared?

Update [02.04]: After waiting a week, I finally saw the settings available on my personal account. Facebook took it’s sweet time. Are you seeing it too?

Don’t forget to fan our cleancutmedia facebook page here!

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The Social Network – Business Ethics in Movies

The Social Network Movie Image“…virtually all of the practices that nearly wrecked the global economy back in 2008 were legal—all of which goes to prove that just because something is legal doesn’t make it ethical or right… So the question isn’t “why?” but “why not?” If the only thing standing between you and millions, even billions, is other people’s disapproval, why not do what you want to do?”

Social Network the Movie- Business Ethics

The following is an excerpt from Breakpoint discussing Business Ethics. The question that is asked is:

If it is legal – does that make it ethical?

Thought it was interesting so wanted to share here. Enjoy.

Facebook’s Beginnings in The Social Network

Even before the critically acclaimed film The Social Network opened in theaters, there was one big financial winner: Newark, New Jersey’s public schools.

While critics were screening the movie, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg donated $100 million to the struggling school system. Not only that, he made the announcement on Oprah.

Apparently, Zuckerberg was looking for a little bit of good PR. He’s concerned that people who see the film may question his personal ethics. The more important concern ought to be, however, what the film says about business ethics in our culture.

I personally don’t have an opinion on whether the $100 million donation was a PR move versus perhaps something he wanted to do all along. Maybe his PR people told him to do it now versus later. Either way, I do want to acknowledge that this is a very nice gesture on his part and definitely hope to see more of it in the future.

  • What are your thoughts?
  • Do you think it was a PR move? Or do you think it was intended all along? or both?

The Social Network - Justin TimberlakeThe Social Network, based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, tells what’s been called a “creation myth” about the wildly successful Facebook. The “myth” alternates scenes from Zuckerberg’s days at Harvard and depositions taken in connection with two lawsuits filed against him by former schoolmates.

One lawsuit alleged that that Zuckerberg stole the plaintiffs’ idea. The other lawsuit was brought by Zuckerberg’s best friend, who accused Zuckerberg of cheating him out of his share of Facebook.

Well, regardless of the legal merits of the allegations, Zuckerberg has reason to be concerned: His actions depicted in the film ranged from merely duplicitous to outright treacherous.

While the filmmakers have acknowledged taking some creative license, Zuckerberg’s ruthlessness is well-documented, which prompts the central question of the film: Why? In the film, the answer is that he’s an insecure outsider who wants to be one of the “cool kids.” Others have speculated that he suffers from autism spectrum disorder, which is unfair to autistic people: They may be socially awkward, but they are the farthest thing from ruthless.

The Social Network Movie ClipPersonal Failure or Broken Culture or Both?

This is where it get’s interesting. Everything Zuckerberg did was very legal. His lawyers made sure of that. but does it make it right? But if it’s legal why not? Interesting to think about.

Focusing on Zuckerberg’s foibles misses the point: The most important failure wasn’t personal but cultural. Every one of the actions depicted in the film was arguably legal: You don’t have a proprietary interest in an idea. Zuckerberg’s friend signed away his interest in Facebook because he wrongly thought that Zuckerberg’s lawyers were looking after his interests as well.

Similarly, virtually all of the practices that nearly wrecked the global economy back in 2008 were legal—all of which goes to prove that just because something is legal doesn’t make it ethical or right. Any lawyer worth his hourly billings can find a way to exploit weaknesses in the system.

So the question isn’t “why?” but “why not?” If the only thing standing between you and millions, even billions, is other people’s disapproval, why not do what you want to do? Especially since you can subsequently buy their approval with a check and an appearance on Oprah?

Of course, if this becomes normative, then the kind of trust that makes free markets possible would dry up, which is exactly what happened in the aftermath of sub-prime crisis. Lenders have money to lend—what they lack is confidence in borrowers’ ability or willingness to repay.

What is your take? Thoughts?

  • Love to here your thoughts on this matter?
  • Are you going to watch the movie? If you have, how was it?
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