Should you worry about the ethics of the social media platforms you use? Back in 2021 I wrote a post about giving up social media. Whilst I slimmed down my usage and distanced myself from most of my accounts, I certainly didn't give it up, but I was inspired by those that had. Here are some thoughts on where I currently stand on the ethical social media debate.
The Musk Twitter take over made me take a second look. People who said they would leave Twitter if Musk took it over, were trolled for their comments, reminding me what a toxic place Twitter really is. And so I deleted my personal account, and if (and when) he takes control, I will delete my business Twitter account as well. Of course, that's easy for me. I don't actively use it much these days and it doesn't bring any traffic to my Etsy store.
My decision is based purely on Musk's business and the issues I have with the ethics of the production of his electric vehicles. That is connected to my general cynicism about the long term prognosis of green energy. But all social media companies have ethical issues.
Facebook is another site I don't particularly like. I find Zuckerberg and his attitude towards the safety and security of the social media site now known as Meta, quite shady and, as with Twitter, I have distanced myself from the platform, only using it now to post updates to my business page. Unfortunately, Meta now owns Instagram too - my social media channel of choice - and that presents a problem for me. What do I do? Cut myself off from the internet entirely? I've opted to stay with Instagram as it does what I want it to do, from both a personal and business point of view but all these things are constantly changing, and who knows what will will appear in the news in the coming months.
If you have very strong opinions on a particular site, then simply don't use it. There is nothing wrong with the silent protest. I have boycotted all sorts of companies in this way, but I don't feel the need to shout about it. The power is in your pocket.
If you are a business owner, and particularly if you are an online seller, can you avoid social media anyway? And if you are going to apply your ethics to social media across the board, then you probably need to apply it to all the businesses you use. If you dig deep enough you would probably find yourself avoiding all industries and that's an almost impossible ask in the modern world.
So choose your battles carefully.
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