Social Media Dbq Analysis

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Privacy in regards to social media and businesses has become a hotly contested debate. Although privacy is an important right of the United States Constitution (Fourth Amendment), employers should have the right to view a potential employee’s - or current employee’s - social media in order to keep the company’s image in tact as well as to ensure productivity at the workplace. Nearly all companies pride themselves in having reputable companies. In order to have a strong reputation, some companies monitor their employees’ social media to ensure that there is nothing the company does not want to be associated with. For example, Justine Sacco was fired by IAC for a racist Tweet, where she joked about AIDS. Soon after she landed, Sacco learned she was fired for her Tweet (Source A). IAC was quick to fire Sacco because they did not want to be associated with her racist Tweet that caused unintended backlash. This is just one instance of an employer using their authority of monitoring social media accounts to remove a person that does not fit the integrity of the company. Another instance is when a newly hired employee bashed her company before her first day. Consequently, the owner promptly fired her and she never started working at Jet’s Pizza (Source B). The owner, Robert …show more content…

A recent study proves that social media is one of the reasons for decreased productivity in the workplace. Overall, “13% of the total productivity is lost owing to the social media indulgence alone” (Source C). 13% is more than ⅛ of the day of an eight hour work day. If an employer puts in their contract that social media can only be used at certain times of the day (such as breaks), but the employer finds out that they are using paid time to scroll through social media, then that is a reprimandable offense. There is no reason for an employer to pay their employees if they are wasting their time on social