Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Professor Carter
English 371
April 28, 2015
Facebook, Ethos and Professional Identity
The construction of identity has undergone amazing changes
throughout the decades. For older generations face-to-face and
personal interactions were used to construct identity. Now, with the
expansion of technology, more commonly social media is used to
express and create identity. With the invention and common practice of
students using Facebook, employers are using this platform to identify
the ethos of potential employees. Ethos represents the credibility and
character of an individual. With out having the personal connection
that is achieved through face-to-face communication, perceptions of
ones ethos can be skewed when connecting through social media.
There is plenty of scholarship on Facebook and identity, but there
is little scholarship that examines Facebook, ethos and the effect that it
has on ones professional identity. In the scholarship focused on
identity, authors fail to tell us why or how certain posts can impact our
ethos. In the article Examining Students Intended Image on
Facebook: What Were They Thinking?!, Joy Peluchette and Katherine
Karl write about how identities are in a way falsified to their audience
because the users are trying to fit in with certain groups or at least
wanting the viewers to perceive them as something they really are not.
Using Facebook to glorify or personify ultra-egos can be extremely
detrimental to ones self-image and ultimately creating personality
issues and identity crisis.
In scholarship that focuses on Facebook and professionalism the
author illuminates why employers are looking to Facebook to assess
grounds of employment. In the article by Beth Lory titled, Using
Facebook to Assess Candidates During the Recruiting Process: Ethical
Implications, she brings to light that, when an employer uses
Facebook as means for employment screening, they are practicing the
utilitarian approach of ethics, (1). This essentially means that
employers want an employee who will be the greatest option for the
company and will do little harm to the company, customers, and
community. My article closes this gap by demonstrating the importance
of establishing an online ethos through Facebook so that when
employers screen this social platform the content shows
professionalism. This is essential for college students particularly
because at this stage in life they are exposed to many opportunities to
diminish their online ethos, which will severely affect them when it
comes time to find a job in the professional workplace. I also open the
argument that social media, if used inappropriately is harmful to all
users, regardless of their age.
follow someone for years down the road and be a huge career
determent regardless of intelligence or grade point average. Character
is a very important aspect of ethos because it shows what kinds of
moral qualities consist within a person. Most importantly, it is those
qualities that ultimately reflect ones reputation. True character also
shows how individuals will respond and react when put in certain
situations. Employers are looking for people who can represent their
corporation with good character. Character represents how trustworthy
ones actions and morals are. Lory states, employers may want to
consider any impact on their public relations image by using Facebook
to assess candidates, (Lory). She is warning that corporations who
have employee with inappropriate or racy content put their company
image and ethos at risk because clients can see these Facebook
profiles.
Not only does ethos of social media pertain to students, college
graduates and young adults but to all generation regardless of age.
Inappropriate Facebook posts or any other types of social media posts
pertaining to discrimination on color, race, sexual orientation, religion,
or nationality will hinder current employment positions from advancing
and even possibly termination. There are countless examples of
individuals being fired for posting certain content onto their Facebook
page. A prime example of this is the Chick-Fil-A incident. A very
successful, middle-aged CFO took a video of himself at a Chick-Fil-A
https://www.class.umn.edu/crimson/dependancies/multimedia/Faceboo
k_in_Hiring_Ethical_Implications.pdf>
Peluchette, Joy, and Katherine Karl. Examining Students Intended
Image on Facebook: What Were They Thinking?! Journal of Education
for Business (2009): 30-37. Print.
Smith, Craig R. The development of Rhetorical Theory in Greece.
Rhetoric & Human Consciousness: A History. 4thed. Long Grove:
Waveland, 2003. 49. Print.