Responsible Social Networking

Abstract

THE USE OF social media, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, MySpace, SecondLifeand other similar sites areincreasingexponentially. A Pew report from early 2010 stated that among adults18and older,73% use Facebook,48% have a profile on MySpace and 14% use LinkedIn. Additionally, 11% of adults over the age of 30 are bloggers. Users of social media who are over the age of 35 grew nearly twice as fast as those 18-35 in the same time period. 1 The use of social media is on the rise and is a common daily occurrence for most of us. Asconsumersofsocialmedia,nurseshaveanadded responsibility of ethical use related to business and personal utility of social or blogging sites. According to this year’s Gallup poll asking Americans to rank the honesty and ethical standards of those in 21 professions, nurses were again rated as the most trusted profession in the United States. 2 Nurses have held the number one spot every year since inclusion in 1999, with the exception of 2001 when firefighters topped the list following the September 11 attacks. This year, 84 percent of Americans rated nurses as having ‘‘very high’’ or ‘‘high’’ honesty and ethical standards. 2