morals and ethics, say wha?

is she fo reals?! 

Often when you love someone, you spare them from hurt even if that means having to lie to them.

I’m a victim and a perpetrator of this (seemingly) harmless crime. But where do we draw the line?
After all, lies have a tendency to spiral out of control and some even start to take on a certain truth-we start to actually believe in them. Sometimes we get over the deception and other times we don’t. No matter what the outcome, it’s true that we’re just used to being lied to, that every relationship is flawed. And if we understand that our online conversations are filtered, that the lack of actual two-way conversation and certain characteristics of face-to-face communication are missing, then why are we so surprised by people lying to us online?

Take lonelygirl15. YouTubers were captivated by this young girl’s life, as chronicled through her online rants and raves but the fictional status of the show was revealed in Sept. 2006, leaving many followers disappointed. I’m sure most of these fans felt duped and therefore dumb for believing in what appeared to be a day-in-the-life-of type of story. And can you blame them? Surely not. People start to become emotionally invested in the relationships they form online, finding solace and comfort by relating to other people they otherwise wouldn’t have known. So to have the authenticity of these people questioned is really a disppointment.

Not too long ago I found out that someone I had actually started to grow fond of had lied to me about everything. No longer was this person someone I could buy into. That’s why I think when companies turn to social media outlets to further their brand and publicity, they ought to take into consideration how much of themselves they’re willing to reveal. Remember, at the other end of your post there is a watchful eye.

A company that recently came under such scrutiny is Belkin. The global manufacturer of computer hardware, specializing in connectivity devices, was exposed for having an employee posting an offer online – $0.65 for anyone willing to write a positive review of Belkin products on Amazon.com. Several people took up the offer, writing appraisals of products that they hadn’t even used. A PR nightmare, the scam was exposed by a blogger and I’m guessing anyone reading up on Belkin product reviews will take it all with a grain of salt from now on.

I suppose though that’s all we can truly do. Whether we’re reading reviews, chatting with “friends” or watching Vlogs, we need to play the role of self-aware users and bare in mind that the Internet ultimately gives us the power to be whoever we want to be. And as tempting as it may be to give ourselves a new “brand” the price of deception is generally not worth the short term benefits. Unless you’re lonelygirl…