Pleaase answer the attached case study.

The Social Media Megaphone: Transparent Life Intensified It’s a story that’s been told before.
Twenty-Five-year-old Stacy Snyder was in her last semester of teacher-in-training at Millersville University School of Education. On her MySpace page, she posted a photo of herself at a party with a pirate hat and a cup in her hand. The caption read, “Drunken Pirate.” Her school decided that the photo promoted drinking to her underage students at Conestoga Valley High School and denied her teaching degree. She sued citing her first amendment rights, and a federal district court judge dismissed her suit because she was a public employee and therefore her public speech (i.e., “Drunken Pirate”) was not protected. You may believe that Stacy’s story is an unfortunate one, but the Internet, specifically social media tools and sites, has made it far too easy to share all types of information. If you’re not careful, your use of social media may expose your life in the most transparent of ways to literally millions and millions of people. According to one survey, 75 percent of recruiters and HR professionals in the United States stated that their organizations required them to research applicants online. Some of the most commonly visited places for that research included search engines, social networking sites, photo and videoing sharing sites, personal Web sites, blogs, Twitter, and gaming sites. In the same survey, over 70 percent of the recruiters stated that they had rejected applicants based on the information they found online. Of course, all the examples of life transparency on the Internet are not necessarily “bad.” Some have a good ending, and others are simply interesting to consider.
WEBCASTING FUNERALS
According to John Reed, past president of the National Funeral Directors Association and current owner of two Virginia-based funeral homes, 20 to 30 percent of all funeral homes in the U.S. now provide webcasting funeral services. “I can honestly say that in the past three years we’ve gone from absolute zero to the point where we now do 50% of our funerals on the Web,” stated Reed. For Cliff Reedy, whose son tragically died in a car accident, the webcast service was essential in reaching out to all friends and family. His son’s funeral was webcast across the U.S. and in 10 countries. The webcast funeral had more than 700 views. MILITARY BAGS FLY FREE AFTER VIDEO GOES VIRAL Army Staff Sergeants Robert O’Hair and Fred Hilliker were upset that airlines were charging baggage fees to military service personnel returning from Afghanistan. The two made a video in which they stated that 36 military personnel from Oklahoma were charged more than $2,800 for excess baggage fees. The two sergeants posted the video on YouTube, and many people commented to express their outrage. Even congressman Bruce Baley from Iowa demanded that the airline reimburse the soldiers for the fees. Now, all airlines allow military personnel to check more bags of greater weight for free.
MAN RETRIEVES STOLEN LAPTOP AFTER TWEETING PHOTOS
Joshua Kaufman had his laptop stolen from his apartment. Fortunately, he had activated his theft-tracking software which sent to Kaufman’s e-mail periodic photos of the person using it taken from the computer’s Web cam and screen shots of the laptop while in use. He posted the photos through Twitter and instantly began receiving retweets of support and leads of who the person might be in the photos. One of the screen shots included the name of the business for which the suspect worked. Within days, the police had arrested the suspect and returned Kaufman’s laptop.
RASHARD MENDENHALL FIRED BECAUSE OF OSAMA BIN LADEN TWEETS
Rashard Mendenhall, Pittsburgh Steelers’ running back, had a lucrative endorsement contract with Champion. But Champion fired Rashard over tweets he sent regarding the death of Osama Bin Laden. In his tweets, Rashard questioned why people would celebrate the death of Bin Laden. In other tweets, Rashard also questioned the September 11th attacks. He tweeted that he had “a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style.” POLICE STANDOFF LIVE ON FACEBOOK Jason Valdez took a woman hostage at a motel in a 16-hour standoff with SWAT teams. During the ordeal, he constantly updated his Facebook page, letting friends and family know of his situation. Valdez even posted two photos of himself and the hostage with the caption, “Got a cute ‘Hostage’ huh.” Family and friends responded with over 100 comments to his Facebook page. One friend even posted a comment regarding the location of SWAT personnel stating, “gunner in the bushes stay low.” Valdez thanked him for the information.
Questions 1. What do you think of Stacy Snyder’s story? Should she be denied a degree for publicly endorsing drinking to her underage students? To what extent do you believe that potential employers should explore social networking sites to validate the “goodness” of potential employees? Is there anything on your Facebook page that might turn off potential employers? If so, are you going to take any action?
Question 2. The webcasting of funerals is an interesting example of the flatness of the world. Is this an invasion of privacy or do next-of-kin have the right to make such a decision? What other significant events in a person’s life might be suitable for webcasting? Identify at least three such events and then do some research to determine if webcasting of those events is already taking place.
Question 3. Osama Bin Laden represents a very dark image for most Americans. His participation in the planning of the September 11th attacks will forever mark him as evil. Should people, like Rashard Mendenhall, who make positive or perhaps even neutral comments about terrorists like Bin Laden be fired from endorsement contracts? Can making such comments be considered grounds for termination of employment? Maybe dismissal from your school as a student?
Question 4. Very few people would question the service and commitment of military personnel to our country. The two sergeants who created the YouTube video openly criticized Delta Airlines for its charging of baggage fees to military personnel. Is this open form of criticism of businesses and their practices acceptable? Will it help businesses be more accountable to customers? 5. The use of Facebook (or any other social networking site) can truly make a person’s life transparent, available for the whole world to see. Should there be legislation regulating the openness of your life on the Internet? Can we expect society somehow to regulate this without any laws?