Social Media and Social Work

Abstract

From everyday communication to online shopping and from online games and entertainment to finding employment or remote working, people use digital technologies for everyday purposes and to meet their needs. In this sense, digital technologies have transformed and reshaped the way we work, communicate, connect and relate to each other and this has direct implications for social work and social care practice. As always, practitioners are the unsung heroes of social work and social care who during COVID-19 have gone above and beyond their responsibilities and call of duty, risking their own lives to ensure the safety, protection and well-being of children and young people and their families as well as adults who access services. This book aims to support students and practitioners in developing their digital and social media literacy and offers an overview of the risks and implications as well as of the positive application of social media and digital technologies across social work practice and regulation. Examining the serious case reviews and fitness to practice hearings relating to the use of social media or failure to ethically consider online risks and their impact in practice demonstrates the increasing complexity of the challenge and the changing expectations for social workers and social care professionals to be able to evaluate and manage online risks not only in relation to their own online identity and behaviour but also in the context of support and safeguarding of children and young people as well as adults who access services. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)