This paper aims to provide a social media strategy and guidance for the use of social media within the Social Work Education Network (SWEN) in the London & South East England region. Social media platforms provide an opportunity for SWEN members to extent face-to-face interactions and discussions and to share best practice, emerging innovations, collaborative projects, and new developments within the sector. It also allows new and creative ways to problem solve, share individual and collective experiences, disseminate information and develop common practice / standards / expectations through a digital social media strategy. Therefore, this proposed guidance document aims to provide some overarching themes for the use of social media in line with the values, ethics and ethos of the group and the social work profession.

1. SKILLS FOR CARE: SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION NETWORK (LONDON & SOUTH EAST REGION)
Social Media Guidance for the
Social Work Education Network
SWEN’s initial Social Media and Digital Strategy and
for SWEN Community of Interest
Author: Claudia Megele
7/9/2014
This paper aims to provide a social media strategy and guidance for the use of social media within the Social
Work Education Network (SWEN) in the London & South East England region. Social media platforms provide
an opportunity for SWEN members to extent face-to-face interactions and discussions and to share best
practice, emerging innovations, collaborative projects, and new developments within the sector. It also
allows new and creative ways to problem solve, share individual and collective experiences, disseminate
information and develop common practice / standards / expectations through a digital social media strategy.
Therefore, this proposed guidance document aims to provide some overarching themes for the use of social
media in line with the values, ethics and ethos of the group and the social work profession.
Executive Summary:

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Table of Content
Topic
Page
No.
1. Introduction to Pan London Social Work Education Network (SWEN) 2
2. Social Media Strategy for the SWEN’s Community of Interest (CoI) 3
3. Community of Interest Framework for SWEN 3
4. Developing the SWEN’s Community of Interest (CoI) 4
5. Social Media Guidance for the SWEN network 5
6. The cycle of social media engagement 8

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Context: An Introduction to Pan London Social Work Education Network (SWEN)
The Pan London Social Work Education Network (SWEN) is a network developed and supported by
Skills for Care and provides a platform/space for social work employer leads, co-ordinators of Adults
and Children NQSW scheme, third sector or independent organisations and Higher Education
Institutions (HEIs) involved in leading social work education in London and the South East to share
best practice, emerging projects, innovations within the sector, problem solve, share collective
experiences, enable information dissemination and develop common practice / standards /
expectations.
The Pan London SWEN meetings consist of presentations on important topics around the social
work reform programme and discussions and information exchange aimed at enabling sharing of
ideas, best practice and planning collaborative solutions. Sector leaders are often invited to
contribute and share recent reports or innovations in the sector.
The London and the South East SWEN network is a successful and active network, and is
coordinated by Ali Rusbridge from Skills for Care.
Social Media Strategy for the SWEN’s Community of Interest (CoI)
SWEN would like to use social media to capitalise on the potential of its community of interest to
create a continued conversation and to support its’ activities, efforts and initiatives.
It was highlighted that public services are moving towards digital engagement, and in particular it
was noted that Skills for Care supports digital activities. For example minutes of the SWEN
meetings are published online, each regional group has a dedicated webpage on the Skills for Care
website, and Skills for Care sends out an enews bulletin every fortnight.
It was suggested that SWEN could use Twitter with Storify to create a visual record of meetings. In
particular it was suggested that starting good practice, new initiatives and problem solving ideas
relating to social work education and practice as well as other workforce related developments
would contribute positively to the larger social work community.
A number of SWEN members already use Twitter and/or other social media sites personally and/or
professionally to share information and resources. However, in order to ensure that the use of social
media in relation to SWEN meetings, work, and activities is always professional, mindful and in line
with social work values, ethics and principles, it was suggested that SWEN should develop a social
media guidance document that clarifies its’ position re regarding social media use in relation to its
meetings and work. This was the motivating factor for creation of this document.
Community of Interest Framework for SWEN
The SWEN community of interest aims to use digital media, where appropriate, to share resources,
information best practice, pilot projects and other collaborative efforts with the wider social work
community. In particular the SWEN community of interest will enable members if they so wish to:
1. Share and communicate new approaches, resources and positive ways of working and
engaging with the social work community;
2. Crowdsource and share key messages from the SWEN group through Twitter and Storify or
other appropriate social media platforms;
3. Create a continuous conversation and reflect upon the information shared to promote and
cultivate a culture of good practice and continuous learning and development;
4. Coproduce and collaborate within the SWEN group and with the wider social work
community, and positively contribute the social work sector and workforce development.

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Developing the SWEN’s Community of Interest (CoI)
1. It is suggested that SWEN would initially use Twitter and Sorify as social media platforms for
its engagement strategy. These platforms were selected due to the following reasons:
a. They are easy to use;
b. They are complementary in their functionality and operation;
c. They have a very simple privacy setting;
d. Twitter is a particularly powerful platform for disseminating information and
interaction, and is quite conversational and intuitive to use;
e. Storify allows for a visual storytelling and a flexible narration of events, meetings,
and/or activities.
2. Initial steps in establishing SWEN’s social media presence:
a. Twitter can be used for posting and sharing information, links, photographs and more;
b. Create a Twitter hashtag for use in relation to SWEN’s work, activities and meetings
(SWEN members are encouraged to use this hashtag when tweeting about SWEN);
c. Suggested hashtag for SWEN is #SWEN
d. Storify to facilitates the creation of a visual record/story of the information shared.
Example of effective use of storify:
i. The role of Higher Education in Continuing Professional Development for
Social Workers (HEA event) https://storify.com/swscmedia/the-role-of-higher-
education-in-continuing-profess
ii. E-Learning & Blended Learning: Embedding Social Media in Academic
Curricula (HEA event) https://storify.com/swscmedia/embedding-social-
media-in-academic-curricula
e. Capture tweets and other information such as PowerPoint presentations and other
documents for posting on Storify.
SWEN's
Community of
Practice &
Community of
Interest
Share &
Communicate
Crowdsource
& tap into
Collective
Creativity
Culture of Best
Practice &
Continuous
Learning &
Development
Coproduce
and capitalise
on power of
collectivity

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Social Media Guidance for the SWEN network
In a study of things people could not live without, undertaken by the science museum and involving
3,000 adults, Internet connection was ranked 2nd
place, ahead of clean drinking water and a fridge,
while FACEBOOK was ranked at 5th
place and deemed more vital to everyday life than a shower or
central heating (Science Museum 2011).
Therefore, given the popularity of social media and the rise of e-services within social care, social
work and health a number of government and sector organisations have already created social
media guidance documents and policies to support its effective use in workplace. For example, the
Cabinet Office launched ‘Social Media Guidance for Civil Servants’ in 2012 as part of the UK
Government ICT strategy. While British Association of Social Workers created a Social Media
policy (2012) for social workers. Furthermore, Local Government Association is actively using
multiple social media platforms, while different local authorities have developed their own social
media policies and strategies for employees and the council.
Also Skills for Care offers a number of guidance documents such as “Digital working, learning and
information sharing” and “Capable, Confident, Skilled: A workforce development strategy” that
promote positive and professional use of social media network.
Therefore, this document is meant as a brief guidance for use of social media in relation to SWEN
and should be read in conjunction with the above documents.
The power of social media
Social media offer a powerful medium for collaboration and sharing of information and if used
appropriately, it can be a transformational medium. Therefore, SWEN encourages and supports the
positive use of social media.
A good example of good information sharing is tweeting the minutes of SWEN group meetings
which are published online. This provides greater transparency and allows for a wider dissemination
of the work of SWEN. It also enhances the reach and impact of SWEN meetings and offers a
crowdsourcing opportunity by enabling other academics, researchers and practitioners who do not
personally participate in SWEN meetings to virtually engage in discussions and to provide feedback.
e-Professionalism and ethics of social media
e-Professionalism involves the ability to apply professional ethics in a contextually relevant manner
to one’s “online” interactions and postings. e-Professionalism goes beyond online communication
and involves the online persona of an individual based on the meaning of their online postings and
interactions, including blogs, images, videos, tweets, digital footprint and more.
Therefore, it is suggested that SWEN members apply the same values, ethics, principles, and
standards in a contextually relevant manner online, as they do in their face-to-face professional
interactions and practice.
Maintaining appropriate personal and professional boundaries
The extent to which different individuals share personal information on their social media profile
varies widely. However, it is suggested that SWEN members remain mindful of maintaining
appropriate boundaries when communicating information in relation to SWEN. SWEN members
may wish to consider that the overlap between personal and professional boundaries should not
infringe on the individual’s professional ethics and identity. Therefore, the implications and
consequences of posting personal information, personal opinions or personal pictures, etc. on social

6. Social Media Guidance
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media require thoughtful consideration, and should not burden or undermine the individual’s or
SWEN’s reputation or professional outlook. Here is an example of an inappropriate Facebook
posting that resulted in the social worker’s suspension.
Context and accuracy
One of the reasons for the popularity of social media is its’ visibility of content and the immediacy of
response and engagement. However, given the nature of microblogging and that it allows only a
fragment of a conversation/discourse to be captured at a time, it is important to take a few seconds
to ensure you are sharing what you like to share and that it is being shared in a manner that
promotes accuracy and clarity of information.
Private versus public information
Social media allows for dissemination and reproduction of information. However, once information is
in the public domain and on Internet platforms it becomes difficult to remove this information.
Therefore, it is important to share information in a responsible and professional manner and to be
mindful of others. For example sensitive information discussed in the group should not be shared
via social media platforms, or when tweeting photographs or information about others, it is good
practice to seek their verbal consent.
It is important to note that although a given information may be posted by others in public domain, it
may not be appropriate for SWEN members, as HCPC registered social workers, to post the same
information on social media. As a rule of thumb, it is good practice to use private channels for any
information which may have privacy implications.
Inappropriate posting of private information in public domain may entail civil or professional
consequences. There have been cases of HCPC initiating fitness to practice hearing due to social
workers’ social media postings.
Social Media and individual perspective
When tweeting, blogging or using other social media tools and platforms/sites it is important to
consider how that posting or comments/information may be interpreted by others. Indeed, the status
of different documents and/or information and their relative importance and value can vary widely.
Therefore, consideration should be given to the nature and status of the information before sharing
it to ensure accuracy of information and clarity of context.
It is especially important to be sensitive and pay attention to interactions/engagements with and
opinions of users of services.
Digital footprint and anonymity
You can use an anonymous account or choose the option to “protect your tweets” which limits the
visibility of your tweets to your followers only. However, it is important to note that social media
postings are by default public postings, and that on social media you have only relative privacy. For
example, even if you choose a “protected account/tweets” your tweets may be retweeted by one of
your followers and that will give your tweet public visibility.
Furthermore, it is important to note that even if you choose to create an anonymous account and
“protected tweets”, as you use the internet and/or social media, you leave a digital footprint that can
be retraced back to you. Hence, you are never totally anonymous.

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Social Media Mindfulness
A mindful and sensitive approach to social media is important to ensure considered posts and
respectful and sensitive engagement.
Social media provide a powerful platform for connecting people and organisations and for sharing
information and collaborative working. However, it is important to be mindful that much of the
information shared between social workers and users of services is based on the premise of
confidentiality and respect for individual privacy (i.e. basically all information is private unless
specified otherwise), while social media are built and operate based on the paradigm of “sociality”
and maximising availability, exchange and visibility of information (i.e. everything is public unless
specified otherwise, and privacy is often relative). This is a fundamental difference that creates an
important ethical challenge that requires constant and mindful attention.
Therefore, when using social media it is important to be mindful of such a fundamental tension
inherent in use and applications of social media, and to ensure that any and all of your social media
postings are in line with professional values and ethics of social work and could stand public
scrutiny.
Disclaimer
Some Twitter users find it helpful to add a disclaimer on their profile that the views expressed are
not necessarily the views of their employer. You may wish to consider whether this is relevant and
useful in your case.
Enjoy social media
Social media is a wonderful and powerful medium to expand your personal and professional
network and to connect and engage with others, to disseminate research and to share best practice.
But the key to good social media practice is “authenticity” where one’s “online” and “offline” persona
are congruent and harmonious with one another. Therefore, enjoy social media and all its’ potentials
and possibilities.
A positive way to engage in social media is highlighted in the social media engagement cycle below.

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The cycle of social media engagement
Listen, Reflect, Learn
& Share
Connect & Grow your
Network
Engage in
Conversation &
Coproduce
Knowledge &
Information
Crowdsource &
Leverage the
Collective
Intelligence
Collaborate &
Coproduce