Social workers and other professionals are increasingly using social media in their professional lives as a way to network, serve clients, share information, or find information. Education about technology and social media in social work is often integrated sporadically in to programs, and based on the comfort level or experience of instructors. This research aims to understand the beliefs and practices of social work students who have completed a social work field placement in an accredited program. Participants responded to survey questions which explore their beliefs about appropriate use of social media in the workplace, as well as the level of training they received in their academic programs and work sites. This study reports on feedback from over 100 students and recent social work graduates. The data offers information about the use of social media in their personal lives and use in field placements, and offer insight in to the widely disperse beliefs of students about whether and when it is appropriate to search for or engage with clients using social media. Data is shared related to student perceptions of agency beliefs around social media use and the need for ongoing education. Two thirds of respondents check their social media sites multiple times each day, and forty percent are on social media during work hours. A third of them search for clients online. Almost half believe that it is acceptable to search for client information on social media for the sake of curiosity. Despite these figures, half of respondents do not know whether their agency permits seeking out or connecting with clients via social media. Qualitative responses indicate the strong polarized feelings of students about appropriate uses of social media. Implications for training and education are discussed.

1. M E L A N I E S A G E , P H D , M S W , U N I V E R S I T Y O F N O R T H D A K O T A
A N D R E W Q U I N N , P H D , M S W , U N I V E R S I T Y O F N O R T H D A K O T A
Use of Social Media in Direct Practice:
Implications for Training and Policy

2. Social media offers opportunities to Social Work
 To locate clients or family-finding for foster kids
(DiLillo & Gale, 2011; Tunick, Mednick, and Conroy,
2011)
 Interventions via social media (Bull, Levine, Black,
Schmiege, and Santelli, 2012; Cavelo et al., 2012)
 Social media may help clients enhance connections
(Baumgartner and Morris, 2010; Wolf-Branigin,
2009)

3. Looking at client’s social media sites
 National sample of 850 graduate psychology
counseling students found that over 75% reported
that searching for client information online is
“always” or “usually” acceptable (DiLillo & Gale,
2011)
 Of 246 psychologists and psychology students
studied, 32% report reading their clients’ social
networking sites (A Snapshot article).

4. Research Questions
 How do social workers use social media in their
personal lives?
 In their professional lives?
 What guidance do social workers believe they have
(at school, work, and from our main professional
organization) about how to use social media?
 What do social workers perceive as ethical behavior
related to social media?

5. Methodology
 Survey research
 Population: 1) practicing BSWs or MSWs, or 2) a social
work student who is completing or has completed a field
placement, or 3)met either of the previous two criteria
within the last three years
 Item validity established by having practicing social
workers review drafts of the instrument
 Survey consisted of several categories of questions
 Demographics
 Frequency of social media use
 Use of social media in the work place
 Training, policy, and practice related to social media use
 N=110

6. Results
 Most actively and frequently used social media
technology amongst sample is Facebook
 63% (n=66) check their social media page multiple times a day
 Majority (51%, n=53) do not use agency computer to check social
media sites – but the other half do.
 Social media checked using own personal devices during breaks
and other appropriate times during the work day
 Majority (68%, n=71) do not search for client
information on social media sites- but a third do.
 42% (n=44) believe it is acceptable in some situations to
search for a client out of curiosity
 65% (n=68) believe it is acceptable in some situations to use social
media to locate clients
 Overwhelming majority (96%, n=101) indicated that they
would never accept a friend invite from client

7. Results
 While majority of settings (49%, n=51) had a policy
addressing the appropriate use, 18% (n=19) were not sure a
policy existed
 Majority of respondents (73%, n=76) do not receive training
in their agencies
 Respondents wanted more training
 Respondents recalled some vague mention of Ethics and Social media in their
course work
 NASW Code of Ethics provides sufficient guidance regarding
use of social media in practice
 34% (n=35) said Code provided sufficient guidance
 34% (n=35) were not sure
 32% (n=33) said no

8. Opposing Open-ended Responses
 I don't communicate with clients on Facebook. I do look to
see what they are posting.
 People need to understand that this is public information. If
you don't make you facebook page private, it is open for the
public to view, it is no longer "personal".
 I feel as social workers if there are things we want to know
we should be asking the client vs. looking at their facebook
page.
 Social media is not for being friends with your clients, family
of clients, etc. This is a boundary issue and social workers
need to create that boundary.
 I believe that social media can play the hero and the villain in
any given situation.

9. Implications/Recommendations (cont’d)
 Current approaches are untenable with the majority
of agencies both restricting use of social media and
not providing training.
 Has social media ever created an ethical concern in
this setting? Yes - 30%; No – 28%; Don't Know -
42%!
 Our schools and agencies need to provide training on
social media use – but focused on what?

10. References
 American Medical Association (2011). Opinion 9-124 - Professionalism in the use of
social media. Retrieved from http://www.ama-assn.org.
 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (2012). ASHP statement on use of
social media by pharmacy professionals. American Journal of Health-System
Pharmacists, 69, 2095-2097.
 Baker, L.A. (2012). Social media for housing and community development agencies.
Journal of Housing & Community Development, July/August, 19-23.
 Baumgartner, J.C., & Morris, J.S. (2010). MyFaceTube politics: Social networking
web sites and political engagement of young adults. Social Science Computer
Review, 28, 24-44.
 Bull, S.S., Levine, D.K., Black, S.R., Schmiege, S.J., & Santelli, J.(2011). Social
media-delivered sexual health intervention: A cluster randomized controlled trial.
American Journal of Preventitive Medicine, 43(5), 467-474.
 Cavelo, D.N., Tate, D.F., Ries, A.V., Brown, J.D., DeVellis, R.F., & Ammerman, A.S.
(2012). A social media-based physical activity intervention: A randomized
controlled trial. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 43(5), 527-532.
 DiLillo, D.K., & Gale, E.B. (2011). To Google or not to Google: Graduate students’
use of the internet to access personal information about clients. Training and
Education in Professional Psychology, 5(3), 160-166.
 Fitch, D. (2012). Youth in foster care and social media: A framework for developing
privacy guidelines. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 30(2), 94-108.

11. References (con’t)
 Hawn, C. (2009). Take two aspirin and tweet me in the morning: How Twitter,
Facebook, and other social media are reshaping health care. Health Affairs, 28(2),
361-368.
 Hickson, H. (2012). Reflective practice online- Exploring the ways social workers
used an online blog for reflection. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 30(1),
32-48.
 Hinjuda, S., & Patchin, J.W. (2008). Personal information of adolescents on the
Internet: A quantitative content analysis of MySpace. Journal of Adolescence, 31,
125-146.
 Joselyn, H., & Panepento, P. (2010, Jan 6). Few charities have social-media policies,
survey finds. The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Retrieved February 15, 2013, from
http://philanthropy.com/article/Few-Charities-Have/63591/.
 Kolmes, K. (2010). Social media in the future of professional psychology.
Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 43(6), 606-612.
 Tunick, R.A., Mednick, L., & Conroy, C. (2011). A snapshot of child psychologists’
social media activity: Professional and ethical practice implications and
recommendations. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 42(6), 440-
447.
 Wolf-Branigin, M. (2009). New media and social networks: Considerations from
clients in addictions treatment. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 27, 339-
345.

12. For these slides & full survey questions see
 Sagepresentations.blogspot.com