Here we go again! #smswp #LOAM14

In the last few months as well as launching and  promoting Social Media in Social Work Education (http://criticalpublishing.com/index.php/browse-by-subject-1/social-work/social-media-in-social-work-education.html ), my attention has turned to social media in social work practice.


There are a few examples  of communicating and working  in social work which draw on social media, but not many and my view is that the social work profession does need to play catch up. I have written about this in relation to practice education in  a chapter for a forthcoming publication: Social media in social work practice education in (eds.) Bellinger, A., and Ford, D. Practice placement in social work: Innovative approaches for effective teaching and learning. Policy Press, which is due to be published in 2015.


I am going to be discussing some of the opportunities which social media does present for social work practice at a Research In Practice (https://www.rip.org.uk/) event later this week. I think there is already plenty of narrative out there about the risks and dangers of social media, and so in my sessions I hope to encourage and support agencies and  practitioners to try out new ideas for engaging and working with service users, peers and other agencies and organisations.


There are pockets of good practice and the potential for more. I hope that I can share a few of these and generate interest from agencies and practitioners who wish to try out their ideas. You can follow the  discussions at the conference using #LOAM14.