Social media

Social media and social service workers

Insight 46

Explores what is understood by 'social media', perceived risks of using it, opportunities, relationship to workforce wellbeing and future implications for practice.

The evidence on social media

Summary which explores what is understood by 'social media', perceived risks of using it, opportunities and future implications for practice.

Updated social media guidance

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) has recently updated its social media guidance for the workforce. It's great to see and is welcomed by Iriss given that we've been promoting the use of social media for learning and development purposes.

In a recent Third Force news article, Anna Fowlie, Chief Executive at SSSC speaks of the benefits:

Building your personal learning network

People who can seek new information, make sense of it, and share it with their colleagues will be an asset to any work team

In today’s workplace we learn with and from one another. This is called social learning. Popular social media, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, offer great opportunities for connecting, conversing, collaborating... and learning from one another…

Capacity building for mobile learning

Simple and accessible tools to help you create, find and share learning materials

During 2012-13 Iriss, in partnership with the SSSC ran a series of workshops for people involved in designing or delivering learning.

Why?

The Knowledge Management Strategy for the social services recognises that web-based tools - social bookmarking, Twitter, newsfeeds, Google search and Facebook - are now widely used for communication, collaboration and learning.