Social networks

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:

Periscope - video streaming

Twitter is great for keeping up to date with what's happening, finding interesting information and sharing it with others. If you use Twitter and like it, you may be interested in Periscope, a live video streaming app for iOS and Android. The developers of the app became fascinated by the idea of discovering the world through someone else's eyes - in real-time. In their words, Periscope is described as' a visual pulse of what's happening right now'.

Social reporting: a primer

Flipcharts and sticky notes are great for capturing thoughts and discussions at conferences and workshops ... until it comes to summarising and sharing.

Social reporting is the use of social media to record and share these thoughts and discussions. In digital format, sharing becomes easy.

Enterprise Social Networks

The term 'Enterprise Social Network' is getting bandied about quite a lot of late. It sounds a bit techie, but it's really not. Enterprise Social Network (ESN) is a term that emcompasses social networking tools and software, some of which are used internally in organisations such as Sharepoint. However, ESNs also include the new wave of public social networking websites that allow people to connect, collaborate and share information on subjects of interest. Yammer and Socialcast are two popular examples. These websites can facilitate groups both within and outwith organisations.

Reflections on the Personal Learning Networks Challenge

Following the release of the Personal Learning Networks Building your Personal Network animation - which depicts Kristina's (a fictional character's) experience of using social media - we invited individuals and organisations to take up a challenge to learn more about using social media in their role.

Debbie Lucas, staff development officer in a local authority social work department took part in the challenge and offers her reflections on using social media both in her own role and to support colleagues.

bespoken

bespoken is a social media website dedicated to building a community that aims to include disabled people in the design of everyday household products from their own homes, and where they can share ideas and tips on how to overcome everyday challenges that are faced with appliances and technology.

Scottish Social Networks

A project managed by the charity, Rock Trust, and funded by Communities Scotland, Scottish Social Networks has been created in response to recommendations in the Homelessness Task Force Final Report to raise awareness of the need for positive social networks and to support the development and integration of befriending, mentoring and mediation services for people affected by homelessness or at risk of homelessness.

To tweet or not to tweet...

I think it would be fair to say that a lot of people approach Twitter a little sceptically. To an extent, popular culture will have us believe that it is all about sharing trivial information, such as where you are having coffee or what you are having for dinner in the evening. While some people use Twitter to share the mundane, there are as many individuals and organisations using it to share valuable information on all sorts of disciplines, one of these being social work.

Self management and rehabilitation

A new managed knowledge network (MKN) from NHS Education Scotland provides access to information and evidence about adult rehabilitation and the management of long term conditions. Rehabilitation in this context is defined as "a process aiming to restore personal autonomy to those aspects of daily life considered most relevant by service users, and their carers."