Social Networking Basics for Social Care
“For the first time we have the social tools to make group action a reality. And they’re going to change our whole world” Clay Shirky Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (2008)
If people had a choice about who was delivering their care services would they chose your organisation? The chill winds of budget cuts, redundancies, #bigsociety, increasing expectations and aspirations mean that public services are under considerable scrutiny. The need for a culture of innovation and creativity in social care is essential if we are to meet the challenge of expectations and aspirations for personalisation.
I predict that social networking, social learning and the use of mobile technology will have an increasingly important role in the care sector. Electronic networks are enabling different forms of collective action and collaborative groups are being formed which connect people across the world.
“The cost of all kinds of group activity has fallen dramatically and social tools provide the capacity for action by loosely structured groups, operating without managerial direction and outside the profit motive” Clay Shirky
There are an increasing range of different tools available which include: twitter, facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, flickr, slideshare, blogs, webinars, podcasts etc. The tools are simply a way of enabling people to share,co-operate and collaborate. These tools used creatively will complement each other but they do need to be used strategically and to make sense for your organisation and audience.
Social networking is about listening; engaging, providing value by solving problems and answering questions and building relationships. An increasing number of people are using online forums to share thoughts and ideas about good practice across the care sector. Is your organisation using social media to extend participation, increase involvement, provide information about projects and potential opportunities and connect with other organizations?
“No decision about me without me” With the promise of more control and choice in both health and care services there is a growing expectation of honesty, openness and transparency in transactions between citizens and public organisations. Used solely as a broadcast channel social media will not have any significant or positive impact about how people see your organisation. A few tweets, an e-letter, a forum on a website and joining groups without contributing to discussions do not constitute a social media strategy. Do you know where people are already having conversations about social care on the internet?
Developing social media activities is an important part of building a presence and a profile on the internet. But social networking using social media tools will need to become part of the DNA of the whole organisation, led, supported and endorsed by the senior management team. This can involve a substantial mind shift within organisations who see social media solely as a broadcasting and/or marketing channel.
There is a lot of learning and risk associated with launching a public blog. My suggested starting point is the very informative post 7 reasons to launch an internal blog before going public.
The Philosophy of Shirley Ayres Consulting
The Japanese have a word “Kaizen” which translated means “the gathering of the wisdom of the people” The Be Inspired website was launched to provide an independent and innovative web based resource for social work and social care. We are committed to supporting individuals and organisations to make connections and partnerships across sectors and disciplines.
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Tags: mobile technology, social learning, social media, social work and social care
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January 3rd, 2011 at 8:30 am
I have to admit to some scepticism here:
For communication between workers, I can see the usefulness, and I’ve used them myself in sharing ideas about SW case recording systems (which is what I do these days!). Obviously putting information online can only be a good thing, but I’m a bit hard-pressed to see how twitter, facebook etc can be used as a sort of customer-service front-end which is what you seem (?) to be advocating here. I’m sure it would work for some people, but what of people who can’t afford computers and broadband connections? I suspect (though I don’t have figures…) that the user base of these systems is heavily skewed towards younger people, and away from the elderly users of community care services, or people with severe learning disabilities. Furthermore, if they are using a friend/relative/carer as an intermediary, and that person does not have their best interest at heart, doesn’t the anonymity of the network (as opposed to face-to-face or even phone contact) provide a way of masking any less-than-honest dealings that might be going on?
My fear would be that organisations with a dwindling pool of frontline workers invest in technology that has a built-in hurdle for the most vulnerable members of society. As a result, some people have an easier time making themselves heard but other voices are muted even further and the whole thing becomes little more than a PR exercise to mask the shortcomings left by budget cuts.
Sorry, this all sounds very negative and maybe that’s a symptom of waking up at six on a bank holiday but I’d love to be reassured that there’s more to it than this…?