As someone who has been active on social media for several years now, I understand the power of the medium. Frequently referring to myself as a social media evangelist, I tend to drone on when asked. In my three years of blogging, social work has certainly evolved in taking advantage of social media.
The profession has developed successful ways to maintain community on social media. The National Association of Social Workers and Network for Social Work Management LinkedIn Groups are a strong source of information. My personal favorites are the #MacroSW Twitter Chat and the other is the Social Work and Technology Group on Google Plus. However, this is just scratching the surface.
I was pleasantly surprised when SocialWorkr founder Jose Alvear (LMSW) announced he had built a social media platform just for social workers. Knowing where other social workers are hanging out on social media is often difficult and I love the idea of all the social workers in one place.
Just in the Alpha testing stage here is a quick walk through of SocialWorkr.com. First you need to register. Once you register here is the landing page…
The person icon on the top left is your profile and notifications. The button on the top right takes you to public feed and groups….
The activity feed is a rolling feed like another where you can post and other members can see what is happening…
The feed is exciting however the potential for groups is enormous. There are currently 7 groups within including Technology, Macro Social Work, Healthcare and potential for many more…
Social Work’s strength is in it’s diversity but this has been problematic for social media. Having experts from private practice to macro practice and everything in between on one platform to share resources and problem solve. The potential for collaboration and elevating our profession increases.
So I would encourage you to join SocialWorkr and take a look at see if you feel the same way about it’s potential. As mentioned earlier they are just getting going. If you feel compelled check out their fundraising page as they are looking for early investors and sponsors. I look forward to updating this post in several months.
