Tim Davies: August 2008 Archives
Youth Work and Social Media – Research launch
Friday 26 September 2008
14.45-16.45
Mary Ward House, 5-7 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SN
Online social networking, most commonly associated with Social Network Sites like MySpace, Facebook and Bebo, is a growing and significant phenomenon and part of many young people’s lives.
The National Youth Agency has been carrying out research into the role that Youth Work can play in supporting young people to make the most of the opportunities afforded by online social networking, as well as navigate the potential risks involved. An interim report on this work is available here
We are pleased to invite you to a free event to launch the final research report at Mary Ward House on Friday 26th September, from 2.45 pm. Refreshments will be available on arrival. Directions to the venue are available here
Delegates will hear a presentation from Tim Davies and Pete Cranston, the report’s authors, which will address:
- An overview of the literature on the opportunities and risks of online social networking, the data on how young people are engaging with online social networking, and the efficacy of the different strategies for supporting young people's safe and effective engagement with online social networking tools and spaces;
- Findings about the current levels of engagement with online social networking tools within the youth work workforce - from both an online survey and focus group research;
- The findings of three action research pilots looking at: developing policies to safe local authority engagement with social networking sites for youth participation; training for youth workers and youth professionals to be able to support young people to be safe in online social networking spaces; and using online social networking spaces to promote services to young people.
The presentation will cover practical steps that youth services can take to address social networking and open discussion will follow.
If you would like to attend this free event please respond to ritak@nya.org.uk with your:
Name:
Job Title:
Email address:
Contact telephone number:
Spaces are limited so we would advise early booking.
Delegates may also be interested in two other events running immediately before and after this one.
- The Local Government information Unit is running a good practice seminar on social networking and youth participation at the same venue immediately prior to this research launch, at a cost of £110 plus VAT. For more details, see the LGiU website
- On Saturday 27th September, The UK Youth Online conference is a free co-created event for anyone with an interest in how technology impacts upon, or can be used in, work with under 18s – for more details, see the UK Youth Online website
Not all sessions that address online social networking need to be about online social networking.
For example, you could weave key learning about online social networking into:
- Getting photo consent
Recognising that at many events young people will take and share their own photos. Are these governed by your consent policies? What agreements have you got with young people about taking photos at events and sharing them online? - Getting to know you activities
Many groups use a ‘personal passport’ style activity – where group members make posters or put together shields or posters to represent themselves.You could model the activity on making a profile... along the lines of a Social Network Site profile.
This would provide an opportunity to discuss whether group members actual MySpace profiles really represent them, and who they think is looking at those profiles.
- Confidentiality agreements
When agreeing with a group that discussions will be confidential you may want to include a mention of publishing information online as well – and to agree that nothing from the session should be published on people’s blogs or MySpace pages. - Campaigning and projects
When young people are involved in a campaign, a project or in fundraising you could work with the group to create a profile on a social network site to promote what they are working on. You can explore with the group how sharing information online can get attention for a project or campaign, and how building strong local and national networks can open up new opportunities – and you can also work through as a group what decisions you will make about sharing photos or accepting friend requests for your project/campaign profile. - Career sessions
When you talk about job applications and interviews, mention that employers may look up applicants social network site profiles. Explain that young people could make their profiles private, or in the same way that they would aim to present a good image on application forms and in the way they dress for an interview, they could look to make sure their profile would help, rather than hinder, their application.You could also talk about how the information friends publish may affect their ‘online image’.
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Social Network Site Name Badges
Create name badges that look a bit like a Social Network Site profile..Get people to wear them
Talk about how they can help people network and make connections – but how they wouldn’t want to wear them when heading out onto the street
Use it as an opportunity to talk about privacy settings.
How can Social Network Sites support young people's participation in decision making? - What should youth services seeking to engage young people online be thinking about?
- What are the right 'norms', 'rules' and 'procedures' for keeping young people and staff safe when exploring online consultation and participation?
You can read all about what young people told us in the consultation report, which also includes details of how young people perceive sites like Bebo.
Download the consultation report (PDF, 4.7Mb)
To read more about some of the methods we used, check out this blog post.
And for more background information on using Social Network Sites in youth participation, please check out this paper.
