ABSTRACT
Facebook and other social media tools have become commonplace in most people’s lives. Approximately, one in four adults in the world are on Facebook, and more than third have two or more social media accounts. Social workers who are not literate in issues related to social media risk missed opportunities with their clients for connection, psychoeducation, and understanding. Some high-profile incidents of professional misuse of social media lead to concerns about the ethical use of these tools. On the other hand, social work practitioners have an opportunity to understand and integrate digital technologies ethically and professionally in practice with clients and communities. Proactive use of social media can range from simply raising awareness of how social media affects client systems, to enhancing digital media competencies of clients served, to communicating with client systems online. Recently, in the United States, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) offered ethical guidelines for social work practice and education, and other global organizations such as the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) offer insight into ethical social work practice with social media. This chapter discusses approaches to ethical decision-making while using social media in social work practice and addresses considerations such as (1) professional presentation of self; (2) managing boundaries; and (3) protecting client privacy.
