Social Work Social Media is an app created to present social workers with ethical challenges they may encounter when using social media. The goal of the app is to “trigger. . . discussion and debate about the ethical issues of using social media in social work.” Issues include whether a professional can look up their clients on social media and how a professional should represent themselves on personal accounts. This app could be especially beneficial to educators or supervisors who are seeking to discuss these and similar issues with their students or supervisees.

Version: 1.0.4 (IOS)

Compatibility: Available on all iOS devices

Price: $0.99

Target Audience: Social workers seeking to learn more or educate others about an ethical use of social media in the workplace.

Bottom Line: Social Work Social Media App seeks “not to provide ‘the answers,’ but to trigger further discussion and debate about the ethical issues of using social media in social work.”

Have you used the app? Rate it here!

[Total: 3 Average: 2.7]

Features and Options: 

Social Work Social Media is primarily an educational tool. The app provides multiple scenarios to help users consider appropriate and inappropriate responses to issues that commonly arise in practice.  As the app explains in the About section, Social Work Social Media was not created to provide “the answers.” Instead, the app’s main goal is to spark conversation between colleagues or students about possible ethical dilemmas and solutions.

The app presents five common social media related ethical issues in five different role-playing scenarios. Unfortunately, the user must complete the scenarios in a set order and cannot skip from scenario to scenario. The scenarios are set in a clinical field setting, and the user plays the role of a fellow team manager, Adrian. The user is also introduced to Adrian’s fellow team managers, Derek and Navdeep.  In every scenario Adrian (the user) listens to Derek and Navdeep express two different, but common, perspectives on the given issue. After listening to the perspectives, the user is asked to determine which is the most ethical.

When the user selects the most ethical solution, the app illustrates the positive effect the solution had on the agency and the user moves on to the next scenario. If the user chooses the less ethical solution, he or she is given the chance to listen to new advice from Derek and Navdeep and accordingly modify their choice. If the less ethical solution is chosen again, the user is told why their choice was wrong and must restart the app at the first scenario.

After the user has successfully navigated all five scenarios, Social Work Social Media presents the user with takeaways respective to each presented issue. The app also recommends the user restart the scenarios and input different choices to illustrate what would happen to the agency under “unethical” circumstances.

Overall, we think this app fulfills its goal. If it was used in a classroom or in an agency’s team meeting, Social Work Social Media could spark meaningful discussions about current social media related ethical dilemmas in Social Work and all helping professions.

Practice Implications: 

Social Work Social Media could be used in a classroom, in supervision, agency team meetings, or agency trainings to educate students or current practitioners on ethical responses to social media related issues. The app could also spark discussion about how the field or the specific agency can engage social media in a more meaningful way. Additionally, the app may benefit individuals who do not have a team or class to discuss ethical dilemmas with.

Whether an individual or a member of a team or class, Social Work Social Media encourages social workers and helping professionals to use social media by suggesting ways that professionals can engage social media in their practice while avoiding unethical actions. We encourage professionals to supplement their use of this app with their respective ethical guidelines, such as the Standards for Technology and Social Work Practice.

Privacy Policy: Not applicable.

Device Used for the review: iPad