DISQUS

Tim Davies Re: SNS/social media/holistic approaches...

Two key points:

>Good youth work is about relationship - social networking (whether through social network sites, or through other social media tools) is also about connections which can provide foundations for / support for relationship building. Hence, whilst in part the focus I've taken on SNS was driven by the need to have focused research questions I do find that engaging with online social networking (the activity, not the sites) is a key part of youth work engaging online.

The story may be different for other professional groups whose role is about 'promotion' (health promotion / activity promotion etc.) where creating dynamic content may have a greater importance.

>On holism - related to the above, holism requires not simply using many different tools, but having a rational that relates and integrates them. And crucially, a rationale that relates social media tools with people's day to day existing practice.

I know from experience that offering that rationale when dealing with audiences from vastly different work settings, and from very different levels of experience using technology, is tough indeed. But I would argue for it being a core part of introducing tools and technologies to the sector.

Tim Davies A really interesting set of predictions.

I really like the ideas about real-time feedback on activities via Twitter. Will be interesting to see how Twitter does play with a younger audience. I've not yet come across any younger twitter-packs as it were...

@dk I think you've got some of the story, but missing bits of it when it comes to social network sites (also want to call you out slightly on your claims to have inspired the first youth work blogger, and the next one and the next one... be careful to make sure you can back up that claim...). Organizations and agencies shouldn't push their way into MySpace and Facebook - but MySpace doesn't = exclusive young people's space. Providing engagement is based on a voluntary principle (young people can ignore it if they want), and respects young people's right and privacy - then it's important for /some/ youth-supporting professionals to engage with the social networking space (after all, bands, brands and others are in there... are you willing to argue that they should get out...).

I'd agree that SNS shouldn't be described as a frontier if that means we're diverting effort there. But SNS should feature as a tool youth workers, youth professionals can and should use in their work, where appropriate and based on their professional and ethical values.