Take home messages
Social media sites such as Facebook may provide additional benefits to social workers beyond what they would experience from offline contact. These may include sharing of resources, engaging in formal and informal peer consultation and personal social support. Using the internet as a platform to connect to peers/colleagues may also serve as a model for peer group supervision.
This paper provides findings from a study exploring the use of Facebook for informal social/peer support among a group of social workers in the US. The primary focus of the group was to provide the space for graduates of a social work masters degree with a safe and secure space to share frustrations and obtain support. The privacy setting of the group was designated as secret to protect the users and there was a group administrator to approve access. Initially, the goal was to provide a place to ask for informal peer support during the working day from colleagues. Seven members of the group reflected on their experiences of using the site.
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