Enacting the internet and social media on the public sector's frontline

Abstract

Recognising their growing role in public services, this article draws on the notion of ‘enactment’ to argue that the internet and social media (I&SM) need to be understood in particular institutional, organisational and social contexts. Focusing on street‐level bureaucrats who deliver frontline services, we explore efforts to integrate I&SM into youth work with clients who are thought to be ‘digitally savvy’ but also in need of protection from the ‘online world’. As clients can be vulnerable and trust is a key relational component, organisation–practitioner–client boundaries are complex and under continuous renegotiation. However, the layering of new virtual channels of interaction adds extra complexity. This change necessitates the development of innovative routines, practices and protocols, but these are being developed in a wider social context where the norms of using social media have not caught up with practice and the use of these tools is still often surrounded by moral panic.

Whistle‐blowing in the digital era: motives, issues and recommendations

“…At a minimum, organisations should monitor their own social media sites and perform periodic online searches, so as to determine what has been reported about their organisation and respond accordingly. This can reduce the reputational risk generated by the 'debounded' nature of Internet and social media interactions initiated by both disgruntled employees and unhappy customers (Mearns et al, 2015).…”

Online boundary work tactics: an affordance perspective

“…Although Facebook and Twitter are used in numerous workplaces, only a few studies focus on how employees attempt to deal with the increasingly unclear boundaries between work and leisure-related social media use. A use which enables a mix of semiprivate and work communication, research has addressed the use of social media for employee coping (Cohen and Richards, 2015) and how frontline workers use social media at work (Mearns et al, 2015).…”

The use of Facebook in social work practice with children and families: exploring complexity in an emerging practice

“…As the use of social media appears to be driven in practice by managers' participation and role modeling (Sage et al, 2017), to prevent policy and theoretical understandings remaining remote from day to day social work it should be developed in collaboration with these users. This is a sentiment echoed by Mearns et al (2015) who note that, in the public sector there is a lack of leadership and strategy for working with digital technology. Tregeagle and Darcy (2007) note that technology in social services is dominated by managerialist discourses rather than a willingness to help frontline practitioners and clients to navigate complex decision-making.…”

“…The literature reports the "pro" position, which addresses service user safety, emphasizing the ends justify the means (Clary, 2014;Clinton, Silverman, & Brendel, 2010;Kolmes & Taube, 2014;Mearns, Richardson, & Robson, 2015;Sage & Sage, 2016a;Voshel & Wesala, 2015;Zur, 2012). For example, a practitioner might choose to look up the profiles of parents, siblings and/or caregivers, and even potential foster parents associated with a young client to assess the client's present and ongoing safety (Jent et al, 2011;Ryan & Garrett, 2017).…”