Social Workers and Agencies

Abstract

Social media are shaping and changing the way social workers interact with clients; therefore, it is important for social workers to think about their own personal and professional presence on social media. The focus of this chapter is to provide social workers with strategies and guidelines about how best to utilize social media in hopes of avoiding sexual misconduct violations. One of the key factors involved in preventing sexual misconduct issues on social media is a well-thought out and critically designed presence. In order to establish an agenda for appropriately integrating and utilizing social media, agencies are recommended to develop the following: goals, social media policy, and publically posted guidelines. With implementation of policies and guidelines, human service agencies can more effectively prevent allegations of sexual misconduct.