Social Work Month: The Ethical Ambiguity of Social Media

By Nancy Aleman, Mercedes Costello, Aliza Gonzalez, Irma Hernandez, and Ary Nassiri

Serving clients in the digital age is confounded with unprecedented challenges. In a time when our own political leaders rely on Facebook and Twitter as a means of communication, social media is becoming an undeniable necessity in the professional realm.

As a professional, abstinence from social media is the depth of our guidance, yet societal pressures draw us in to stay connected. There is an innate ethical obligation for the social work profession to clearly draw a line and resolve this conflict.

However, the NASW Code of Ethics does not address any specific guidelines, which further contributes to this uncertainty of professional and ethical social media practices. Therefore, experienced professionals in the field should educate the incoming generation of social workers on the growing ethical concerns of social media.

Tips on Best Practices for Social Media from a Social Work Perspective:

• Establish clear boundaries. Phones and social media create limitless availability unless we begin to establish ethical guidelines.
• Create two social media accounts, one for your personal life and another for professional connections.
• Provide guidance to address ethical dilemmas that may be encountered with the growing social media portals.
• Check agency or organization’s policies surrounding social media usage. Agencies and organizations are starting to create departments whose sole job is to search your social media history.
• Students can advocate for inclusion of social media practice guidelines in the NASW code of ethics.