Social Software and interpersonal skills – Presentation at Plymouth University

I would like to thank Jo Trelfa for inviting me to deliver a 2 hour presentation to the first
year Youth & Community students at Plymouth University, Tuesday 27th April. The current
module being studied is Interpersonal communication and group work. The emphasis of
the presentation needed to include: how students communicate with young people using
social media but also how they facilitate young people to use it themselves.

The presentation included:

• Intro to social software – brief overview of the internet, social media & social networking
• Evolution of online blogging – Howard Rheingold; Virtual Online Communities http://
www.rheingold.com/vc/book/intro.html
• Power & control – free press, increased online collective intelligence
• How young people use social software
• Online friendships and emotional attachment – Danah Boyd http://www.danah.org/
• Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New
Media (John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and
Learning)
• Exploration of four different youth workers approach to social software and online youth
outreach
• Group discussion: Differences between Personal & Professional interactions online,
Organisational online presence & What young people are requesting in their local youth
provisions
• Social software profile, group and page – functionality & restrictions
• How, when, where and why to engage with young people through social software
• Which persona (ego state) are young person presenting online? Carl Rogershumanistic
theory
• Transactional analysis, reviewing professional online responses to young people online
dialogue/behavior http://www.tastudent.org.uk/html/ta.htm
• Emotional Intelligence – social software = ‘online social interactions’ – individuals are
expressing and exploring their self identity, this involves emotional connections &
responses
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – understanding interactions of thoughts, behavior and
emotions= Online + offline world, both interconnected in young people’s lives
• Group discussion – Are the above theoretical model applicable to online youth detached
work?
• Creating digital content – digital storytelling & protecting young people identities
• Funding sources for creating digital content
• Exploring anti-oppressive practice: Thompsons PCS model http://youthworkcentral.tripod.com/aop_pcs.htm
• Examples of online forums and SNS sites
• Risk assessment – Polices & guidelines – examples of good practice
There was a great deal of discussion about how to establish and maintain professional
boundaries through social software platforms. The necessity to maintain face to face
contact with young people and not to exclude young people who don’t have access to the
internet.

Below is the reading list & Bibliography that informed the presentation:

Reading list for Session:

Boyd, D., Friends, Friendsters, and MySpace Top 8: Writing Community Into Being on Social
Network Sites (2006) Available from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_12/boyd/
index.html

Goleman, D., Emotional Intelligence, 1996 Bloomsbury Paper

Rheingold, H., The Virtual Community (1994) Available http://www.well.com/~hlr/vcbook/
vcbookintro.html

Sanders, D., Wills, W., Cognitive Therapy an Introduction, 2005 Sage Press

Thompson, N., Anti-Discriminatory Practice (Third Edition), 2001
http://www.ssrg.org.uk/publications/rpp/2002/issue1/bookreviews4.pdf

Youth Work and Social Networking (NYA, 2009) – Available from http://blogs.nya.org.uk/ywsn/
Research report providing an overview of issues related to youth work engagement with social
network sites.

Social Media, Youth Participation in Local Democracy (LGIU, 2009)
A practical guide to using social media in youth participation.
https://member.lgiu.org.uk/csn/projects/Documents/Social%20Media%20Action%20Learning
%20Set%202010.pdf

Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media
(MIT, 2009)
Report from a major US based research programme exploring young people’s informal learning
through digital media. Based on an interim report available at http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/

Children and the Internet (Sonia Livingstone, Polity Press, 2009)
Comprehensive overview of issues connected to young people’s use of the Internet.

How To Use Multimedia to Engage Children and Young People in Decision Making –
Available from http://www.participationworks.org.uk
A short practical guide to using multimedia and social media tools in participation settings.

Recommended websites to visit:

Youth Work Online – http://www.youthworkonline.org.uk
Youth Work Online is a network of 600 practitioners exploring the use of social media in work with
young people. The network is free to join and has a wealth of content that you can search through.

You can also use the network to keep your own reflective learning blog, or you can use the forum
to ask questions of other practitioners.

If you are interested in using social media in youth practice, you are encouraged to join and
participate in the network.

Online Youth Outreach – http://www.katiebacon.co.uk/ The website of course trainer, Katie Bacon, includes a range of shared resources in addition to those included in the appendix of this guide.

Youth Engagement and Social Media – http://www.practicalparticipation.co.uk/yes/
This online guide is being developed to include a full toolbox of approaches for using social media
in work with young people. You can find a range of additional resources on this site.

Tim Davies – http://www.timdavies.org.uk/
This is the personal blog of Tim Davies, an independent consultant and researcher from the UK,
writing about young people’s participation, social media and social change.
And also now MSc Student at the Oxford Internet Institute

Howard Reingold http://www.rheingold.com
The Social Media Classroom (we’ll call it SMC) includes a free and open-source (Drupal-based)
web service that provides teachers and learners with an integrated set of social media that each
course can use for its own purposes—integrated forum, blog, comment, wiki, chat, social
bookmarking, RSS, microblogging, widgets , and video commenting are the first set of tools. http://
socialmediaclassroom.com/index.php/

Bibliography

Abbott, C., (2007). e-Inclusion: Learning Difficulties and Digital Technologies (No. Report 15).
London: Futurelab.

Becta (2009)Harnessing Technology Review 2008: The role of technology and its impact on
education Coventry Becta. Available from www.becta.org.uk/publications/htreviewso8

Boyd, D.M., a Nicole B. Ellison, N.B.: Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship.
(December 2007). Available from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/117979376/HTMLSTART?
CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

Boyd, d (2007). Analysis With Friends Like These. BBC Podcast (transcript available at
news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/programmes/analysis/transcripts/08_11_07.txt)

Child Exploitation Online Protection (2008-09) Annual Review. Available from www.ceop.gov.uk

Gibson, A., Courtney, N., Ward, A. S., Wilcox, D., Professor Holtham, C.: Social By Social.
NESTA. (2007) Available from http://www.socialbysocial.com

Helsper, E.J.: Digital Inclusion: An Analysis of Social Disadvantage and the Information Society.
Oxford Internet Institute. Department for Communities and Local Government. (October 2008)

Hyo, K., Jae Kim. G., Park, H., c Ronald E. Rice, R. E.: Configurations of Relationships in Different
Media: FtF, Email, Instant Messenger, Mobile Phone, and SMS. (August 2007). Available from
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/117979351/HTMLSTART

Helsper, E.J.: Digital Inclusion: An Analysis of Social Disadvantage and the Information Society.
Oxford Internet Institute. Department for Communities and Local Government. (October 2008)

Light, A., Luckin, R.: Designing for social justice: people, technology, learning.(2008) Available
from www.futurelab.org.uk/openingeducation.

Santo,R., James, C., Davis, K., Katz, S., Burch, L., Joseph, B.: Meeting of Minds: Cross-
Generational Dialogue on the Ethics of Digital Life.The GoodPlay Project at Harvard University’s
Project Zero .(October 2009)

Schouten, A.P,: Adolescents’ online self-disclosure and self-presentation. Print Partners Ipskamp,
Enschede. Amsterdam (2007)

Valkenburg,P.M., Peter, J.: Online Communication and Adolescent Well-Being: Testing the
Stimulation Versus the Displacement Hypothesis.The Amsterdam School of Communications
Research (ASCoR) University of Amsterdam (August 2007) Available from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/117979350/HTMLSTART

Zhao, S.: Do Internet Users Have More Social Ties? A Call for Differentiated Analyses of Internet
Use. (August 2006). Available from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/118554170/
HTMLSTART

Zywica, J., Danowski, J.: The Faces of Facebookers: Investigating Social Enhancement and Social
Compensation Hypotheses; Predicting Facebook™ and Offline Popularity from Sociability and
Self-Esteem, and Mapping the Meanings of Popularity with Semantic Networks. (November 2008).
Available from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/121527995/HTMLSTART