Social media and social care – thoughts for #becomingvibrance

Today I am giving a presentation at the Vibrance staff conference which is celebrating 25 years of supporting people who are disabled to lead their lives as they wish and to challenge barriers that prevent individual choice and fulfilment. You can follow the event on Twitter #becomingvibrance @Vibrance2013 

It is always interesting developing a presentation for an unknown audience some of whom may be very confident using social media and others yet to be convinced that it has any value in their day to day lives. There is just so much to share and a post can only provide a snapshot of my thoughts and all the resources available online.

I love discussing the role and impact of digital with front line staff and people who use care services. For me the #Socialnomics 2014 video by Erik Qualman answers a frequently question asked about why people should take social media seriously.

Source data for the statistics in the video is available in the bookSocialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business

Facebook has 1.3 billion accounts

YouTube has 1 billion users and 4 billion view a day

Twitter has 243 million monthly active users

Linkedin has 300 million accounts

Instagram has 200 million users

Source: Digital Marketing Ramblings March 2014

The fastest growing demographic on Twitter is the 55-64 year old age bracket. 189 million users of Facebook are only using mobile devices and 25% of smartphone owners aged 18–44 say they can’t recall the last time their smartphone was not next to them.

Digital technology has already changed our lives drastically in the last 10 years, from the way we shop, the way we communicate, the way we find information and even the way we find love. Social networks provide some of the most powerful tools available today for building a sense of belonging, support and sharing. Technology is redefining how care and support is provided in a digitally connected society and the new @LinkMeUp_UK  website is a great example of this

However one of our biggest challenges is the need a major cultural shift which recognises the role of technology in shaping services which are focused around an individual’s needs and aspirations.

Can online innovation enhance social care? As I found out when I was researching my paper for the Nominet Trust the simple answer is yes!

Information is freely shared through social media. For example Netbuddy encourages the swapping practical tips and information on all aspects of supporting people with learning disabilities @netbuddytoptips

 Enabled by Design is a community of people who are passionate about well-designed, everyday products that challenge the one-size-fits-all approach to assistive equipment. Enabled by Design encourages people to share their views and experiences of assistive equipment and post information, reviews and comments. @enabledby

Gig  Buddies links music fans who have a learning disability with other music lovers. @gigbuddies I really like their social media policy written impressively in less than 140 characters. “Stay Up Late actively embraces social media, staff  are asked to engage, experiment, be relevant and take responsibility.”

@shirleyayres @TheMediaBubble Thanks see you tomorrow #becomingvibrance

— Vibrance (@Vibrance_UK) April 24, 2014

Care and support in the 21st century requires much more connected thinking across care services, health, housing, education and employment. Technology and social media can help make this happen.

The true value of digital technology really lies in solving a problem, or otherwise helping to improve the quality of our lives. One of the simplest needs  is the ability to stay in touch with family and friends. Digital technology opens up options and enables that contact to be much more immediate. Introducing people to the concept of emails, picture sharing, social networking, and online video calls, such as Skype has many benefits.

This is especially important when families are widely dispersed and require a simple and easy way of keeping in touch and staying connected – whether they are living at home, in residential care, are in hospital or in different parts
of the world. Feeling connected and having supportive social relationships has a strong link to health and longevity. Encouraging wellbeing is an important social challenge facing society as a whole.

There is considerable debate about the role of digital technology in social care. Understandably there are concerns that the use of technology somehow depersonalises what is often a very personal service. I fully accept that technology is not a magic bullet to address all of the complex problems we are confronting as a society. Digital technology cannot and should not replace human contact, kindness, empathy and understanding. But it does allow people to connect in different ways, quickly and easily. Digital technology and social networks provide some of the most powerful tools available today for building a sense of belonging, support and sharing.

Is social media putting the “social” back into care? Have a look at the many care organisations who now have a Twitter presence including @Vibrance2013.

There are lots of resources online to help you use social media. The Twitter Help centre provides useful guidance and Mashable have produced the Twitter Guide Book.

Useful tips to guide you in developing your own personal social media policy have been produced by Paul Taylor @paulbromford.

 

Social media is an increasingly crowded space – some simple tools ( at least for me they are as a non techie!) to help you manage your online presence

 

Service users and carers rightly expect more autonomy and choice in how services are provided. Digital leadership, motivating staff and creating a culture where people are empowered to do things differently are crucial elements of good engagement.

As Professor Stephen Hawking said, when accepting his AbilityNet ‘Excellence in Accessibility Award’ at the Technology4Good awards September 2012: “Technology is a vital part of human existence. They show us that the right tools in the right hands can help everyone, regardless of our frailties, to achieve our true potential and advance as a civilisation.”

The way forward?

The digital revolution is about people, social networks and connections not the technology

Get the basics right – make it easy for people to connect with you.

Value and respond to feedback, complaints and suggestions to improve your services

An idea does not care who has it – share generously your knowledge, passions and links to resources you have found  useful, enjoyed reading or even just made you smile.

I hope you will be excited as me by the potential offered through social media to create communities of interest, make new connections, share information and resources and let people know about your work. I look forward to welcoming you to this wonderful and connected world!

The Connected Care Network

• Nurtures innovative approaches to care and support and encourages collaboration and partnership to avoid unnecessary duplication.
• Is an independent and authoritative voice which promotes investment in new models of care, supporting innovation, technology solutions and economic growth
• Provides a range of services including the Care in a Digital Age programme, Critical Friend Reviews and support with developing Digital Engagement strategies
• Published the first Click Guide to Digital Technology for Adult Care because there is a real gap in the market for connecting digital technology with the people and organizations who purchase care and support services. The Guide is now being updated to include another 100 resources.

Do you have a question for #socialconvo?

On Tuesday 29th April Mark Brown, Paul Taylor and I will be having a very social conversation about what social media can do to make social good better. 

Social media has played an enormous role in giving a voice to people and organisations who previously had no platform. Social influence and digital leadership is now coming from a much more diverse group. The new influencers use Twitter, blogs, YouTube and other social media platforms to reach thousands of people.

People are beginning to wake up to the potential for social media to deliver social good.  Organisations and communities who previously dismissed social media as a fad are beginning to ask ‘what can social media do for us?’.

But where is social media now?  Where might social media be in five years time?  What might it offer to anyone wanting to meet the growing need for new answers in delivering social good and transforming services?

This is an exciting time to explore the impact of social media in a digitally connected world and think about how social media could transform your work and organisations in the near future.

As part of the conversation Paul Taylor is chairing a ‘Question Time’-style debate exploring ways to develop skills as an influencer in the social space.  You are invited to submit questions for the debate either through the comments here or using the hashtag #socialconvo on Twitter. Whilst we cannot guarantee to answer all of the questions submitted it will certainly be a lively debate! 

A limited number of tickets are still available to attend this unique event and you can book here.

Thanks to everyone who has submitted questions via Twitter!

‏@clarkmike#socialconvo – how could 151 Health and Wellbeing Boards use social media to engage 53m ppl on transforming health/care through £5bn#BetterCareFund?

@watfordgap hope #socialconvo goes well today, interested if the convo gets to basic tech for #socialcare

‏@jess1ecat  #socialconvo – how can we translate social media campaigns into tangible offline activism?

@Chill4usCarers  I would like to ask ‘when will someone help family unpaid carers get on the internet, so they can find support and care’

 ‏@Chill4usCarers  Please remember family unpaid carers when discussing social media #socialconvo often forgotten and brushed over. #carers

 ‏@MrDarrenGormley  my question is opposite, how do those at coalface bring our ‘leaders’ @ailinmartinez #SocialConvo

@ailinmartinez  here is my question: how do you bring front line staff with you when using #socialmedia? (Examples) #SocialConvo

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@LelFMeleyal  question: how do we educate about/regulate professional boundaries re: soc media? #socialconvo

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@ailinmartinez  @gigbuddies ssocial media policy – 140 characters are enough to empower people: engage, experiment, be relevant & take responsibility

Guest post @markoneinfour: social media and social conversations

What if social media wasn’t a place for building brands?  What if social media was not just another publicity channel?  What if social media was not just a way to push your message?

What if social media was a place where social good could happen, rather than a place where people put out campaign messages saying social good should happen?

Social media, the name we give to a whole variety of different platforms, activities and mechanisms, is already all of those things.  As I’ll be exploring further at  “What can social media do to make social good better?”on April 29th, it’s incorrect to think about social media as medium for publishing content or for ‘doing publicity’.  You can, of course do that if you so choose, but you’re really not seeing social media for what it really is.

A layer of communication; the world turned upside down

With the growth of mobile technology like smartphones and tablet PCs; social media feels less like a set of websites that we visit and more like a layer of communication, community and interaction that sits over our everyday lives.  The growth of social media has led to an expansion in the self-production of media and to a blossoming of public debate.  Social media can almost be considered a series of glorious, noisy islands lying off the coastline of traditional ‘real life’.  The growth of public debate has grown from a mass adoption of this new kind of connectedness.

People who have made a career as social media strategists will tell you lots of stuff about brand value, reach, conversion and will keep talking until they’ve wowed you with metrics and strategies.  Great, if that’s your bag, but they’re really talking about social media as a vehicle to drive sales.  What if driving sales is not your aim?  What if the relationship you want with other people is not just through the mechanism of financial exchange?

As with the adoption of mobiles phones and of text messaging, after an initial rush of early adopters, it has been people in the broadest sense, not organisations, that have made social media a force with which to be reckoned.  Social media is still in a Wild West phase, not yet quite assimilated into our existing institutions and structures.  It still allows hitherto impossible situations of creative disruption to existing ways of doing things – or at least it does if we grasp its potential.  It has opened a new space where things might happen, and one which those with existing bases of power are keen to either occupy or to police.

As an extra layer of communication and connection social media builds networks between people, enabling the flow of information in such a way that reputation, and in turn, influence grows.  In social media, the contours of this influence landscape don’t always follow the contours that exist offline.  Many currently active on public social networking sites like Twitter are there precisely because Twitter throws up unexpected contacts and unexpected information.  Social networking ‘power’ and ‘real world power’ have yet to settle into a comfortable relationship.  The last two years has represented an intense period of legal cases and collective head scratching about the legal status of social media activity, a proxy argument for the question ‘where does this new realm of public action fit into our existing ways of doing things?  Can social media make the powerful powerless and and the powerless powerful?’

Despite this element of creative disruption, the great, the good and the powerful have gone to where the people are, rather than trying to draw the people to them.  Social media, once a flash in the pan to be discounted has increasingly become another front in the battle for real world power.  At present all social media is a jostling between subversives, establishments and everything inbetween.

Just as the access to people has drawn those with real world power, the same has also been true of those who have previously found themselves ignored, discounted or acted against.  Social media, for the time being at least, has evened some of these hierarchies.  This is by no means guaranteed to be the case indefinitely. Social media is only the sum of the ways in which it is is used and is constantly in flux; making it even more important that we seize the time to make social good happen via social media.

Relationships

In a Nominet Trust paper published in 2011, Charities’ use of the internet – Current Activities and Future Opportunities: A state of the art review, Dr Eleanor Burt and Professor John Taylor explore the ways in which charities are using the internet as a means to generate value.

They write about an emerging way of doing things online, with people’s online activities representing a series of expectations which, far from the mass consumption model of previous generations, “these consumers, it is argued, look to create relationship value with organisations, value that is personal to them, value that can be sustained or reduced by the specific encounters that they make”.

‘Relationship value’ is one key to understanding the potential and actual benefits of social media.  People who are engaged with social media are not passive recipients of information.  They are people who are actively seeking relationships with those that they follow, be they individuals, institutions or organisations.  According to Burt and Taylor: “citizens (who are also the employees, volunteers, service users, and other stakeholders of third sector organisations) come increasingly to embrace the online environment, there will be growing imperatives to adapt and change in pursuit of new information-intensive relationships.

Increasingly, what we recognise as the public sphere is extending further and further into social media space and what happens in social media space is increasingly influencing the rest of the public sphere.

One of the most exciting, and challenging, aspects of social media is that it’s happening right now.  It does not happen when the newspaper publishes a story based on a press release, or during office hours.  Social media is a constant and never ending river made of packets of information.  It constantly rolls past the attention of people observing.

As social media brings people together around interests (this is what I am interested in) and affinities (this is the kind of person I value) people with strong interests often find themselves conversing and sharing on a relatively level playing field, rather than finding themselves being divided by traditional organisational, structural, geographical or professional barriers.   In this lies the potential for social media to jump traditional divisions between peers, and between organisations and the public.

Building something bigger than us alone

While relationships that extend across geographical and professional boundaries are the building blocks of social good through social media, the real horizon for building social good through social media is its potential to help us build things that are bigger than us.

Social media connects us with each other, with information and ideas and possibilities by creating ways in which we can all share little bits of something.  That something might be a single tweet, a blog, a comment, a bit of time processing data, a few minutes proofing a document, a few pounds towards the funding of someone elses project.  Social media has made it easier than ever before to share little bits of our surplus resources in ways that it make it easier for ourselves or others to aggregate them into something much bigger.

If anyone has witnessed how quickly a meme grows or how fast the process of developing an idea can move when it’s powered by social media-enabled relationships, they’ll have seen this process at work.  Where once we were limited by people we had met in real life and with whom we could organise a face to face or telephone conversation, or by people we had met virtually and could communicate with by letter, now we can devote our resources to a social good working closely with people we have never, and will never, even meet.

Good reciprocal relationships make for good conditions for sharing and building together.  That’s the opposite of ‘building your brand’.

It’s this something much bigger that really interests me, and which I hope to explore on the 29th April.  I’ll be asking: in what ways can we use social media as a way of bringing together lots of little things to make a big change?  I’ll be exploring how we make sure that social media does not lose its potential to disrupt in positive ways without succumbing to the crushing, deadening logic that turns social media from a zone of possibility and adventure to an arena for corporate message advancement.

I  look forward to you joining me, Shirley Ayres and Paul Taylor on the 29th April to be part of a very social conversation. Book your ticket now – the early bird price ends 18th April.

PS: If you cannot access paypal we can provide an invoice but we will need to charge the full price to cover the additional costs involved.

PPS: If you are unable to attend and want to support what we are doing let us know if you would like to sponsor a place! 

You can follow the discussions on Twitter using the hashtag #socialconvo

Social conversations, social media and social good

You may have picked up that Mark Brown @MarkOneinFour,  Paul Taylor @PaulBromford  and I are running an event on the 29th April in Central London. We are exploring “What can social media do to make social good better?”

 

What makes it special for me is that Mark, Paul and I come from very different backgrounds but we have a shared interest in how social media is defining care, support and community engagement both online and offline in the digital age. We are also exploring what it means to be a social business and the importance of seeing social media  as part of a core vision to transform your business rather than a marginal activity. 

We are delighted that we already received sponsorship for a place at the event which has been awarded to Alison Cameron @allyc375. If you  would like to sponsor a place at the event do get in touch!  We look forward to discussing the questions submitted by participants and via Twitter.

Whether you work in the public, private, charity or social enterprise sectors understanding the impact of social media for social good is now essential. We do hope you will join us on the 29th April for a very social conversation. You can follow the discussion on Twitter using the hahtag #socialconvo. Following the considerable interest in my post “Is social media putting the ‘social’ back into care” we particularly welcome people from the care sector interested  why “Social media is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate” .

Our conversations started when Stu Arnott @MindingsStu and I interviewed Mark and Paul for the Disruptive Social Care podcast. The podcasts have been downloaded thousands of times but just in case you missed these interviews…….

Mark Brown has been described as one of the smartest thinkers in the worlds of social media and mental health. Mark edits One in Four, England’s only national mental health and wellbeing magazine written by people who experience mental health difficulties. Mark is a director of Social Spider a community interest company helping people to make change happen. 

 

Paul Taylor specialises on Innovation, Service Design and Research
and Development at Bromford a social business providing homes and support to over 80,000 people. Paul leads the Innovation Lab and he is particularly interested in the development of preventative social solutions and the power of technology to connect people. Paul was a key part of the team who developed the Bromford Deal which aims to shift resources away from reactive interventions and into more person centred customer care and support.

 

We look forward to you joining us on the 29th April to be part of a very social conversation 

Is social media putting the “social” back into care?

“Social media is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. All the time online conversations are happening about you, your brand and your organisation. It’s not a choice whether you DO social media, the choice is how well you do it” Erik Qualman author of socialnomics

Social networking has the potential to put the “social” back into social work and social care. It is encouraging to note how many care organisations are now using social media to communicate and debate with an increasingly diverse group of people interested in improving care services. We need public support to show politicians that there is widespread support for properly funding the services which  millions of people rely on daily. Social media has a powerful role in offering a different narrative about the impact of social work and care services.

Twitter is a rich source of instantly updated information and it is how I stay updated on an incredibly wide variety of topics. What makes a care tweeter valuable? Generously sharing knowledge, passions and links to useful resources and blogs. Listening, challenging, informing and making a difference. However having a Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn profile  and rarely updating shows a real lack of interest in being social. I will leave you to judge how social our care tweeters are!

If you are an organisation funded to engage with the public you need a strategy for responding to questions and comments online. A top tip for care organisations make it easy for people to find you on your website by promoting your social media presence!

I was recently asked by @sarahlay for recommendations about care organisations to follow on Twitter. This should be a simple request but…. it does require an understanding of the complicated and fragmented nature of the care sector. Care services are provided by a diverse range of providers including local authorities, health, housing, charities, social enterprises and the private sector. This is a very brief guide (in alphabetical order) to some of the major players in social work and social care who are using Twitter.  

Association of Directors of Adult Social Services @ADASSdclode

David Pearson is Director of Adult Social Services at Nottingham Council and incoming President of ADASS @adassdavidp

Sandie Keen is Director of Adult Social Services at Leeds City Council and previous President of ADASS @SandieKeene

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services are not using Twitter

British Association of Social Workers @BASW_UK

Community Care @CommunityCare The website for social workers and everyone involved in social care. Tweets by@andymcnicoll

Mithran Samuel  Adults’ editor  Community Care @ComCareAdults

Care Industry News @CINBlog online news site for care professionals within the adult independent care sector

Care Quality Commission @CareQualityComm

CQC for Professionals Twitter account for health and social care professionals, and provider organisations @CQCProf

The Chair David Prior and CEO David Behan are not using Twitter

Andrea Sutcliffe is Chief Inspector for Adult Social Care at the Care Quality Commission @Crouchendtiger7

Alan Rosenbach is Special Policy Lead at the Care Quality Commission @AlanRosenbach

Chris Day Director of Engagement at the Care Quality Commission @chrisday31,

Professor Steve Field Chief Inspector of General Practice @ProfSteveField

Children’s Commissioner for England

Maggie Atkinson is the Children’s Commissioner @ChildrensComm

College of Social Work @CollegeofSW 

Jo Cleary is Chair of the College of Social Work Board @ChairTCSW

Department for Education @educationgovuk 

Michael Gove Secretary of State for Education unable to find on Twitter

Edward Timpson Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Children and Families unable to find on Twitter

Department of Health @DHgovuk 

Jeremy Hunt Secretary of State for Health  @Jeremy_Hunt

Norman Lamb Minitster of State for Care and Support @normanlamb

Andy Burnham Shadow Health Secretary @andyburnhammp

Liz Kendall Shadow Minister for Care and Older People @leicesterliz

Jon Rouse Director General for  Social care, Local Government and Care Partnerships  Department of Health @RouseJonDGDH

LSE Evidence in Practice is a project to find effective methods of knowledge exchange between social care practitioners and researchers to increase research impact on practice issues @LSE_SCEIP

National Skills Academy for Social Care @NSASocialCare

NHS England @NHSEngland

To understand the complexity of the NHS I recommend this alternative guide to the new NHS in England animation produced by the Kings Fund. I think we would all benefit from the King Fund producing a similar animation for the care sector!

 

Patient Opinion and Care Opinion allowing people to share their stories and help improve health and care services @patientopinion @careopinion

Skills for Care @skillsforcare

CEO Sharon Allen @sharonallensfc

Social Care Institute for Excellence @SCIE_socialcare

CEO Tony Hunter @TonyHunterscie

Think Local Act Personal Partnership @TLAP1

Programme Director Sam Bennett @samhbenn

The Kings Fund 

Richard Humphries is Assistant Director of Policy at the King’s Fund with interests in social care, local government, the NHS, housing and care issues @RichardatKF  

Scotland

Scottish Social Care Council @TripleSSSC 

CEO Anna Fowlie @AnnaFowlieSSSC

Wales

Care Council for Wales @CareCouncil 

CEO Rhian Huws Williams @RhHWilliams

Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales @CSSIW

Social Services Improvement Agency @ssiacymru

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Social Care Council @NISCC_Comms

CEO Colum Conway @ColumConwayNISC

And finally special mentions for:

@Ermintrude2  thoughtful, analytical and challenging with a special interest in older adults, dementia, mental health and mental capacity

@clarkmike editor of the TelecareLin monthly newsletter which provides extensive coverage of digital technology and innovations for #connectedcare in the UK and internationally http://bit.ly/1efdjBu 

Gary Holden Professor at New York University Silver School of Social Work who edits the excellent international research digest for social work and social care. Information for Practice @Info4Practice 

This post is a starting point for signposting people to organisations responsible for informing and shaping the debates about care and I make no claims that it is  a comprehensive list. Do let me know if I have missed any care organisations or Tweeters who you feel should definitely be added! You may also find it helpful to look at my many Twitter lists @shirleyayres

Mark Brown (@markoneinfour), Shirley Ayres (@shirleyayres) and Paul Taylor (@paulbromford) will be discussing “what can social media do to make social good better?” on the 29th April in Central London. You can book a ticket for the event here

Keep it simple Make it beautiful Have fun – sharing through @HaikuDeck

A year on from when @paulbromford published a Haiku Deck celebrating #60yearsoflearning and this October in a special birthday edition I invited some of the people I admire to share their secrets of being social online.

 

Paul and I are very aware of how important it is to share knowledge and information especially for people new to social media. Whilst we have not quite been able to achieve our aim of creating one new presentation a month throughout 2014 we hope the following Haiku Decks will give you ideas for different ways of presenting your thoughts and ideas.

January 2014

February 2014

March 2014

April 2014

May 2014

We are taking a summer break because we have both been busy with #powerplayers14 and Paul has been busy with the Bromford Lab. He has produced a series of Haiku Decks to explain the purpose of the Lab, launch a recruitment campaign through Twitter and encouraging people to get involved.

 

Paul initially inspired me to explore the potential of Haiku Deck with the following presentation which has now had an impressive 90,000 views.

If you are thinking of starting a blog these top tips from @MrDarrenGormley will hopefully inspire you!

Useful guidance from Paul about developing your own personal social media policy

Hot tip – add your Haiku Deck on slideshare and you will reach an even bigger audience!