#chooseyouth

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Young People, Youth Work and Twitter part 1

As you may know it’s been the Choose Youth 5 day’s to Choose campaign, to save youth services. During this time a lot of people have been asking me (because apparently ‘I’m young enough to know’ :P) how to use twitter. People are getting questions from young people they can’t answer, so I thought I try and help by fielding some general questions I’ve been getting.

This might not be of much use but hey, this is something to help, for some of you this is teaching you to suck eggs (never understood that phrase by the way, anyone who does please message me :))

Please feel free to skip to the parts that you need help with

Twitter

Twitter, Choose Youth and Professional Youth Work

Sharing tweets with young people

(part two will include)

What about safeguarding?

E-safety and young people

Privacy setting, where are they and how do they work!

Links to more info

1. Twitter 

As you may or not know Twitter is a social network were you write message of up to 140 characters to share with the world. Lots of young people we work with use twitter, (that said there’s a lot that don’t as well)

On twitter you use # (Hashtag) to tag topic you think is important. The more people use the # the more popular it becomes. These topics are Trending Topics, and are often talked about on the news when a topic becomes a big deal nationally or internationally.

In the case of choose youth there # is #chooseyouth… but obviously twitter use is more widespread  young people could just as easily tweet #1direction for their favourite band or simply #jamontoast. Any one then searching on twitter for #choose youth or #jamontoast will see all the tweets using that hashtag that aren't set to private (this is often a useful way into talking you young people about e-safety... see part 2)

 Twitter isn’t just about broadcasting to the world, it’s about conversation, and so you are expected to retweet or join in conversations with friends, famous people, popular causes or even just popular brands (I once had a great conversation with @McVitiesUK). 

Thats why it’s often important to young people how many people they are following and followed on twitter (these number have currency, this may be because people feel popular or because they get get there voice heard. It will mean different things to different young people). This isn’t just about having more friends though (someone with no followers who isn’t following others with only one tweet is likely to be ignored it’s not good twitter etiquette) 

2. Twitter, Choose youth and professional youth work

If young people are interested in the Choose youth campaign or other campaigns to support youth work or services or even just ask us about twitter it can make workers feel nervous. 

What are the ethics? is it wrong to support young people particularly if it’s a campaign to save youth work jobs? Is it professional? will it look professional to others? Should we just ignore it and hope it goes away like MSN did?

As Tony Brown over at Youth Work Toolbox says ‘a lot of youth centres... hit the kill switch because of a fear of social media’ we all know a lot of bad things can happen online, but as youth workers we have to be confident to address twitter and facebook in the same way we do drug use and alcohol misuse it's part of the bread and butter of our job now (and if we’re out of bread no chance for #jamontoast)

Just be sure that open honest and unbiased the CYWU (Community Youth and  Playworkers in unite) suggests ‘Workers should seek at all times to provide a balanced and impartial view to young people, providing accurate and honest information about the possible impact of budget cuts on local services. They should not under any circumstances enter into unfounded speculation or rumour, or put themselves in a position where they could be vulnerable to accusations of political bias.’

Your work place probably has a social media policy, make sure you read it. I know it seems boring or wasted time when you could be getting that big pile of emails done, but anything that improves your ability to do front line work, and makes sure you know what your employer expects of you is well worth the 5 minute read.

As for the ethics, only you can decided where you stand, but as long as you are supporting young people to do something they genuinely want to do it’s important we don’t stifle young peoples real voice to protect our jobs. Remember you can sign post young people to news articles about choose youth, but also to the governments positive about youth paper. This can lead to a brilliant chance to explore political education with young people who are usually bored by the idea.

3. Sharing tweets with young people

A question I’ve had a lot is, will young people be able to see my tweets and should I engage with young people on twitter?

On the first count... yes if you don’t have a private account and tweeted ‘out of bread and butter, no #jamontoast for me :(’ and they’re searching for #jamontoast they will see your tweet.

Even if you’re account is private (another good subject to chat to young people about) it is no iron clad guarantee your tweets are safe, but don't fear.

So as Mashable suggests ‘Even if your Twitter account is private, the web has a sneaky way of spreading unsavory information to the public. Treat your Twitter posts as though your parents, grandparents and bosses were reading. Meaning, keep the profanity to a minimum, be thoughtful and respectful of other users’ this goes for young people too, a good rule of thumb is would you say this in public at youth club? 

as for engaging with young people on Twitter if you are creating a work twitter, of cause engage with young people have conversation as I said before twitter shouldn’t just be about broadcasting when youth club is! Answer questions be accessible, but again check with your boss, line manger or communication team before setting up a work twitter (or again check that social network policy.) My authority for example expects ‘all social networking pages set up by members and officers within the organisation must do so in consultation with a representative from the communications team.’

If you’re self employed and want support there are brilliant guides online and also check out http://www.onlineyouthoutreach.co.uk who will be able to help out.

As for your personal twitter, like I said be careful! Think about if you would say this in youth club. That said a personal twitter shouldn’t be shared with young people you work with, it puts you’re self and young people at risk. Again my local authority and probably your work place too will be quite clear ‘Under no circumstances should county council staff use their own personal social networking pages to communicate with service users and members of the public professionally and on behalf of the county council.’

That said Don’t panic! young people you know might find you on twitter. Just be clear polite and explain where they can get in touch with you professionally and that here isn’t the best place. (just like when young people might come up to you in the supermarket or when you're out with friends) If you live local to your club you also might know local young people; friends of your kids, your sisters friend, your own relatives or for younger youth worker maybe just friends who were recently fellow youth club members. In this grey area be clear with young people why they are on your twitter, that this isn’t a work account. That said always think hard before making these choices and if in doubt ask a line manger or colleagues for support.

Personally  when I became a youth worker 5 years ago I de-freinded friends from youth club (back in the old MSN days) who were younger than me, it was important (for me at least,) to make clear the professional change between me as senior member and me a youth worker.

Just clearly define how and when to contact you professionally. 

if people have found this of any use I’ll post up parts 4-7, please let me know by replying, tweeting or getting in touch with me.

Links

I’ve spoken about a number of topics and quoted people these are links to help you find more info.

Tony Brown and Youth Work Toolbox http://www.youthworktoolbox.com

Community Youth and Playworkers in Unite http://www.cywu.org.uk

Mashables complete guide to Twitter etiquette http://mashable.com/2013/10/14/twitter-etiquette/

Natasha Turberville and Katie Bacon are two professional youth workers supporting online engagement http://www.onlineyouthoutreach.co.uk/