Introduction

This dissertation is about the young people and social media. Social media is something which has become such a ubiquitous part of young people’s lives that they have a very different experience to previous generations.  Advancements in mobile phones, computers and other technology, as well as the Web 2.0 paradigm has been the driving force behind this social media revolution, and I feel it has been felt most by young people.

Youth Work and Young People Online

Youth work has always been about young people. Bernard Davis (2005) said youth work practice should be “starting from where young people are starting.” In other words, it starts from where young people are at. Be it a youth club, school or even a street corner youth work should always start with young people at its centre. In recent years, young people have continued to “hang out” in the traditional places, as well as a new place; on the internet. The internet allows young people to communicate with their existing peers plus meet new ones, share creative content, express themselves and access information. Young people are also massive users of social networking sites, to the point where it has almost become their primary place of self-expression.

My Background in relation to the topic

I myself have always been curious about how young people use social media and how youth workers can channel their engagement with young people through social media. My experience as a youth worker is varied and I have seen many examples of attempted engagement with young people through social media, including the promotion of activities or information on the services a youth work setting provides to young people. However I believe youth work can go a step further and can actually achieve positive outcomes through social media engagement with young people. The prospect would obviously require precautions but if we are to interact with young people from where they are at it is important for us to learn and examine the possibility of going this interaction within social media.

I have always been competent with IT from a young age and have grown up with the experiencing chat rooms, email and using programmes. I would consider myself to be very proficient with computers and IT; however I am still learning new skills. I have grown up with the experiencing speaking to people on chat rooms, using email and learned to use programmes.

I myself use social media to engage with current news and maintain connections. I use Facebook on an almost daily basis, both for pleasure and for information. On Twitter I follow various youth work organisations so I can be updated with news about their current activities. As well as social networking sites I also engage with various youth work websites on a daily basis. The fact that I have access to all of this information quite easily is testament to the idea that the internet is a ubiquitous part of our life’s, it has changed the way we access and process information.

Content Description

This study will examine how young people are using the internet and social media, with emphasis on the impact this has on their experience. On the left you can see the contents, which has links that will take the reader to different parts of the study.

“Literature Review” will present a selection of literature which I have studied in order to understand the underlying themes of the topic. It features the various key concepts and key ideas around the topic. It is important to review existing literature around the topic because this will underpin my research and it allowed me to examine gaps in research which I could investigate further.

“Methodology” will give detail of the methodological approach I took to my research, explaining where I am coming from as a researcher and the methods I shall use to investigate my research topic. This will underpin my approach and state my position within my research.

“Digital Young People” will explore my findings on how young people are currently engaging with social media and new technology. It will examine young people’s engagement with social media, especially social networking sites, and the impact this is having on their experience as young people growing up. It will also explore the risky behaviours young people are exposed to through the internet. Following on from that,

“Digital Youth Work” will explore the potential for a youth work presence to exist within social media. It will examine the opportunities which social media and the internet afford youth workers in ways of working with young people, the potential risks to young people this sort of practice could be subjected to and will find a way to balance out the positive opportunities with potential risks. It will feature a tool, which has been developed from existing youth work models, to measure levels of participation which are currently possible with social media. I will use this tool to interpret existing projects which have attempted to use social media as a method of engagement for youth work and examine the possibility of a full participatory application of youth work, with young people at the centre.

“Conclusion” will sum up my study and explain what I have found and the implications it holds for practice. 

This dissertation has been placed on a blog for two reasons. Firstly, during my research project I noticed most of the literature I found on the topic was in fact electronic. I found a few good books but they usually only served as introductory literature which led me to online journals and online publications. Eventually I realised that to put this piece of work on paper would mean it was a closed issue, where actually I wanted it to be something that is open ended. With this in mind, I made the decision to upload the dissertation to a blog, after seeing other examples of youth work researchers uploading content to blogs so it can be shared by other professionals.