www.norfolkblurb.co.uk

Norfolk Blurb:Social networking experiences

“Over 60% of 13 -17 year olds have profiles on social networking sites. Many young people are spending upwards of two hours a night on online social networking activities.”

(Davies & Cranston, 2008:05)

Current social networking practice• Text Pal online, a safe social networking facility

purposely built to provide a space for young people to make friends and provide peer support

• Collaborating online, young people from the B.O.B editorial team worked together on the 2008 edition of the B.O.B (Best of Blurb) magazine using a Facebook application

• Encouraging regular contacts to create professional social networking pages in order to maintain contact and promote events, meetings etc.

• Beginning to establish a database of young people on Facebook to consult and promote events and activities.

Erm hi, er when u talk about services in norfolk, what ones in particular are u talking about coz ive lived here all my life and cant say theres much evidence of and you 'services' at all. We've pretty much been left to our own devices and u lot wonder why we just hang round parks etc, maybe if u gave us somewhere to go or do without being stereotypical and automatically assuming we r causing trouble then u wouldnt need to go askin peoples opinions.

Hi,I am really passionate about this kinda

thing yeah because i think that its really bad there is nothing for us to do. I know that it costs money to organise stuff, but as a student there isnt a whole lot of money kicking about to spend on paying to get into places to be honest.

As i said i am keen for something to be done about this whole situation because like i said, students dont have alot of money and thats why we tend to just hang around places. And it then annoys me that we are stereotyped and looked down on because we arent doing anything productive, and people automatically assume that we're out to cause trouble. But its actually a case that we have nowhere to go, even if we wanted to.

If you want my personal advice, i think that more things should be arranged for us to do- that costs minimal money, if any at all. Even something as simple as somewhere we can go, where we aren't going to be looked down on as if we are doing something wrong. I know its not your fault us teens all get stereotyped as troublemakers, but it would be nice to have somewhere we can escape it.Thanks,Stacey

hi,i havent got any problems or nothing like thatbut i was just wondering, because i am interested in that kind of job, are there any ways in which i could help out and gain experiences?please write backLeila

• well i dont no wot there is to do in norwich coz im 16 and got a child hu is now 5wks old and i cant go n do dance stuff as i got to look after her and im stuck in sheringham untill 27 of november this year but wen i come home i want sumtink to do!!!

• i dont no rely i jus wanna meet new peple and stay out of trouble cuz i dnt want to risk losing my daughta

National framework is

being developed

Norfolk has been invited to participate

in a project by the CSN to help shape

the future

Meanwhile…

We can begin to utilise social

networking sites (SNS) in the

following ways:

Professional networking (with colleagues NOT service users)

Promotion (developing

groups, hosting public events)

These are all low in the level of risk

They do not require any active engagement of service users

High level of risk

Includes the active engagement of service users through:

Networking with service users (particularly children and

young people)

Creating opportunities for and encouraging

discussion Providing a public interface for the

council

Recommendations• Establish a registration process for CS workers to declare current SNS practice and to request to carry out activities on SNS (Process will require applicants to participate in training, produce a project proposal identifying intended outcomes, and to contribute experiences to inform future practice)

•Create interim guidelines on the use of SNS

•Establish a Virtual Engagement and Participation Team based within the Active Citizenship Team and deliver a one year pilot

Virtual Engagement and Participation Team

• Will be managed by the Active Citizenship Team

• One member of Children’s Services Workforce will be identified in each of the 5 areas to participate (Social worker, youth worker, teacher, YOT, Connexions PA)

• Staff will receive relevant training

• Presentations will be made during School assemblies

• Young people will be invited to join the Norfolk Blurb page on Facebook (limited to 100 pupils per school)

•Using the Facebook page young people will be able to participate in consultations

Future planning:

• Explore opportunities of developing widgets for users to embed on the sites they use regularly such as SNS

• These widgets or applications would enable us to maintain contact with users through a trusted interface

• Users have the choice to engage• Users can just read the content we promote

Do’s:• Gain authorisation from your manager to use social networking

sites for work related tasks • Provide a method for young people to verify your identity such

as your organisation’s telephone number, email and website address

• Send a message with friend requests explaining who you are and why you are contacting them

• Keep records of the messages you send, approaches used and responses gained

• Encourage voluntary engagement, identify the ways in which they can choose not to participate

• Work together within your organisation, too much contact from organisations will confuse young people and discourage them from participating

Don'ts:• Use your personal social networking profile• Upload photos, films etc that you are not happy for the

rest of the world to see• Assume everyone will want to talk to you• Create an expectation that you cannot maintain • Bombard young people with lots of requests• Write long messages - keep them short and sweet!• Forget to reply back to young people• Assume users will have read your friend request

message or viewed your profile before adding you - many users ask afterwards!

• Forget that you are inviting yourself into the young people’s space