Using Twitter in Reclaiming Macro Practice, and Affirming Our Social Work Roots

Authors

  • Sunya Williams Folayan The Empowerment Project, Inc. Charlotte, NC
  • Laurel Iverson Hitchcock University of Alabama at Birmingham
  • Karen Zgoda Bridgewater State University

Keywords:

micro practice, Collaboration, macro practice, Social Media, polarization, Technology, social media, Polarization, technology, collaboration, Professional Learning Network (PLN)

Abstract

This article addresses some of the current discourse concerning the divide between micro and macro practice in social work. Today’s ever-changing socio-political and environmental landscape requires social workers to look beyond internal divisions and focus on the central values that drive the profession. With an increasingly diverse population and more complex problems including globalization, the redistribution of political power, increased privatization of services, and increased exposure to the influence of social media, social work is more relevant than ever. We suggest social workers bridge the divide in practice and education by embracing technology through #MacroSW chats on Twitter and by refraining from thinking of micro and macro practice as polarized constructs, while remaining true to the profession’s foundational roots of social justice, knowledge, and ethics.

Author Biographies

Sunya Williams Folayan, The Empowerment Project, Inc. Charlotte, NC

Sunya Folayan, MSW, ACSW, CFSW; has many years of clinical and teaching and organizational management experience and has transitioned into an innovative macro social work practice focused on the financial self care and preventative mental health of women and human service executives. Her research interests include art as intervention, mental/ financial self care and food access- especially among Black women; community+faith-based domestic violence prevention partnerships  and the use of technology for social change.

Laurel Iverson Hitchcock, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Laurel Iverson Hitchcock is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  She is interested in social work education, technology and social media, social welfare history and public health social work.  Her current work examines the role of social and digital media  in social work education.

Karen Zgoda, Bridgewater State University

Karen Zgoda is an instructor at Bridgewater State University. She studied Social Work at the University of Missouri-Columbia and Psychology and Computer Science at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. Her research interests are technology in social work, macro social work, innovative social work practice, social informatics, socioeconomic development, and community practice.

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Published

2018-04-24

How to Cite

Folayan, S. W., Hitchcock, L. I., & Zgoda, K. (2018). Using Twitter in Reclaiming Macro Practice, and Affirming Our Social Work Roots. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, 24(1), 56–64. Retrieved from https://reflectionsnarrativesofprofessionalhelping.org/index.php/Reflections/article/view/1526