Social media and online spaces provide young people with
opportunities to empower themselves in a variety of ways. Young
people can maintain social connections and support networks that
otherwise wouldn't be possible, and can access more information
than ever before. The communities and social interactions young
people form online can be invaluable for bolstering and developing
young people's self confidence and social skills.
Young people as social participants and
active citizens
Social networking services can provide an accessible and
powerful toolkit for highlighting and acting on issues and causes
that affect and interest young people. Social networking services
can be used for organising activities, events, or groups to
showcase issues and opinions and make a wider audience aware of
them. E.g. Coordinating band activities, fundraisers, and creating
awareness of various causes.
Young people developing a voice and building
trust
Social networking services can be used to hone debating and
discussion skills in a local, national or international context.
This helps users develop public ways of presenting themselves.
Personal skills are very important in this context: to make,
develop and keep friendships, and to be regarded as a trusted
connection within a network. Social networking services can provide
young people with opportunities to learn how to function
successfully in a community, navigating a public social space and
developing social norms and skills as participants in peer
groups.
Young people as content creators, managers
and distributors
Social networking services rely on active participation: users
take part in activities and discussions on a site, and upload,
modify or create content. This supports creativity and can support
discussion about ownership of content and data management.
Young people who use social networking services to showcase
content - music, film, photography or writing - need to know what
permissions they are giving the host service, so that they can make
informed decisions about how and what they place on the site.
Users might also want to explore additional licensing options
that may be available to them within services - for example
Creative Commons licensing - to allow them to share their work with
other people in a range of ways.
Young people as collaborators and team
players
Social networking services are designed to support users
working, thinking and acting together. They also require listening
and compromising skills. Young people may need to ask others for
help and advice in using services, or understand how platforms work
by observing others, particularly in complex gaming or virtual
environments. Once users have developed confidence in a new
environment, they will also have gained the experience to help
others.
Young people as explorers and learners
Social networks encourage discovery. If someone is interested in
certain books, bands, recipes or ideas, it's likely that their
interest will be catered for by a social networking service or
group within a service. If users are looking for something more
specific or unusual then they could create their own groups or
social networking sites. Social networking services can help young
people develop their interests and find other people who share the
same interests. They can help introduce young people to new things
and ideas, and deepen appreciation of existing interests. They can
also help broaden users' horizons by helping them discover how
other people live and think in all parts of the world.
Young people becoming independent and
building resilience
Online spaces are social spaces, and social networking services
offer similar opportunities to those of offline social spaces:
places for young people to be with friends or to explore alone,
building independence and developing the skills they need to
recognise and manage risk, to learn to judge and evaluate
situations, and to deal effectively with a world that can sometimes
be dangerous or hostile. However, such skills can't be built in
isolation, and are more likely to develop if supported. Going to a
social networking service for the first time as a young person
alone can be compared to a young person's first solo trip to a city
centre, and thus it is important for a young person to know how to
stay safe in this new environment.
Young people developing key and real world
skills
Managing an online presence and being able to interact
effectively online is becoming an increasingly important skill in
the workplace. Being able to quickly adapt to new technologies,
services and environments is already regarded as a highly valuable
skill by employers, and can facilitate both formal and informal
learning. Most services are text based, which encourages literacy
skills, including interpretation, evaluation and
contextualisation.
Other Resources
For case studies of tools and spaces that you can use in
practice with young people, visit the Reviews of Therapeutic Tools
and Interviews sections of
ReachOutPro.com.au.
For professional development resources on using technology in
your practice, visit the Professional Development
section.
For information on the uptake of online spaces and trends in the
use of communications technology, visit the Trends
in Online Behaviour or Benefits of
Social Media and Online Spaces sections.
For more information on the key ways in which young people seek
help online, and the appeal and requirements of online resources,
visit the Help Seeking Online section.
For more information on safety risks and how to help young
people stay safe online, visit the Online Safety section.