The community aspect of social media can be used to provide social care and to keep individuals in the loop.
As the population ages and the community care bill soars, we must make use of social media to deliver the primary care citizens require. The social platform can be used to deliver one on one and group discussions involving many subjects. From relevant and personal issues to general issues, the social platform can be split into groups which cater for various forms of conversation. Although the digital outreach can only establish conversational aspects of social care, this form of care is vital. Having a person to talk to on a daily basis is widely accepted as beneficial for all people.
To provide a platform that is designed to act as a venue for social care can resemble the Facebook platform. Official people can be employed to always be there to offer communication, inspiring posts, and ice breaking activities to keep members active and communicative. Much in the way social media works today, the model can be transplanted into a social care setting fairly easily.
Loneliness is an issue which affects people of all ages. Many do not like to admit to having issues with loneliness and mental health, so groups centred around activities and interests offer a different primary use that members could be happier to identify with. Providing care in the community often needs to be a secondary aspect of any initiative like this as to not deter people who may not wish to identify as being in need of care.
The interpersonal networks that result from social media can extend far beyond the keystone figures who instigate groups and safe venues for communication. With friendship circles extending further than local communities, a much wider reach is available for carers and social workers who may find themselves employed in the social media sector.
It needs to be addressed that with official and government schemes, there may not be as much freedom as with commercial platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Specific rules may need to be set in order to ensure that the service remains accessible to everyone. With social media bullying such as persistent ignoring, argumentative responses, and one-up-man-ship that takes place regularly, users need to have a thick skin. This can be especially true when active groups have topics that people care about. There must be a zero tolerance policy for all kinds of anti-social and hurtful behaviour.
Concluding this concept, the notion of social media may not be very popular with today' older generation. Although many do find benefits from it, many others don't. However, the younger generations are using it more frequently, and the youngest generation are almost all using it. By the time today's children become the older generation, social media usage will be so normalised that people will have to read about what it was like before it existed. It may turn out that there is not a need for government based social media social care, with individuals taking up roles as community patrons and ambassadors for all kinds of interests. It is a fact that in the realm of social media marketing, caring about the audience is paramount to success. So maybe the social care problem will have an unlikely but completely logical solution.
Rowan Blair Colver
