CAN SOCIAL WORKERS BECOME SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVISTS?: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON SOCIAL WORKERS‘ PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS AND ENGAGEMENT IN THE USAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR CAUSE ADVOCACY

Abstract

This thesis aims to explore how social workers in Singapore understand and engage in the usage of social media for cause advocacy, otherwise termed as ‘social media activism’. The use of social media, specifically social networking sites (SNS), to advocate for social causes is fairly novel. Traditionally, strategies to advocate for structural changes to policy and society in Singapore have mainly been through more conventional means, such as writing forum letters and organised rallies. Yet in light of recent events, in particular the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple activities have been relocated online - including advocacy work - and with it, a shift in the way people engage in and raise awareness for social causes. In the midst of this rise in activism in the digital space, there has been a gap in knowledge on the perceptions of social workers towards using social media for cause advocacy as well as the factors that would influence social workers’ engagement in such usage of social media. Qualitative research was conducted using semi-structured interviews, with millennial social workers who were active users of social media. Purposive and snowball sampling was used to recruit participants and data was thematically analysed with an inductive approach. In general, the findings suggest that social workers in Singapore perceive social media as a tool that may both facilitate and hinder the goals of cause advocacy. At the same time, while they actively utilised social media for direct engagement in casework, they were less keen on engaging in activist activities. There is also a potential dilemma faced by social workers using social media, as it blurs the boundary between their professional and personal identities. From these findings, a few implications on practice as well as future research will be suggested as well.