Privacy is dead. Sorry. Health and social care practitioners on Facebook

Privacy is dead. Sorry. Health and social care practitioners on Facebook

by | May 10, 2013 | NHS stuff | 0 comments

　‘I believe all is public, and professional behaviour is important. Privacy is dead. Sorry’ I recently shared five fundamental questions put to me by health and social care practitioners during a workshop on social media in mental health practice. I was struck by the extent to which participants needed to address their worries and concerns before they could grasp its positive potential. Over fifty health and social care practitioners from across the world kindly shared their answers to those questions, thanks to Anne Marie Cunninghamwho set up an online survey and shared it with her networks. A big thank you also to everyone who took the time to respond, you can find the results here. Below are my reflections to responses to the second question: ‘Can a personal Facebook account be completely private? What if I post a picture of me a bit the worse for wear on a night out – isn’t that ok? Don’t I have a right to a private life?’ Here’s a summary of the key themes: Keep it professional – the vast majority of responses suggested that it is important to keep your Facebook account professional. Some answers focused on the fact that it can be hard to maintain strict privacy settings on Facebook: ‘It is never completely private. If there is something you don’t want other people to see, don’t share it!’ Others focused more on the notion of professionalism in private as well as public life for health and social care professionals ‘we have to lead by example – it’s a way of life’and ‘It is OK to have a personal life but if you are a...