This is a research poster I presented at the 2018 CSWE Annual Program Meeting in Orland, Florida.

1. Please Retweet #SocialWorkEducation: A Content Analysis of Social Work Programs on Twitter
Jimmy A. Young, PhD, MSW, MPA
California State University San Marcos
Material & Methods
Conclusion
• Schools of social work can play a
pivotal role in helping students with
their professional development.
• Schools can share information, connect
with a broad and diverse community,
and encourage action like never before.
• Schools should consider social media
policies within their institution,
availability of resources, & developing
an overarching strategy that will
support their mission & goals.
• Content Analysis
• Sentiment Analysis
• Use of web-based software to collect
tweets.
• Analysis conducted with web-based
software and MS Excel.
• Majority of Schools joined Twitter in 2012 or later.
• Average number of Followers = 856
• Average number of Likes = 387
• Most Tweets contain a web-link.
• Most Schools Tweet during the PM hours.
• 84% of Schools link to their website from their
Twitter Profile.
• Majority of tweets have neutral sentiment or tone.
Abstract
Results
This project examined how social work programs use Twitter. A content and sentiment analysis of 2,606 tweets
illustrates what schools share, when they share tweets, how often they use Twitter, the tone or sentiment of the
tweets, and the type of engagement the tweets receive. Results vary based on the size of the program, type of content
shared and liked by users.
TAP TO GO BACK
TO KIOSK MENU
Email: Jyoung@csusm.edu
Web: www.JimmySW.com

2. Background
Social Media use and Specifically Twitter as identified by
the Pew Research Center, Internet and Technology (2018).
• Microblogging Social Media platform that allows for communication,
connection, and general information sharing.
• Professional Networking
• Life-long Learning & Pedagogy
• Live Twitter Chats
• Hashtags #
• More?!?!
There is a growing awareness that social media can be a valuable tool in social work
education to help collaborate with others, promote their programs, engage with
alumni, and promote interprofessional education. Social media are defined as an array
of digital technologies that allow for the creation and exchange of user generated
content (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Kanter & Fine, 2010) and include digital platforms
such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat. Social work practitioners, students
and educators need to be adept at using social media and information communication
technology as part of their practice with clients and organizations of all sizes (Coe Regan
& Freddolino, 2008; Getz, 2012; Hitchcock & Young, 2016; National Association of Social
Workers [NASW], 2017). As more and more organizations adopt social media to
promote their services (Goldkind, 2015; Young, 2017), social work education programs
have also utilized social media for a variety of purposes.
Literature Review
TAP TO GO TO
FIRST SLIDE
What is Twitter?

3. Methodology
Design and Methods
The purpose of this project was to examine how social work education programs use
Twitter. A total of 2,600 Tweets from schools of social work in the United States were
collected over a six month period. Content analysis was performed to identify how
programs engage other Twitter users and promote their respective programs. This
analysis provides various descriptors and codes to help identify meaning. Sentiment
analysis was utilized to examine the tone of the tweets. Both forms of analysis help to
yield information regarding whether schools engage in one or more of the three key
functions of microblogging (Lovejoy & Saxton, 2012). Descriptive statistics also
illustrate when schools send tweets, frequency of hashtags, Retweets, and other
content. Data collection was performed using a free web-based service called If This
Then That. Data analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel.
Research Objectives
• Understand how Twitter is being used by
social work programs in the United States.
• Understand how social work educators and
programs can collaborate and network via
Twitter to help with professional
development.
• Evaluate the use of Twitter as an
engagement and promotional/marketing
tool in social work education.
Research Questions
• What Hashtags (#) do schools use?
• What do Schools share via Twitter?
• When do Schools Tweet (am or pm)?
• What is the Tone or Sentiment of Tweets?
TAP TO GO TO
FIRST SLIDE
2,606 Tweets
Figure 1. Tweet Word Cloud

4. Methodology TAP TO GO TO
FIRST SLIDE
Table 1. Content Analysis Code Book.
*Adapted from: Lovejoy K., & Saxton, G. D. (2012).
Tweet text
indicates some
cynicism,
discrimination or
violence.
Tweet implies no
emotions or may
merely be
ambivalent about
the topic or
subject.
Tweet text
indicates
openness,
enthusiasm, and
or kindness.
Text Data
Sentiment
Lexicon
Text
Mining Visualizations
Theme Definition Example Words
(codes)
Information
Tweets contain information about the
School’s activities, highlights from events,
or any other news, facts, reports, job and
career opportunities. It involves mainly
one-way interaction with the exchange of
information from the school to the public.
Learn
Deadline
Career
Apply
Training
Job
Community
Tweets serve a dialogue and community-
building function by sparking
conversations between the school and
others. Secondly, these tweets also have
a purpose to say something that
strengthens ties to the online community
without an expectation of interactivity.
Join
Chat
Discuss
Support
Congrats
Celebrate
Welcome
Action
The aim of these tweets are to encourage
followers to ”do something” like engage
in advocacy campaigns, donate, or buy
goods or services. It involves the
promotional and mobilizational uses of
social media where users are seen as a
resource that can be mobilized to help.
Advocate
Mobilize
Organize
Help
Share
Attend
Awareness
What is Sentiment Analysis?

5. Figure 3. Average Number of...
Results
Description of Results
Schools of social work have been using Twitter 2008, with a majority of schools joining the social network in
2012 or later. Schools tweet content related to their programs, job or educational opportunities, and they
engage in some community-building conversations as well as in encouraging advocacy and action. Overall, the
tone or sentiment of the Tweets is largely neutral or positive. Schools tweet more in the PM hours and a
majority of programs on Twitter do contain a link to their school’s website, a key promotional opportunity.
Larger programs (as determined by having BSW, MSW, & PhD programs available) were able to produce more
tweets and engage with a larger audience. These tweets often received more likes and retweets (often included
@ reply’s) than other smaller programs, although there were some outliers. However, the Spearman’s rho
bivariate correlation produced a weak relationship (r ² ≤ .396) accounting for only 15.6% of the variance. Over
13% of tweets from schools contained the #MacroSW hashtag followed by #SocialWork (5%), and #MSW (2%).
TAP TO GO TO
FIRST SLIDE
Table 2. Thematic Content & Sentiment Analysis
*Earliest adopter was in 2008
54% of Schools joined in 2012 or later
Followers a
School has
865
Likes per
School
387
Users a School
follows
323
Years on Twitter
4
Thematic Analysis Number Percentage
Information 293 24%
Community 280 11%
Action 152 20%
Sentiment Analysis
Positive 580 22%
Neutral 2020 78%
Negative 6 1%
Figure 1. Location of Schools of
Social Work (N=89)
14
26
24
25
1,092
1,508
2,101
2,131
2,514
2,600
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Retweets
Just Tweets
Tweets Containing #
Tweets Containing a WebLink
@ Replys
Total Tweets Analyzed
Figure 2. Tweets by the Numbers
Figure 4. Tweet Time of Day
PM
61%
AM
39%
Figure 5. Twitter Profile Contains a Link
to School/Program
Yes
84%
No
16%

6. Conclusion
Limitations
Bivariate Correlations were weak and also not significant. A better lexicon needs to be
developed to more accurately capture language social work uses for information,
community, and action. Need to develop a better coding scheme that accounts for emojis.
Implications
Social Work schools and programs can play a pivotal role in helping students to become
lifelong learners, increase their digital literacies, and model ethical and appropriate
technology use through their curriculum and online presence. Programs have the ability
to share information, connect with a broad and diverse community, and encourage
action like never before. However, technology in social work education has been
integrated sporadically with varying degrees of success. Schools of social work should
also consider various social media policies within the institution, availability of
resources, and developing an overarching strategy that will support the mission and
goals of their respective programs.
TAP TO GO TO
FIRST SLIDE
References
Bruns, A., & Stieglitz, S. (2012). Quantitative Approaches to Comparing Communication Patterns on
Twitter. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 30(3-4), 160-185.
Coe Regan, J. A., & Freddolino, P. P. (2008). Integrating technology in the social work curriculum.
Alexandria, VA: Council on Social Work Education.
Getz, L. (2012). Mobile App Technology for Social Workers. Social Work Today, 12 (3), 8 -10.
Goldkind, L. (2015). Social Media and Social Service: Are Nonprofits Plugged in to the Digital Age?
Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 39(4), 380-396.
Hitchcock, L. I., & Young, J. A. (2016). Tweet Tweet! Using Live Twitter Chats in Social Work Education.
Social Work Education: The International Journal, 35(4), 457-468.
Kanter, B., & Fine, A. H. (2010). The networked nonprofit: Connecting with social media to drive change.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social
Media. Business Horizons, 53, 59-68.
Lovejoy K., & Saxton, G. D. (2012). Information, community, and action: How nonprofit organizations use
social media. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 17(3), 337-353. doi:
10.1111/j.1083-6101.2012.01576.x
Markham, A., & Buchanan, E. (2012). Ethical decision-making and Internet research. Retrieved from
http://aoir.org/reports/ethics2.pdf
NASW (National Association of Social Workers)/ASWB (Association of Social Work Boards)/Council on
Social Work Education (CSWE)/Clinical Social Work Association (CSWA). (2005). NASW,
ASWB, CSWE, & CSWA Standards for Technology in Social Work Practice. Retrieved from
http://www.socialworkers.org/includes/newIncludes/homepage/PRA-BRO-
33617.TechStandards_FINAL_POSTING.pdf
Padgett, D. K. (2008). Qualitative methods in social work research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Smith, A. & Anderson, M. (2018, March1). Social Media Use in 2018. Retreived from
http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/
Young, J. A. (2017). Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs: The Adoption and Utilization of Social Media in
Nonprofit Human Service Organizations. Human Service Organizations: Management,
Leadership, & Governance, 41(1), 44-57.