Social media and DV

The beauty of social media is it gives people the ability to spread and receive information instantaneously to others anywhere in the world.  With websites like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Blogger, sharing ideas is easier than ever. And in the digital age, social media has become a crucial part in agencies’ development plans.  

The agency where I am place at is Urban Justice Center’s Domestic Violence Project. The organization's ultimate goal is to promote social justice and bring about social change. They recognize the importance of giving the oppressed a voice and to share to the public the realities of intimate partner violence. In order to do that efficiently and to "cast a bigger net", DVP turned to Facebook and Twitter. On our Facebook and Twitter pages, we share any articles on the latest updates on any social issue, ranging from how to identify an unhealthy relationship to marriage equality to immigration issues. Our Facebook page also provides our address and hotline number.

In addition to educating our followers, we are able to promote our events such as our latest fundraiser. Staff members shared the page's invitation on their own private account thereby extending the invitation to friends of friends. The "tagging" feature on Facebook allowed us to thank and promote our sponsors who donated gifts for our raffle which helped attract more attendees. Lastly, we were able to announce last minute to our followers that 50% of what we raise would directly go to our clients who were affected by Hurricane Sandy. As a result, we impressively raised about $6,000 that night. I do not think this would have been possible without the help of our media pages.

Another benefit of social media is how easy it allows organizations to work together. For example, after Hurricane Sandy, Safe Horizons, another domestic violence agency, had the chance to report to BuzzFeed, a popular social news organization, to speak about the effects of Sandy on domestic violence.  Since domestic violence itself is often a hushed subject, it was very important that this article was published so that this oppressed group is not forsaken during this catastrophe.

DVP's upcoming project is also a collaboration with a news-worthy organization called Help-Portrait. Help-Portrait was started by a celebrity photographer named Jeremy Cowart who had a vision of fellow photographers around the globe giving back to their local community. Their mantra is simple: find someone in need, take their picture, print their picture and give it to them. The goal is "to give the family something they may have never had before—a portrait together".

We are extremely excited for this event because it fits so well with our mission. We aim to help survivors of intimate partner violence continue to live a life free of abuse and violence. With Help-Portrait's photographs, our families can make new memories and have a mark to new beginnings.

I think a great project for the future is starting a blog for survivors to share their stories. This is both therapeutic for clients as it is a great educating tool for the public to learn about the realities of intimate partner violence. As we know, blogs are a great tool to start conversation. It would serve as an open forum for anyone to speak openly and anonymously about the issue. Perhaps it can be an inspiration to those to leave their unhealthy relationships and to seek help.

One of the most important role of a social worker is to advocate for those who do not have a voice. We are lucky enough to live in an era where we have these tools that can help us broadcast ideas so freely and efficiently. With the help of social media, change might come about sooner than we imagined.