Information Technology Reference
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Optica as well as other conditions. PatientsLikeMe
also offers specific resources for people with mood
disorders such as depression, anxiety, bipolar
disorder, obsessive-complusive disorder (OCD)
and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The
site supports clients with immune conditions HIV/
AIDS. Patients can volunteer to be in research
studies or read about cutting edge treatments under
development. The site is searchable by location,
age, disease, treatment, or symptoms, making it
easy for members to connect with each other and
find relevant information. Privacy protections
prevent using real names (patients use screen
names) or contact information. Members have
the option of posting photographs or diagrams
with their condition, gender and age. Multiple
communication channels encourage open sharing
about new treatments, uncommon symptoms or
overcoming everyday problems, and site features
address a range of learning styles
In addition to potentially developing clients'
basic technological competence, confidence, and
21
st
century skills, which are prerequisites for
many jobs and education options, facilitating their
use of social digital technologies, such as online
social network sites, may provide them with a rich,
multimedia toolkit through which to express their
talents, interests and aspirations. Early research is
beginning to discern how digital story creations,
for example, serve social functions, especially for
traditionally underserved, disengaged students
(Hull & Nelson, 2005). Displaying different sides
of oneself in a supportive peer-to-peer network
may help forge beneficial social relationships
around common interests and/or help human ser-
vices professionals, if linked in to such profiles,
better understand their clients' needs.
Gustavsson and MacEachron (2008), in exam-
ining the role of the Internet in foster care, suggest
that where youth experience multiple placements
and risk losing an accurate biography of their
childhoods, email accounts that function as an
electronic diary may be one solution. We suggest
that agencies and human services professionals
might better serve such young people by not only
helping them develop a secure digital repository
—providing “a portable life biography and sense
of self over time” —but also a portable, dynamic
network of people and resources they take with
them independent of place and time. An online
support network can be available when a social
services professional is not. Since many of these
networked communities are international, mem-
bers are online chatting and blogging at all hours
of the day dealing with a variety of issues. Clients
are likely to find someone who can empathize
and offer support when other resources may be
unavailable. In these ways, SNSs may complement
or extend a client's overall treatment plan.
future trenDS
As human service professionals utilize social
networking technologies to forge individual-
ized, constructivist learning experiences, work
practices, and technology-integrated service or
treatment approaches, new research opportunities
will develop and best practices, evolve. People,
both young and old, who understand how to use
these online social networks for self expression,
community-building and professional develop-
ment, may have a decided advantage over those
who do not. According to a survey by the U.S.
National Association of Colleges and Employers
published in March 2008, employers will not only
use online social network sites to check profiles
of potential hires, over 50% will use sites like
Facebook (www.facebook.com) and LinkedIn
(www.linkedin.com) to “network” with candi-
dates. Recruiters and recruits in entertainment,
business, higher education and other industries
are beginning to capitalize on these social digital
technologies to find new talent, make professional
connections and promote their accomplishments
(Rosenbloom, 2007). Moreover, technology
executives predict an increasing proliferation of
SNSs as online social networking moves away
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