Chana Lockerman

In January 2018, the new NASW Code of Ethics came into effect. The new Code includes 19 revisions that address the changing world of social work practice and technology. This column is going to address one of the revisions, a “reminder” to social workers that clients can learn about their social worker’s personal information through Internet searches and social media.

To protect your private information on social media accounts to the extent possible, set your privacy filters to the most private settings that you can. Remember that information, even shared in private groups, is not private. Consider limiting the amount of information you share about yourself using a social media platform. Remember that once information is out on the Internet, it often cannot be taken back.

There is so much information out on the internet, including information about each of us. You can do an internet search on yourself and see what information comes up. Chances are that your clients will see this same information if they try to learn about you using online resources.

While we often cannot control the information that is available about us online, we can try to find out what is available, limit the information we put on social media, and remember that the internet is a public forum.