E-Social Work in Spain: An analysis of the professional blogs

Abstract

The digital revolution and new technologies of information and communication have changed, in a very short time, the means of learning, the inter-professional relationships and the professional-user interactions in the area of social work. A pioneer study has been presented, focused on one of the least researched dimensions up to now, on the E-Social Work: blogs specialised in social work in Spain. This is an exploratory study that seeks to, first, identify the scope of blogs of social work in the overall context of the Internet (through the use of global analytical tools Alexa and Majestic) and, secondly, exploring (through an online survey, bloggers of social work in Spain), if there is a thematic virtual community in social work, what their characteristics are, and if the blogs are, or can become, new tools of professional socialisation. The results show some differences by bloggers/blogs and prove the fact that virtual networks are increasingly denser among professionals who collaborate in the creation of a shared professional culture.