Social Work Blog Social work updates from NASW
Image courtesy of Youtube.
The nation’s 650,000 social workers are champions for some of the most vulnerable people in our society. They stand up by comforting people who are experiencing devastating illnesses and mental health crises, ensuring they get best possible care while on the road to recovery. They stand up and support military personnel, veterans and their families, immigrants, people living with disabilities and people who are LGBTQ. Child, family and school social workers stand up by protecting children who have been abused and neglected, helping children find new families through adoption, and ensuring young people reach their full academic and personal potential. And social workers work in communities and with national, state and local government to provide services and pass legislation to stand with and help people with the most needs. To honor the social work profession during Social Work Month in March and commemorate Social Work Day on the Hill, the National Association of Social Workers on March 8 invites you to join a Twitterstorm at 2 pm ET/11 am PT to show your support for the profession and alert social workers and their supporters to resources that will help them engage in making positive changes to our society. So on March 8 raise your voice and let our nation know about the positive contributions social workers have made to our nation! Use the hashtags #SWStandUp and #SWMonth to participate.
Who: You and/or your organization
What: A Twitterstorm is a sudden spike in activity surrounding a certain topic on the Twitter social media site. NASW wants to use a Twitterstorm to tell the public, policymakers and lawmakers about the importance of the social work profession in bringing about positive social work change. The Twitterstorm will also give social workers resources to get involved in promoting the profession.
When/Where: Twitter, March 8 at 2 pm ET/11 am PT
Sample Promotional Tweets:
- Join @nasw Twitterstorm on 3/8 @2pm ET to promote the great social work profession bit.ly/2mLgo7b #SWStandUp #SWMonth
- Join @nasw Twitterstorm 3/8 @2pm ET to show how social workers stand up! bit.ly/2mLgo7b #SWStandUp #SWMonth
- There are 650K social workers in US. Join @nasw Twitterstorm 3/8 @2 pm ET & show our strength! bit.ly/2mLgo7b #SWStandUp #SWMonth
Sample Tweets:
- Happy Social Work Month! #SWMonth #SWStandUp www.socialworkmonth.org
- It’s #SWMonth! Take time to learn about the positive contributions of social workers in our society www.socialworkmonth.org #SWStandUp
- Many of our nation’s heroes were social workers! #SWStandUp #SWMonth
- Social workers stand up for the most vulnerable in our society #SWStandUp #SWMonth
- Learn how social workers, NASW have pushed for positive social change in the US bit.ly/1IDUnN6 #SWStandUp #SWMonth
- NASW advocating for issues important to social work, SW profession. Learn more & get involved! bit.ly/2mnmMFA #SWStandUp #SWMonth
- Learn more about NASW’s positions on social justice issues bit.ly/2mnmMFA #SWStandUp #SWMonth
- Read NASW’s transition document to the @realdonaldtrump @potus administration bit.ly/2mnc1n0 #SWStandUp #SWMonth
- Missed NASW CEO Angelo McClain’s message to@realdonaldtrump @potus? Watch video bit.ly/2mxdi7t #SWStandUp #SWMonth
- Social workers are gathering for Social Work Day on the Hill today! bit.ly/2lhBARe Show your support! #SWStandUp #SWMonth
Sample Images that can be used with Tweets: 
For more information contact:
How did it go?
Hi Beth:
Thanks for your question. The Twitterstorm generated a lot of interest. The reach was 1.1 million users. Reach is the number of times a tweet from the Twitterstorm appeared on a users’ Twitter page. Use of the #SWMonth hashtag surged with a Tweet rate of more than 250 per hour around the time of the Twitterstorm, up from a rate of about 20 an hour in the hours before. Users engaged with the tweets 1,500 times. That means they liked (the heart sign) or retweeted a tweet from the Twitterstorm. Since this is our first Twitterstorm it is merely a benchmark. If we do a similar activity next year it will be interesting to see if we surpass the reach of 1.1 million Twitter users. If you want to see the Tweets please go to Twitter and use hashtag #SWMonth or #SWStandUp to see what was posted.
Have a great day Beth.
Greg Wright
NASW Public Relations Manager
Thanks for the update, Greg! Great baseline data!
Nice idea to promote the profession. Now that NASW is down to 120,000 members (numbers vary on this website, from the previous 145,000 to 132,000 to 120,000), it will be interesting to see the data generated from this activity. It is hope the resulting data will guide NASW in its efforts to recruit/retain membership.
@kadixonsw
I’m in!
Thanks Kathryn!