In this article, we present the results of a strategy to disseminate best social work practices during periods of social lockdown in Spain, in a climate characterised by post-truth, misinformation and fake news. Social work is challenged with the task of delivering reliable and quality information aimed at building a better society. At the time of writing, Spain was one of the countries most affected by COVID-19, with one of the highest numbers of deaths per million inhabitants in the world. With the population in lockdown, our strategy was to design a series of innovative web seminars on both the subject and the procedures involved in social work, with the aim of sharing information and best practices to counter disinformation campaigns on social media. The results show the growing demand – both by citizens in general and students and professionals in particular – for reliable information in the field of professional practice. One of the priorities of digital social work must be to disseminate its results in the digital environment.

Research on youth transitions, and the well-being of young people, has to take into consideration the digital context in which they are immersed. Digital interaction of young people increase year by year, social networking sites play a key role in their personal and professional relationships, and a very high percentage of jobs require digital skills. According to Eurostat (2019), participating on social networking sites (one of the most common online activities in the EU-28), is growing every year [more than half (56%) of individuals aged 16-74 used the internet for social networking sites], and this percentage increases among the younger generations. In this article, we present the results of our research on the digital skills and well-being of young people on Facebook, based on a survey with a sample of 126 young people graduated from the University of Málaga (School of Social Work) (Spain). Based on certain scales, the level of digital skills that students have on Facebook was measured, considering strategic aspects for information search, level of use and presence of Facebook in life, maintenance of relations and tolerance to diversity. Variables of psychosocial well-being were also measured (social capital, self-esteem, life satisfaction, and personal wellbeing). Variables of digital skills on Facebook were subsequently related to well-being variables. Results show that certain digital skills relate to the well-being of young people. In this sense, we deem it crucial to develop education policies that could provide young graduates with general digital skills to be used on social networking sites.

In a transnational context defined by the irruption of COVID-19 and the social isolation it has generated around the world, social networking sites are essential channels for communicating and developing new forms of social coexistence based on connectivity and interaction. This study analyzes the feelings expressed on Twitter through the hashtags #YoMeQuedoEnCasa, #stayhome, #jeresteàlamaison, #restealamaison, #stoacasa, #restaacasa, #ficaemcasa, #euficoemcasa, #ichbleibezuHause and #Bleibzuhause, and the communicative and social processes articulated from network participation, during the lockdown in 2020. Through Gephi software, the aspects underlying the communicative interaction and the distribution of the network at a global level are studied, with the identification of leaderships, communities and connectivity nodes. As a result of this interaction, the emergence of social and organizational links derived from community participation and motivated by the common interest of preserving health and general wellbeing through collective action is detected. The study notes the presence of feelings of solidarity, a sense of community and social support among connected crowds who, despite being in geographically dispersed settings, share similar concerns about the virus effect.

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es una de las rutas migratorias más mortíferas del mundo y se ha convertido una vez más en centro de la polémica en relación con la actuación del buque humanitario Open Arms. Este buque, tras rescatar migrantes del mar, estuvo en travesía durante diecinueve días, bloqueado institucionalmente y envuelto en disputas diplomáticas en la Unión Europea. Como reacción, la ciudadanía, distintos actores sociales y la propia ONG Open Arms hicieron uso de Twitter para intercambiar información y expresar opiniones y sentimientos en relación con el fenómeno migratorio. En este artículo se analizan pautas de conectividad e interacción de los usuarios de Twitter en torno al hashtag #Openarms. Tras recoger muestras masivas de tuits con técnicas de extracción, se identificaron los actores sociales con mayor liderazgo mediante análisis de redes sociales. Se han detectado comunidades por medio del algoritmo de modularidad, cuyo contenido ha sido interpretado mediante netnografía. Los resultados evidencian cómo los usuarios de Twitter tienden a congregarse con quienes comparten sus mismas creencias, formándose las denominadas cámaras eco. La interacción en base a este suceso despertó estados emocionales colectivos que dieron lugar a burbujas filtro que potenciaron la desinformación y la polarización entre comunidades.Palabras clave: Crisis migratoria -Redes sociales online -Homofilia -Desinformación - Polarización afectiva.The Mediterranean is one of the deadliest migratory routes in the world and has once again become the center of controversy in relation to the performance of the Spanish ship Open Arms. This ship, after rescuing migrants from the sea, was on a crossing for nineteen days, institutionally blocked and involved in diplomatic disputes in the European Union. As a reaction, the citizens, different social actors and the NGO OpenArms made use of this social networking site Twitter to exchange information and express their opinions and feelings in relation to the migratory phenomenon. This study analyzes the connectivity and interaction patterns of Twitter users around the #Openarms hashtag. Massive samples of tweets have been collected using extraction techniques. Through the analysis of social networks, the social actors with the greatest leadership were identified. Communities have been detected by means of the modularity algorithm, whose content has been interpreted by netnography. The results show how users of the analyzed online social network tend to congregate around those who share the same beliefs, forming the so-called echo chambers. The interaction based on this event aroused collective emotional states that gave rise to filter bubbles that promoted disinformation and polarization between communities.

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Sumario: 1. Trabajo social, catástrofes y emergencias sociales. 2. Las emergencias sociales en la era de la conectividad. 3. Las redes sociales online y las emergencias sociales. 4. El impacto de Twitter ante las emergencias sociales. 5. Interlocutores infl uyentes en las redes sociales online en emergencias sociales. 6. Ejemplos sobre la reacción ante crisis, desastres naturales y ataques terroristas. 7. Conclusiones. 8. Referencias bibliográfi cas.Resumen: Las redes sociales online ofrecen una rica fuente de información en tiempo real sobre lo que está pasando, especialmente valiosa durante emergencias sociales. Las distintas autoridades, las organizaciones y los trabajadores sociales que atienden estas emergencias están incorporando estos medios para comprender mejor el impacto de los peligros y responder antes las emergencias de manera oportuna. En este capítulo, analizamos la relevancia de las redes sociales online en los casos de emergencias, prestando especial atención a algunos casos relevantes de Twitter durante emergencias sociales. Analizamos tres casos de emergencias sociales, relacionados con una crisis humanitaria, un desastre natural y un ataque terrorista. Se muestra cómo se pueden utilizar técnicas de extracción de datos, de análisis de contenido, incluidos la detección, fi ltrado y la clasifi cación de tweets, el agrupamiento, la detección de comunidades y de interlocutores infl uyentes (infl uencers) para analizar la situación de Twitter.