Social Media Platforms as Pedagogical Spaces. The Professional Use of Social Media Platforms in Youth Work 2018. MEDIA EDUCATION – Studi, ricerche, buone pratiche 9 (2): 329–42. https://doi.org/10.14605/MED921809

Abstract

«If I as a professor of education give advice to parents in a streetcar about how they should deal with their obviously overtired child, then I probably act presumptuously but not professionally, because the streetcar is not the place of my profession» (Giesecke, 1997, p. 47). Yet how does it look if educational spe- cialists deliberately expand the conventional professional-educational spaces by acting in a pedagogical way on Social Media Platforms? On the basis of several practice situations from youth recreation centres, this paper will illustrate and discuss the pedagogical ways Social Media Platforms are used in daily youth work. The examples come from qualitative interviews that were conducted with professional youth workers. A second focus will be on the perception of Social Media Platforms as pedagogical spaces. With the regard to the relationship be- tween social, interactive activities and informative, image-cultivating activities, results show an imbalance – less in practice but highly noticeable in percep- tion. These results will be discussed in reference to the concept of performative spaces by Löw (2016) and the Basic Forms of Pedagogical Actions by Giesecke (1997), which are also used to show the importance of perceiving Social Media Platforms as pedagogical spaces. In addition to these positive implications, the outlook also raises ethical questions and challenges for pedagogical action.