Using social networking sites (namely Facebook) in health visiting practice--an account of five years experience.

With new developments in electronic and social networking communication methods the way health visitors communicate with clients is rapidly changing. With good governance these technologies can be utilised to enhance the health visiting service and can be an effective way of accessing hard-to-reach families, saving time and resources. This paper presents five years' experience in the use of Facebook between the health visiting team and clients and explains the benefits and potential it offers to health visitors and other community practitioners.