Online youth work

Youth work carried out online aims at providing young people with someone to talk to in virtual communities. The objectives of the work include connecting with the youth that are not reached by means of regular youth work activities and actions are also taken in order to promote safer internet use. Multiprofessional online youth work is constantly developed with several stakeholders.

The Ministry of Education and Culture cooperates with organisations fostering media education and projects in youth work. A national network of media centres run by municipal youth work units consists of 24 centres in Finland's largest cities. These centres provide schools and day-care centres with media equipment and content.

Finnish youth spend an average of 2-4 hours per day on the internet. By the Ministry of Education and Culture, it is stated that youth workers should be present where the young people are. Netari.fi is a national virtual youth centre, founded in 2004, offering multiprofessional youth work services online. The youth workers are also in attendance at some social networking sites that are popular among the youth. The project has included the youth work units of as many as 18 municipalities and in each municipality, some youth workers perform web-based youth work part-time as part of the regular job description. Youth workers have been trained in online activities, and the virtual youth work online is increasing. As part of their responsibilities, youth workers are also able to organize different real life media events and support projects such as media production of the youth. Different activities - media camps, courses and clubs - are available for all ages.

Multifaceted online youth work consists of cooperation between school, home, and youth work units as well as common standard setting.