| Sumario: | Uncertainty has long been discussed in social work as an inherent element of professional practice. The present paper extends this discussion into the realm of digital social work. It reports a study of anonymous text-based online counselling provided by the social services in Sweden. We explore what kind of uncertainty is evoked when social workers respond to anonymous users through online platforms, and how this uncertainty is related to the constraints of Internet- and text-based communication. Three dimensions of uncertainty were identified: interactional, professional and relational. We argue that the use of new technologies creates new conditions for conducting social work, which challenge the traditional professional role. Therefore, when working online, social workers need to be trained not only in how to use technology but also in how to communicate with a client under the specific conditions of an anonymous, text-based encounter online.
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