What is Social Learning?

Structured social learning represents both an opportunity and a challenge for the training profession. Companies clearly benefit when informal content from employees contains useful ideas and just-in-time solutions to problems not addressed in formal curricula. At the same time, many organizations struggle to effectively manage the influx of informal content and to measure the actual benefits gained from it.

Here are some best practices in social learning that have been identified by training professionals.

• Encourage collaboration. The key to social learning is learning through collaboration with colleagues. Among the most beneficial are conversations that feature story telling and problem solving of workplace challenges.

• Measure true success. It’s helpful to know how people are utilizing social learning opportunities, but measuring that activity is limited in value. Organizations should also identify success criteria such as a trackable performance metric for a sales team. Also, process automation can yield measurable business results.

• Stress formal learning. A foundation of formal learning must be the basis of every social learning network. Learners start with a foundation of knowledge, and build around it via informal learning methods.

Two billion users choose Facebook daily to interact on this free social network with friends, coworkers, strangers, groups of like-minded people with similar interests, and family. This platform shares thoughts, photos, videos, ideas, music, articles, and memories. Facebook can be used as an application or webpage on a desktop, laptop, or smartphone.