Humans are social beings and naturally like to be social. Social media offers numerous opportunities for both personal and professional purposes, i.e. from connecting with family and friends to like-minded professionals. Research also concludes that people subscribe to social networks like Twitter; Facebook and LinkedIn like never before.
Social media has seen a sea of changes in recent years. Aside from networking, it also allows people to teach others to develop skills for the 21st century. Let’s look at the pros and cons of learning on social media:
Advantages:
Support Interaction: What’s the Difference Between Traditional and Social Media Learning? The traditional method is a typical way of classroom learning with few opportunities for interaction. However, social media learning takes the form of interaction, which is a very effective form of active learning. It helps to network with people with similar passions and goals. It helps to exchange ideas and experiences and transfer competencies to real life, uncovering opportunities and recommending the path to success.
Natural Learning: According to research, people go to work to improve their relationships with their colleagues rather than to secure a good salary package. At a telecommunications company, management prevented employees from meeting during coffee or lunch breaks. Soon the productivity of the employees decreased. So this proves that social networks have a direct impact on the way people learn and work.
Easy Access: Social networking sites help to access information anytime, anywhere. It also facilitates easy and efficient access to information of different types on a given topic. In return, it supports lifelong learning processes and professional development.
Multiple Learning Styles: Social media learning involves accessing information through a series of images, text, and perceptions on a specific topic. It also encourages one to actively participate by posting content on social networking sites. It helps users to post or express individual views which generates tons of content on the site.
Disadvantages:
Uncertainty: Social media are subject to constant change. Therefore, the structure required to fit the learning needs exactly is lacking.
Performance Tracking: A crucial step in learning is measurement. However, there are currently only a few measuring devices.
Managing Social Networking Sites: Once you’ve signed up for a site, you’ll receive invitations to sign up for other similar sites. It is therefore not possible for one person to register on many sites. Therefore, it is difficult to handle and eventually becomes cumbersome.
Despite these disadvantages, learning via social media via higher technology has a greater impact on learning and is suitable for a professional environment based on competence. The newest advantage of these mediums is their ability to convey knowledge effectively. But often many companies overlook the learning benefits that such media offer. The need of the hour is to help companies understand the benefits of learning through social media for employee training and knowledge sharing, something that is often overlooked.
In the current scenario, social media is proving to be a relatively inexpensive and accessible platform for learning, rather than just a place for networking. “Humans are social beings, so learning through social media will certainly impact the way you learn.
Thanks to Asma Zaineb