This is Part 2 of my comments on the eLearning Guild's DevLearn 2008 conference that took place a few weeks ago in San Jose, California (see also part 1).
While the program had several explicit themes, if I had to pick out one topic or theme that struck me the most about this conference it was the exploding importance of social networking platforms, such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Indeed, the conference itself made use of several of these platforms; see here for details.
Most professionals by now have LinkedIn accounts. Until recently though, LinkedIn was used mostly for very serious networking—finding a new job, finding candidates for an opening, and so on. I've noticed LinkedIn has been growing in the past year though, adding more elements that make it, well, a bit more engaging like Facebook is.
I have noted on several occasions recently that far too many business professionals still consider Facebook to be something that "kids" use (and sometimes get into trouble with). While many organizations still block their employees from visiting sites like Facebook (not to mention YouTube, Wikipedia, and even LinkedIn), they do so at their own peril. I predict that soon having a Facebook account will be considered just as "normal" for business professionals as having a LinkedIn account—which is itself becoming just as imperative as having business cards. By connecting with someone on Facebook you can learn a bit more about them—to whatever extent they want to share and to whatever extent you want to learn. This is great for people you meet as part of your professional life—at conferences, at local events, even people within your own organization when it is a large enterprise. Why? Because business cards get stored away and memories fade. But Facebook can serve as a "people memory booster” that fosters ongoing relationships between people in a way that exchanged business cards and even email simply can't do.
This "memory boost" property of Facebook is similar to the principle of reinforcement in learning, or what I’ve heard referred to as the “Forgetting Curve”: unless you use a new skill on the job, or have a good reinforcement event, information and skills "learned" from classes or other formal learning is mostly, and quickly, forgotten. Similarly, former colleagues you no longer see regularly, people you meet at events, and others will be remembered more vividly if you occasionally get a status update from them via Facebook. Your next meeting with them will automatically have some topics of conversation, and you can perhaps bypass the standard "getting caught up" portion and get right down to business. When you realize just how much business value is dependent on relationships and connections between people, the importance of these platforms for professionals becomes clear.
And what about their use in a Learning and Development context? The most obvious use is for performance support, as internal social networking platforms can serve as an excellent "expert locater" service. But beyond that, as described above these platforms help create stronger relationships between people in an enterprise organization. Consider that much of what is called "informal learning" happens through interactions between people: cubicle and hallway conversations, quick IM chats, reading each other's blogs, and so on. In simple terms then, a technology that strengthens relationships further enables these sorts of interactions, and therefore further enables informal learning.
— Thomas Stone (Tom_Stone@elementk.com)
