Learning through social networks: the pros and cons!

Human beings are social beings and naturally like to be sociable. Social media offers numerous opportunities for both personal and professional purposes, from connecting with family and friends to like-minded professionals. The research also concludes the fact that people log into social networking sites like Twitter; Facebook and LinkedIn like never before.

Social networks have witnessed a sea of ​​changes in recent years. In addition to networking, it also allows people to teach others to develop 21st century skills. Let’s see the advantages and disadvantages of learning in social networks:

advantages:

Support Engagement: What is the difference between traditional and social media learning? The traditional method is a typical type of classroom learning with few possibilities for interaction. However, learning from social networks takes the form of interaction, which is a highly effective form of active learning. It helps to connect with people of passion and similar goals. It helps to share ideas and experiences, and get skills implanted in real life, unravel opportunities and recommend the path to success.

Natural learning – According to research, people go to work to improve their relationships with colleagues rather than to get a good salary package. At a telecommunications company, management prevented employees from meeting during coffee or lunch breaks. Soon, there was a drop in employee performance levels. This, therefore, shows that social networks have a direct impact on the way people learn and work.

Easy Access: Social networking sites help to access information anytime and anywhere. It also facilitates access to information of various kinds on a given topic with ease and efficiency. In turn, it supports lifelong learning processes and professional development.

Multiple Learning Styles: Social media learning involves accessing information through a variety of images, text, and insights on a given topic. It also encourages one to be actively involved by posting content on social networking sites. It helps users post or express individual views, generating tons of content on the site.

Disadvantages:

Uncertainty: Social networks are subject to continuous changes. Therefore, this lacks the structure required to fit the exact learning need.

Performance Tracking: A critical step to learning is measurement. However, currently, measurement tools are few.

Social networking site management: Once you log in to one site, you receive invitations to log in to other similar sites. Therefore, it is not possible to log in to many sites for a single person. Hence its difficulty in handling and eventually becomes cumbersome.

Despite these drawbacks, learning via social media through superior technology has a greater impact on learning and is appropriate for a competency-based professional environment. The last advantage of this medium is its ability to impart 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 advantages of social media learning for employee empowerment and knowledge sharing, which is often overlooked.

In today’s scenario, social media is becoming a relatively cheap and accessible learning platform rather than just a place to network. “Humans are social beings, therefore learning through social media will surely affect the way one learns.