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Social media are talk technologies. They are the means of production in an age of communication. They aid in the production and exchange of knowledge and information and culture, based on human interests. They are media in which people see themselves represented. Their impact is as much psychological and social as it is technical. In recent years, social media have come off the page. Social tools have become more talkative, mobile, and real-time. They have taken a conversational turn. And as these social tools increasingly facilitate relationships and communication, their role in these deeply personal and social dynamics has become a matter for design. The need for a deeper understanding of the fit between tools and social interactions calls for a new design practice. This is social interaction design

There is a growing demand for the ability to connect to others. It is with each other that we can make sense, and this is social. Organizations, in order to function, need to encourage social exchanges and social learning due to faster rates of business and technological changes. Social experience is adaptive by nature and a social learning mindset enables better feedback on environmental changes back to the organization.

Social networks seemed poised to take over the Web. This year, Facebook reached 800 million users. LinkedIn went public in a blockbuster stock offering. Twitter produced a billion tweets per week. And Google launched its own social network, Google+, attracting 25 million users in one month. Amid the continued growth of these social networks, there has been much excitement about how the rest of the Web would soon be infused with all things "social": social search, social commerce, social deals and more. And yet the effort to socialize the rest of the Web has so far failed to live up to its promise. Why?

This article first appeared in TrainingZone on 7 September 2011, but is reproduced here for those who don't have a TZ account. During social learning month, Jane Hart will be providing some weekly articles curating some key resources about social learning. 1. Social learning has become the latest trending concept in the learning world. Although there have been, and there will be, many articles providing a definition of what social learning is all about, I think this article by Dennis Callahan sums it up, and makes it quite clear - social learning is like gravity - it's just there all the time.

"Social Learning is not about using Social Media but how to learn Socially Remember "Group Studies" we did in our school with friends? Well, it isn't important as to what we studied together, but neverthless they were enriching lessons useful for life. Atleast for me, the learning went besides text books that gave me confidence to approach people better. The concept of "Social Learning" exists way back. In India, the dominant form of education referred to as "Gurukul" system passed on knowledge through multiple generations based on this system. If you look closely at "Gurukul" system, it is a group of students getting together in the teachers place (akin to boarding school). They learn not just by sitting in class room but by also by doing daily work and assisting the teacher in various chores."

"What does it mean to socialize the enterprise? Often, the primary focus of this term is the outward-facing social media strategy of the company and/or the social collaboration infrastructure it uses. But in reality, these two aspects are just the tip of the iceberg. A socialized enterprise incorporates the entire stakeholder landscape and platforms for bridging these connections: the consumer-facing social media strategy of the company, collaboration within the organization and the way the company interacts with clients and, no less important, its external partners."

The crux of using social media in any endeavor, as Gina Schreck has said, is, "Social media invites and allows interaction from others. How are you inviting that interaction?" The popularity of social media tools means that sooner, rather than later, those of us in the field will need to examine what this means for us. Among other things, as noted by Taleo's Tom Stone, use of social media tools is an excellent means of making learning more transparent. As he says, "It's captured, searchable, and has much greater reach beyond the two people talking in the hallway."

For years I've been singing the praises of niche outreach and waiting to see niche social networking overtake general social networks (like Facebook) with the public. I'm sad to say it hasn't happened as quickly as I would have liked. Too many people are still wasting too much time trying to be everything to everyone. That said, niche social networking is here, and it's been around much longer than some of you probably realize. Let's explore niche social networking, what might be holding it back, and where things are going well for niche social networks.

In the knowledge economy, content is no longer sufficient - everyone has access to a multitude of content. You cannot compete on what everyone knows. As you move up the hierarchy, it becomes more difficult to compete on individual competency - everyone is highly skilled and experienced at the top. It is hard to compete when everyone is so similar. The new advantage is context - how internal and external content is interpreted, combined, made sense of, and converted to new products and services. Creating competitive context requires social capital - the ability to find, utilize and combine the skills, knowledge and experience of others, inside and outside of the organization. Social capital is derived from employees' professional and business networks. The new competitive landscape requires focusing on between-employee factors, the connections that combine to create new processes, products and services. Social capital encompasses communities of practice, knowledge exchanges, information flows, interest groups, social networks and other emergent connections between employees, suppliers, regulators, partners and customers.

Do you find that your employer is resistant to incorporating social learning tools to enhance the business?  Maybe, we just need to communicate the value better. First of all, let's get on the same page with what 'social learning' even means. Wikipedia defines social learning as:  learning that takes place at a wider scale than individual or group learning, up to a societal scale, through social interaction between peers.

Social ads are increasingly assuming mainstream status, as brands focus on devising newer ways to engage user attention. While traditional advertisers focus on targeting users with contextual ads wherein ads are served on the basis of content, in social advertising factors such as peer and social influences as well as recommendations are taken into consideration for targeting users. Rapid increase in social media activities in the recent years has driven advertisers to take up social ads.

"Social Business" is not about technology, or about "corporate culture." It is a socio-political historical shift that is bigger, broader and much more fascinating. A new perspective is changing how we think about society, politics, interpersonal relationships, science, government and business. New approaches are emerging. Learning and self-expression are exploding. Values are changing. Leadership is changing. The economy is changing. Change itself is changing - it is accelerating and becoming the norm."

Over the past year, we've witnessed a convergence of social, mobile and cloud computing prompting organizations around the globe to evaluate how they embrace the growing social business market. "Social" has become essential for organizations that want to remain competitive.

In any industry, the need to manage your brand's community is pressing. Companies have invested significant resources into building community on social networks, but as Facebook and other social media sites continue to block access to your user data, smart marketers and business leaders are realizing that the real value of social engagement is found on their own web properties and applications. Gamification offers a means of applying the benefits of social engagement directly to your properties. It is a proven business strategy that enables businesses to influence the behaviors of your entire community, and exceed your user-driven business objectives.

Social methods and technologies mesh much better with independent learning, where the student is at the center of the learning experience (learning on their own as opposed to be being taught). They leverage a ring of social, academic, and motivational influences on their way to the goal of knowledge acquisition.

"The problem with formal learning is that it's inherently abstract: no matter how engaging and dynamic it is, it's always one step away from our everyday reality. When people leave the event and go back to their real lives, real jobs and real pressures, it's always hard to bridge the gap. Whilst workshops can be very enjoyable, drawing the links back to reality is a challenge. Which is where social and collaborative approaches come in."

Although we learn every day, in everything we do, whether it is in what we read, watch or listen to, or in the conversations and discussions we have with other people, at some time people started believing that the only important learning happens in a formal setting, e.g. in a school classroom or a university lecture hall.

A nice selection of posts about social learning and social media for learning this week.

"PPT discusses how to use social collaboration to re-energize your workforce and optimize your core business processes with purpose driven collaboration. Learn how to streamline problem solving, execute faster and drive rapid decision making to achieve your core operational and financial performance metrics. Learn how The Transformational Opportunity from Social Collaboration will come from closing Business Loops: - Customer Performance = Traditional CRM + Customer Networks - Talent Performance = Talent Management + Talent Networks - Financial Performance & Risk Mitigation = Financial Management + Performance Networks - Supply Chain Performance = Supply Chain Management + Business Networks "