http://www.trainingmagnetwork.com/topics/show/1350
Candyce Robb
I attended Jane Bozarth's webinar titled "The Nuts and Bolts of Social Media: Building Community, Sharing Knowledge" (a Training Magazine Network free webinar) last week and received some valuable information.
Have a strategy. What do you want to do? Do you want to build a community of learners or is your goal to publish to the end users what your office is doing? Or perhaps you want to have a place where your office members can go to find information.
You need to go into it with a plan. If you don’t plan well you won’t get out of it what you intended. You need to know what your intentions are and make certain that the end users know that as well.
Is your company or you saying "We/I need to DO twitter" "I need to DO e-learning"? Why do you NEED to DO it? Don't go there without a plan as with any initiative if you don't have a plan, the success will be than anticipated and the sustenance lacking.
Is your intention to provide information, "broadcast" or to encourage "conversations"? Do you want to have a place where your learners or customers can provide feedback for improvements or opportunities for innovation? Or do you want to inform them of what you are doing as a company, where you are growing and going?
Are you afraid of the negative feedback? Have a plan, how would you handle it?
Can there be different ways to use communities? Jane compares the AARP community with the NavyforMoms community. AARP is more general, for anyone 50 years and older. It offers more information than it encourages dialogue and sharing. NavyforMoms is specific the site offers them a place to get answers about what the Navy life is like for their kids. The Mom's can join this community and have a place to share their stories, photos, etc. These women have a specific bond.
What is a community of practice? A COP is subset of a community. There may be a community within your organization of learners, and there may be a COP within that community of learners who all do the same jobs or roles within the organization and this COP is where they can go to get better at their job, share their experiences, tap into each others' experiences. These COP's could be within the same brick and mortar or could be within the same organization that has facilities around the globe. What they have in common is some of the same challenges under the umbrella of their organization.
Of course we CNYASTD SILSIG members are familiar with #lrnchat. Well, Jane is one of the moderators and describes it as a Community of Practioners. Jane shares with us that Marcia Connor (the #lrnchat creator) wanted a place where people could get together at a specific time and discuss learning, could learn from others and who want to help others to learn.
For me the bottom line to this Webinar was that before I decide I NEED TO DO social media, I must know what I want to do and why. Then I can figure out what the best medium is.
Remember SM is just another change management endeavor, don't just do it because everyone else is, do it with purpose and value to you, your organization and your end users.
Check out the webinar, I think you'd find it interesting.
Happy Learning,
Candyce