Title image: Social Network Analysis Visualization.
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

I shared my portfolio with my mother last week, who exited the full-time professional world back in the 80s, and all she could say was, “Oh, wow. Times have really changed.”;  and she was right. Times have changed more than we know in countless ways we will never know.

Take the job search for example; it will never be the same. Finding work has always been loosely related to who you know, but now it is easier to connect with people from all over the world with the click of a button. (In fact, many of the first steps into our next role starts with being discovered by an online search-bot, not a person at all.) But HOLD ON! wait just one hot minute Improvement Dave, this blog post is about being social, not about cold lonely robots that live online.

The dawn of the internet age has changed our world forever. As Marcia Conner reminds us in her interview on theelearningcoach: access to mobile devices is more prevalent than access to clean water. Let that sink in, the number of us that have smart phones is greater than the number of us that have access to water to drink. Her interview is amazing by the way. Check it out here:

 

Professional Network Groups

Professional Network Groups are an added layer to this ability to connect across large distances. Joining a group is a fantastic way to grow your circle of influence, learn about best practices in your industry and just meet some new people who share common interests with you. Although the Groups on Facebook do include a vast range of interests, for professional development and performance enhancement Linkdin.com is the place to go.

Personally I find that the groups I join on Facebook reflect my personal interests that I enjoy in my free time, and sure those interests do cross over into my professional life. Overall, there seems to be an unwritten perception that Facebook is more of a Social Network and Linked In is s Professional Social Network.

 

Just by the nature of Linked In I have joined groups that directly relate to my career. Being a Learning and Development specialist I have found numerous groups that discuss best practices in training facilitation, Instructional Design and eLearning. Not to mention I have befriended and then followed people from those groups. It is their posts the enrich my feed with what is called social learning.

Social Learning

We are social creatures. There are many studies that reinforce the hypothesis that people learn more in a social environment. In her article on elearningindustry.com, Juliette Denny presents the 70-20-10 model. The research around this model shows that we learn 70% to 90% of what we know from work while on the job. It breaks down like this, while at the workplace learning is:

• 70% ‘on the job’ that is by experience
• 20% by watching others
• 10% through formal training

What can we take away from this? Social Networking is not simply a way to meet a new friend or find your next gig. Social networking is an extremely effective way to learn; a proven modality to better yourself and increase your workplace performance.

So, the next time you find yourself beating yourself up for spending 10 minutes on Linked In reading content related to your industry, stop. You are doing yourself a favor. However, if you find yourself spending hours at a time watching cute cat videos, then you might want to take a look at your priorities in life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

works cited

Denny, Juliette (2017, November 22). Social Is Sexy: 11 Reasons Why You Need An Informal Learning Strategy. Retrieved from URL https://elearningindustry.com/informal-learning-strategy-11-reasons-need-social-sexy-70-20-10-model

Malamed, Connie (2016 ?). Social Learning Is A Way Of Life – Conversation with Marcia Conner. Retrieved from URL http://theelearningcoach.com/podcasts/29/?utm_source=linkedIn&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialWarfare