Social media seems to be all the rage right now. Is it really possible to infuse social media into a virtual world space? Would it be beneficial or detrimental? I guess it would all depend upon the context- many virtual worlds already encompass social media aspects, whereas serious virtual worlds may not be the ideal training ground to implement social media into the mix. Can virtual worlds really compliment social media? Well that is still up for debate. I believe it all boils down to context. Majority of companies would loathe for their employees to login to a virtual world for training and then rather than training up, pass the time away by updating their Facebook status. “Supposed to be training but thought I would update everyone on my life’s happenings instead. Chris is doing well and the children are growing up sooo fast…” Communication and collaboration are all nice things to have within a virtual world space, but they certainly are not a necessary piece of the puzzle when utilizing a virtual world for training/ learning….or, are they?
Sure a handful of social ‘virtual’ worlds exist currently, such as Vivaty and Habbo Hotel as just a few examples. Rumor has it that the former is still searching for a viable business plan…if it were easy, everyone would be doing it, right?! Incorporating social media into training has been talked about for some time- but would it actually be useful or seen as disruptive to the learner/ trainee. Is there a misconception about virtual worlds, that they are already a social networking opportunity? Although collaboration is brought up quite often in virtual worlds, bringing your live Twitter or Facebook stream into the virtual world training environment could lead to more distraction than anything else. While many companies are enacting social media policies across the board for employees, some are encouraging their employees to utilize social media outlets while on the clock (hey, free marketing, well almost). Sure the real-time experience is cool, but is it really worth the inherent risk of a company’s reputation being tainted without having big brother watching what is coming through the social media channels?
I believe the potential is there, it just has thus far been untapped. 3D virtual social networks may be on the horizon, but only time will tell as to their success. Sure, real time interaction is cool and all but it can also be seen as a distraction when applied to specific training/ learning environments. So let’s keep social virtual worlds in a different category for now…
So here is your social media primer, short and sweet. It seems like everything has gone social! From social media and networking to social learning, the entire world has become more social! I run across write-ups and advice daily on how to become more immersed in social media (i.e. tweet more, gain more followers, sign up for more social networking sites, etc.). But can this all be worth it, or is it all just a passing fad? Fad I think not, my belief is that social media is here to stay. However I do see changes within the social media sphere, currently it seems like there is every possible Twitter application out there- most will fade and the bigger players (i.e. Tweetdeck, Seesmic) will remain.
This addictive social and immersive media offers a little something for everyone. Everything from national brand names to small Mom and Pop businesses are jumping on the social media bandwagon. For the most part, social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter are growing in user base and daily use. Yet you also see some conflicting stats (especially for Twitter) that show some never log back in once signing up for the service. Sure social media can be foreseen as an over-hyped topic, but it is here to stay!
Look for Part 2 of this post: Virtual Worlds…Do They Mix with Social Media?
My Grandmother used to be a fruitcake-making junkie each year when the holiday season rolled around- many friends and family would graciously accept then turn right around and regift “Grandma’s famous homemade fruitcake.” So this got me thinking- social media tools are a lot like a fruitcake. Although thought, care and a little love may initially be baked in, the end result is nuts and the weird fruit candy-like things. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. are the social media kitchens, but often at the end of the day, it’s still the same fruitcake!
Some almost relevant tidbits you might enjoy… Online communities and social networks are becoming more and more mainstream, a part of our everyday lives (both personal and professional). So here is a scary stat: With the ever growing size of Facebook’s 300-million active users, if Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth most populous in the world.
So in reality it’s fitting how the term ‘fruitcake’ can also reference a crazy person. Every time I see the commercial for Verizon selling phones where the parents and kids are on the back porch and Dad is tweeting: “Sitting on the back porch,” I chuckle to myself about how true this is with some social media updates today. Although I have carefully handpicked the people I follow on Twitter I still see random tweets like “sitting on the plane waiting to take off” or “going out to Mexican food with the girls.” Although these tweets do depict an activity- are they really relevant? I tend to want to follow people that have the same interests as I do- although I have not met most of them face-to-face I can tell a little bit about them just in the way that they tweet. So on a whim I decided to try posting a ‘pointless’ tweet and see what the reaction was. Although there was no reaction after I pressed the ‘tweet’ button, I felt like I had jipped my followers (sorry, loyal followers!)… Here I was, yet another person in cyberspace that had posted a tweet with no real value and was in fact, pointless…who knows I’ll probably see it re-tweeted soon…wish I liked fruitcake…
With the convergence of social networking on the rise- I must look at the question: Can Twitter really transform the way we train & learn?
A recent article in the online edition of the Wall Street Journal outlined a few key points of Twitter use that really provides relevancy.
• Regional emergency preparedness organizations are looking at Twitter as a way to reach millions of people during a disaster.
• NASA is using it to regularly update interested parties about the status of space shuttle flights.
So back to the question: Will Twitter transform the way we train people? Probably not but it does allow for collaboration and real-time information/news updates; more mission-oriented than training. Clearly there is value in ‘tweeting’ for first responder Incident Command that needs to reach a large audience when a large disaster occurs. But if you look at it from the standpoint of real training apps, well, not so much. This doesn’t mean that we won’t continue to search for Twitter training apps, but right now we’re coming up dry. But Twitter certainly is interesting…
And now even a real-time Twitter sentiment search is available- yes, I have always wanted to search for all the happy people on Twitter ?
Active in a number of key simulation and training markets, Visual Purple offers you the possibility to change the way people train, through its state-of-the-art technology platforms in Virtual Worlds, Embedded Training and Decision-Based Simulations. Learn more...
