The simple creation of content and access to platforms will not ensure success with social media for learning. You will need to spend some time getting ready, linking the tools to other learning moments, and measuring your online success. 

Getting Ready to Use Social Media 

When choosing a social media tool, those that are accessible and familiar to participants should take preference. If this is not the case, you must spend more time preparing for the learning process by selecting the ideal platform. 

Before you ask people to use the tools, you need to be sure they are working well. For smaller initiatives, you may be inclined to just see what happens, but failure will still lead to all-around demotivation. If tools and processes are new for learners, some education on their use may be required. Be sure to mention early any tools that will be used, describing expectations and the perceived benefits of the approach. In initial communications, include links that allow direct access without learners having to search for the tool themselves. Also give clear instructions on how to use new tools. Instructional videos may be available online for this purpose. 

Making the Link to Social Media 

You’ll need to make the extra effort to connect social media–based activities to more traditional learning processes. Although some of the following six efforts will become less important in the long term, they are still considered good practice. 

1. Be social media–friendly in class. When you introduce or close topics, provide tweetable summaries that learners may want to share, or ask them to create some: “How would you summarize this learning in 140 characters?” If you are using flipcharts, make them worthy of a photo. This will motivate learners to review and share them later. 

2. When sharing content, limit its size to small chunks, which will aid in learners’ comprehension. For example, a video shouldn’t be longer than two or three minutes. If you use inklewriter to share an interactive story, don’t make it a novel; use a few short paragraphs to illustrate your point. For larger-scope learning initiatives, consider sharing the same learning content across different media to account for different learner tastes. 

3. Cross-semination is the idea of linking content together via different platforms, which will encourage learners to find and share different content. If you use a discussion group for a homework question, add a link in that discussion to other online content that will clarify the main learning points. If you post an instructional video for e-learning, use the description box to link to other content, such as a description of the module. Padlet and Pearltrees are great tools for linking everything together. 

4. It’s important to make the link between traditional offline learning moments and social media–based online moments. When in class, be clear about online expectations after class. If learners take the time to like or comment online, mention this when they are all together. Thank people for their efforts and quote things shared or discussed online. 

5. If you really want to walk the talk with social media, use the golden triangle of networking: Ask, thank, and give. If you are using a discussion forum to support learning, ask specific context-driven open questions, or ask learners to search for and share a reference. When they do either of these things, be sure to thank them with a like or a comment, as well as verbally during in-class learning moments. This is an opportunity not only to show you care, but also to take the conversation further. Be sure to share more yourself, whether it is a reference or simply giving your opinion on what is being said. These activities will encourage learners to also ask, thank, and give.

6. Finally, games are a good way to encourage learners to use the tools. In addition to using points, badges, and leaderboards for sharing, incorporate elements of challenge and self-expression. Set up a social media– based content treasure hunt, use the team-based “Space Race” in Socrative, or have participants create a simple, fun online profile for longer-term learning initiatives (with an avatar) using Padlet. 

Measuring Success 

The last key to success is the continuous follow-up and measurement of online learner activity. This does not replace standard tools for evaluation of learning success, but you will get some metrics on tool adoption.

The most obvious online measure is traffic. If you have a password-protected blog post that only a limited number of people can access, check to see how many times it was viewed. With a private YouTube video, you can be reasonably sure that 10 views equals 10 learners; with a public video, hits may have come from elsewhere. If you use Padlet or community-based tools such as LinkedIn, Yammer, and Facebook, a comment or post will tell you that someone visited the site. But absence of such posts does not mean other learners didn’t look at the site. 

The second thing to measure is the content in comments or discussions. By taking the time to read through what is written and shared, you will see what participants think of the content, as well as what knowledge they acquired online and offline. However, if participants are talking about topics unrelated to the content, don’t worry too much—they are still sharing and that is a good thing.

Finally, look for continuity between comments and sharing. Are people extending one learner’s comments with more discussion? This may show real interest in that particular topic. Do people reference other people’s content or comments in their own sharing? This could indicate more traffic than you initially estimated, as well as real interest in the topic. 

Editor’s Note: This post is excerpted from the TD at Work, “Improving Formal Learning with Social Media” (ATD Press, 2015), which is featured in the new collection Learning Technologies Digital Collection.