Social Media Building Blocks

I found this week’s Kietzmann article about the building blocks of social media very interesting!  Never before have I found myself noting the individual facets of the social media users’ experience, or the focus on different facets that varying social media outlets place.  The article does a great job of demonstrating this and outlining how firms might maximize their social media functionality.  I’ll admit though, that I am having a hard time relating this back to education as yet… (although I suppose that’s why we are in this class, yes?!).  I can see how differing social media outlets are engaging users, creating relationships among them, and allowing them to contribute or adjust content.  I can see how and why firms might want to take advantage of social media and the diverse ways that platforms may impact users. 

Maybe if we simply lift this honeycomb framework from the context of social media and applied it to a learning community, it would make more sense to me?  Facilitating the building blocks found in this article could result in a more flexible learning environment and experience for students or trainees that we are attempting to engage.  The functionality among the blocks seems to be successful in a number of social media platforms, so why wouldn’t it work in a learning setting?  The focus can vary, as demonstrated by Kietzmann; perhaps some courses or training modules focus on learner identity, some on sharing, some on presence.  The bottom line is that consumers are utilizing these platforms, so they do potentially bring a proven track record to the field of learning and performance!