Social media is not about technology

The latest version of the Social Media Revolution by Socialnomics was uploaded to YouTube last week. Some of the statistics have been updated and there are a number of new slides. For me, the most compelling is the very first which simply reads: social media is not about technology. This is so true. I have been campaigning long and hard for several years now to drop the ‘e’ from e-learning. It’s just learning! It’s how we do things now … or at least it’s how our students do things. Social media to a digital native is as normal as pen and paper to a digital immigrant, and yet there is still resistance to the mainstreaming of social media for formal education purposes. The argument that students don’t have sufficient access to technology is starting wear a little thin. In the Sustainable Development and Competitive Advantage MBA class I delivered at Christ University in Bangalore, India, earlier this month, the students twittered about #SDCA so much, it was trending in Bangalore at one stage during the week. On the last day, without any notice, the students made videos documenting their learning outcomes, because 56 of the 57 people in the class either had video capability on their hand held device or on their laptop.

The Social Media Revolution

This video clip accompanies the new book which came out last month entitled: Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business by Erik Qualman. It is interesting that some of the feedback commentary I’ve seen suggests that, while the video is good, there is some doubt over the veracity of the statistics cited. I guess one has to read the book to be sure of this. Alternatively, one could check the list of references here. The primary focus of the book — which is available on Kindle, of course — is how social media is impacting upon the way people conduct business. The issues raised, however, might equally apply to the way we deliver education.