Are you just consuming content or now creating it as well

Are you just consuming content or now creating it as well?

Sharing our thoughts online is becoming easier than ever. Blogging and Youtube is no longer the default way to share thoughts and content. The rise and popularity of Snapchat stories, Periscope and Facebook Live have given masses the opportunity to easily share ideas and thoughts – i.e content. As content sharing platforms are becoming even more readily used what will the impact be on the future of learning?

The transformation of traditional learning

Not only are more people sharing content per se but also there is more activity in the learning space with individuals creating courses and learning materials via the route of ebooks, webinars, online seminars, videos, podcasts and other audio platforms. There are more individuals who are sharing their thoughts via online courses with the rise in usage of platforms such as Udemy and Skillshare amongst others.

The difference between formal and informal learning is becoming more blurred ever than before with learning taking place in a variety of manners. I wrote a piece that I originally published on LinkedIn about learning from peers and how the model for learning has changed and of course, would welcome any thoughts on this as well as this article.

So where does social media fit in here?

In addition to consuming knowledge from others through coaching, mentoring and peer networking, our content consumption in the broadest sense is also heavily reliant on “social media”. We spend so much time on social media that that the messages it provides are forming the knowledge we have and seeing others create and share is influencing our habits and our norms.

The 1% social media rule is no longer valid

In the not-so-distant past, statistics demonstrated that only 1% of the users created new content, 9% engaged in some respect possibly by “liking” or “sharing” and the rest just observed or lurked.

More recent statistics are showing a shift and suggest figures are more like 90% ‘lurking’ and 10% creation as engagers gain more confidence which is most likely because they’ve been consuming so much from others and now have so many platforms to share from. From my personal perspective, I believe the figures have shifted even more and would suggest 30% of people are creating content and sharing on the platforms discussed. This shift is certain to have a greater impact on our learning as we find more people gaining confidence to share content and ideas than ever before.

Please ‘share’ you thoughts or tweet @SafarazAli