Social Media as Collaborative Media in Workplace Learning

Organizational leaders and managers may emphasize the word social in social media and fear that the tools will be used purely for nonproductive, non-work- related activities. However, when using these tools, the importance of the contexts of work versus personal cannot be overlooked. Already, employees have drawn a distinction between social media tools by using Facebook for personal matters and LinkedIn for professional matters, for instance. Therefore, to prevent such misunderstanding or misconceptions, the term collaborative media has been proposed to describe any social media tool used for productive work-related endeavors and efforts, specifically within the context of workplace learning. By changing the term social media to one that more accurately describes the intended purpose of these tools, it is more likely that organizational leaders and managers will consider the implementation of these tools to foster informal learning among organizational members.

If the tools are accurately framed as those used for collaboration on projects, the quick retrieval of information to assist with a problem, or the broadcasting of pertinent organizational knowledge, such leaders will be more apt to view collaborative media as useful and necessary tools supporting organizational objectives and goals rather than a means for distraction and decreased productivity.