March 25th, 2009 by Learning Systems
One challenge of using Twitter is acquiring “followers” who add you to read your tweets. Within a classroom or school that uses an LMS, or a company training program or learning system, this could be neatly taken resolved. Each member could add everyone else to create a members-only bubble.
One idea, for those willing, is to create a collaborative learning system and hub for educators themselves. Installing TweetDeck, teachers can be prepped on how to use Twitter features including message length, retweets, DMs, replies, hash tags, etc. Conventions can also be established for search terms (those items in tweets preceded by the # symbol).
The key is encouragement without pressure. Many see the inclusion of web 2.0 technologies in learning systems as unnecessary and gratuitous, or a waste of time. When a shiny new tool is made obligatory for people who don’t want it, the fun is lost.
March 25th, 2009 by Learning Systems
Twitter may turn out to be somewhat limited in what it has to offer company and classroom learning systems. At its best it still feels a highly-caffeinated, jumbled version of instant messaging. And at its worst, it’s trite and nurtures an addiction, as Josh Faure-Brac suggested, to “constant self-admiration.”
The Wall Street Journal wrote, “These social-networking services elicit mixed feelings in the technology-savvy people who have been their early adopters. Fans say they are a good way to keep in touch with busy friends. But some users are starting to feel ‘too’ connected, as they grapple with check-in messages at odd hours, higher cell phone bills, and the need to tell acquaintances to stop announcing what they’re having for dinner.”
On the other hand, this sense of being “too connected” could and has been said of many communicative tools, such as cell phones and instant messaging. In any case, just like Facebook and other social networking sites in LMS courses, with a little creativity, I think we could see Twitter become a learning system tool worth trying out.
March 25th, 2009 by Learning Systems
By selling the sponsorship of an “ExecTweets” site to Microsoft on Monday, Twitter announced its entry to corporate marketing and learning systems. ExecTweets is a page that compiles tweets posted by corporate executives, and features branding from Microsoft. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone wrote on a company web site that the ExecTweets learning system is operated by online advertising firm Federated Media.
“Twitter is contacted regularly by brands interested in sponsoring innovative experiences based on topics of interest,” Stone wrote. “However, our focused commitment to Twitter itself means we don’t have much time or resources to build these interesting topical experiences.”
Whether or not the deal will actually generate the amount of revenue Twitter is hoping for, the deal signals a foot in the corporate door. And possibly a greater likelihood that more LMS educators and businesses will consider trying out Twitter in their learning systems.
March 24th, 2009 by Learning Systems
As Twitter celebrates its three-year anniversary, its new deals with giant companies like Salesforce and BusinessWeek seem to hint at a sparkling future. And thanks to a new sponsorship agreement that Federated Media brokered with Microsoft, the service will begin generating funding that doesn’t come from a handful of venture capitalists.
One advantage Twitter has over social networking sites like Facebook is that users don’t have to visit the site to use its service. Its extensibility makes it more convenient and easy to integrate into corporate learning systems, customer service departments and marketing schemes.
Best Buy is another large company that has incorporated Twitter, adding feeds to its new social-media hub and learning system, ConsumersPrice.com. Users can comment on various products through Twitter, share product photos using Flickr, and receive price alerts via SMS.
March 24th, 2009 by Learning Systems
The incorporation of Twitter into corporate learning systems hasn’t happened exclusively in media companies like BusinessWeek. Salesforce has recently constructed a CRM application for Twitter.
The purpose of the Twitter-response tool is to help companies locate and assist customers who for whatever reason (like bad experiences in the past with customer service) are likelier to use the Twitter community as a learning system for product support than to call customer service. Using the Twitter-response tool, service reps from companies including Comcast, European telecom co. Orange, and Dell are able to monitor the Twitter stream for messages that mention their brand.
Salesforce’s social networking approach to customer learning systems was introduced in January, when Salesforce unveiled its Service Cloud. The Service Cloud is the new name for its customer-service app line that includes not only call centers, email, and instant messaging, but also an application to allow companies to use Facebook to find and help customers with product problems.
March 24th, 2009 by Learning Systems
Even with its recent “facelift,” Facebook will need to keep a watchful eye on microblogging sites like Twitter in the race for attention in the business world, and inclusion in corporate learning systems. Companies like Salesforce, Best Buy and BusinessWeek have now incorporated Twitter postings into their revamped websites and products.
Facebook has made sweeping attempts at redefining its functionality–mirroring Twitter, in fact–with status updates now serving as the main page. However, companies that have jumped on the web 2.0 bandwagon are trying out the latest fad–activity feeds via Twitter and other microblogging sites–in their LMSs, learning systems and marketing schemes.
BusinessWeek is using a Twitter feed in its social hub, Business Exchange. Members can create profiles and comment on stories. Comments are displayed as part of a stream and story URLs are automatically shortened. While media sites like CNN.com have incorporated Twitter updates indirectly through Facebook Connect, BusinessWeek’s direct inclusion of Twitter side-steps Facebook–a new phenomenon in the corporate world.
March 23rd, 2009 by Learning Systems
But Socialtext Signals isn’t alone in its Twitter-like functionality for company learning systems, geographically dispersed teamwork, and marketing purposes.
“There’s a lot of standalone Twitter clones out there,” says Ross Mayfield, president of Socialtext Signals. “The difference with what we’ve done is bring an integrated experience across social collaboration tools. The other ones are their own silo.”
Yammar is just one of many other services that market microblogging for company learning systems. Signals works with Socialtext’s flagship wiki product, which allows employees to collaborate on the editing and reading of documents, and interact in company learning systems. There’s Socialtext People, which builds Facebook-like profiles for the enterprise. Other social software vendors, such as Six Apart and Automatic, have also added microblogging to their existing products.
March 23rd, 2009 by Learning Systems
There are a number of microblog vendors who have tried to bring the Twitter-like experience into company learning systems. The public affairs firm Davies uses Enterprise 2.0 vendor Socialtext, a company that takes web 2.0 technologies and tailors them for business learning systems.
Enterprise 2.0 recently released Socialtext Signals, a product that allows employees to share short messages and keep each other updated on business activities such as editing a document, heading out for a business trip, or meeting with clients.
Socialtext Signals can also aid employees across geographical spaces who are collaborating using an LMS or other company learning systems.
