There is a trend to use existing social media (Facebook, Discord, Reddit, Quora, Instagram) to create a social learning group in which members collaborate and share knowledge with each other. So, I’ve visited some of these groups that might interest me in instructional design, classic literature, and writing fiction. Initially the posts share new information and current hot topics in the field, then they either turn to arguments or AI generated inquiries that make me wonder about how useful machine learning actually is when it comes to writing.

As a writer I am not looking for a list of literary techniques used to create tension in romance and mystery novels. (I believe the better term for these is tropes.) I am looking for more complex and nuanced information. When I search social media related to creative writing I want to uncover the changes that are occurring, individual’s experiences, and even the threats to this field. I also appreciate post about the history of fiction. Accounts of former authors, if these are realistic and true, bring me back to earth. Writing plays, poetry, short fiction or novels has often been a precarious and exhausting career.

Despite the number of people that merge using social media and learning this is not the same as social learning. According to Albert Bandura social learning happens when people observe others and model their behavior on what they see and hear. While much of social learning research concerns observing live people and imitating their actions, social learning also occurs from what one hears about others or sees on media. Bandura proposed that in order for someone to model their behavior on others, there had to be a payoff – something that the others gained – such as acceptance into a group. Also, social learning did not necessarily have to result in change of behavior. For example, even if I didn’t want to behave like people in a specific Facebook group I might still want to observe what they have to say.

So what does this have to do with learning on social media. First, people certainly imitate the type of content posted. I first created a Facebook page assuming it could be used to communicate with other professionals in education and creative circles. If someone voiced a concern or grievance there was a lot of sympathy, but no solutions. Many posts were copied and occasionally something was new. The personal posts that I saw on Facebook were a reflection of what people wanted their lives to be. By observing others, we start comparing ourselves. If our lives are boring, we use it to create drama. We would all like to have the kind of creativity and fame as authors in which others follow the minutia of our lives, but we don’t.

Photo by K.N. Listman