I posted this post regarding ROI on Social Learning on BlogCascadia as well. Karen Pierson added this comment:
What I find especially intriguing about the article you referenced is the idea that social computing (or learning in our case) is about relationships. And, you can’t quantify the value of what is learned in the context of interacting with others.
In a related article the author discusses the idea of measuring “social capital” or the number of connections between people. So does that mean the more “connections” I have on LinkedIn, the more valuable I am? Or is it what is implied in those connections (e.g. people who actually have information or knowledge that is meaningful to me)?
Great question. And, while writing up a response, this is what I came up with:
A ‘Connection’, in and of itself, does not mean anything except possibilities. If you think of a screwed in lightbulb, there is a connection there. At that point it is only worth the possibility. The real value comes when the connection is used, through electricity, and the light functions.
I see three tiers of values assigned to connections:
1) The CASUAL connection (aka a ‘friend’ on a social network): You do not understand, and very possibly not intend to use, the value of this connection. But, if needed, you can, for example, blast a question away to a whole lot of these connections and hope you get a valuable answer.
2) The VALUED connection: You understand the value of this connection. Although maybe not formal or used every day, this connection might hold some information / skill / pathway into an area you are interested in or may be in the future.
3) The VALUABLE connection: This connection was either a CASUAL or VALUED connection used and thus it becomes VALUABLE.
Given that, if you don’t have the Casual connections it is more difficult to have Valuable connections.
There are some people who have a TON of Casual connections and have always casually wondered if they were any good. When I finally decided to think about it, that is what I came up with. What do you think? What is the real value of connections?
