What Is User-Generated Content?
The content can now be provided through different learning formats so that learners can better grasp it. There is now the concept of social learning where the user publishes content that can also be learned by others. Social learning is a form of an open platform where everyone can publish and read content. In the case of sales training, the users will learn from the content published on the LMS. However, in the content setup, the user will also generate content which will make sure that it can be accessed by others. Users can provide content learning via social networking websites to users. This kind of User-Generated Content consists of the experiences of the user and their ideas. The social discussion can be differentiated into two types, synchronous and asynchronous. The synchronous kind of learning involves video conferencing and asynchronous learning involves emails and forums.
Generally, User-Generated Content is content published by the user. It can consist of videos, testimonials, pictures, and tweets. In this form of content, the user is promoting the content rather than the company. This kind of User-Generated Content is shared by brands on their social media handles. The User-Generated Content has acquired importance, like in the case of Instagram bloggers. It has the following advantages:
- It can include extra information for training.
- There can be tips given by some knowledgeable users to solve issues.
- It can offer different perspectives of employees working in the same organization on eLearning material.
- The learners can share research about the same topic with others.
Advantages Of User-Generated Content
Earlier, L&D professionals were required to formulate content given to them by Subject Matter Experts. Now, organizations are making sure that Subject Matter Experts come up with interesting content and share it with learners.
This content can be made like professional content. The users can search this content and find information on topics required by them.
There are other advantages also:
- This kind of content can add to the formal training of users.
- There can be the use of SMEs to ensure that the assets can be created in the company.
- The content can be shared with the other employees on the intranet.
- This kind of content is quite useful in the corporate world where experience is more useful for users as compared to theory. It has become quite useful in formal learning.
What Are The Advantages Of This Content For Organizations?
Sharing content this way is quite beneficial for the learners. The learners are indeed able to share content with their friends.
- They get appreciated for their knowledge.
- The content is completely real and important because it includes experiences. It includes real-world scenarios. Such content can be quite useful for employees for dealing with external forces. When dealing with problems in the external world, employees can easily refer to such content.
- The learners are ready to give this kind of content because they want to be acknowledged for their knowledge. The employees don’t have to be motivated or given a speech to share this content.
- User-Generated Content can be an important source of training for employees. However, you can implement it in all steps before it is adopted finally.
User-Generated Content is quite useful for organizations because all the talks and discussions that happen around the water cooler are now published on the web.
Conclusion
When employees talk about some information on the World Wide Web, they make sure that others are also able to follow them. The learners who read the content of their peers on the internet are influenced quite easily. They are able to make better decisions. It's important that likes and comments are activated in such content so that poor quality content does not get uploaded. The employees will let you know about the quality of the content with their engagement.
User-Generated Content commands a lot of interest. It can be used to update real-world eLearning content.