What does it look like when consumer apps enter the world of elearning?

Spotify is branching out from its current offering of music, audiobooks and podcasts hosted by questionable men, into the digital learning market. They’ve expanded with a brand new library of courses in four categories (“make music”, “get creative”, “learn business”, and "healthy living.”) The mostly video lessons have been created in association with leading digital learning brands like Skillshare, BBC Maestro, Thinkific, and PlayVirtuoso.

When you think of music streaming services, the chances are the first place your brain goes is Spotify (closely followed by its resentful sibling, Apple Music.) You may never have thought to associate it with learning, but the music giant is slowly changing the public’s perception of what they can do.

And it’s not the first consumer app to do so. TikTok has long been associated with learning – even if we don’t explicitly think of it in those terms. Rising to prominence during the pandemic, the app capitalised on a global sense of boredom brought on by stay-at-home mandates and the shutdown of workplaces across the world. In the space that boredom created, there was a need to be filled. Starved of the ability to go out and see their friends, people gravitated towards learning, self-development, and activities that could be done from the comfort of their own living room.

The weird phenomenon of pandemic nostalgia has been explored a lot in recent years, and when thinking back to 2020 you’ll likely remember a sense of camaraderie and the need to fill time: Learning to make sourdough bread (not the case for me, but I heard a lot of people did it), memorising some probably inadvisable choreography, and discovering how a sock and a claw clip could collaborate to create heatless barrel curls. And where did you learn all of this information? TikTok, obviously.

TikTok probably didn’t set out to become a sort of makeshift learning platform, but in the solitude of the pandemic, that’s what people all around the world turned it into. Eventually, TikTok themselves decided to fully embrace this learning component in a few different ways.

In Spring of 2020, they created a campaign called #LearnOnTikTok to encourage the sharing of knowledge amongst their users. Later, in 2023, they tackled the creator side of learning with TikTok Academy. The education platform aimed to school TikTok newbies on the delicate art of the three-minute video – and all the business, technical knowledge and financial knowhow that go along with that. This was an interesting move when contrasted with the company’s own internal approach to learning, and the fact that their parent company ByteDance dissolved its talent and development team in 2022.

Even more recently, WhatsApp took a seat at the table by launching its Learning Communities Centre. This feature allows like-minded users to share knowledge, learning materials and discussion from one accessible, central place. Within this, they’ve also released a Community Events feature to help members keep on top of in-person gatherings.

So with all of these consumer apps entering the learning market, what does this mean for the future of learning? Here’s our take.
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What do Courses on Spotify mean for the future of elearning?
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There is a mainstream market for learning

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When the biggest tech companies in the world are all jumping on a bandwagon, what does that generally signify? That there is mass demand for said bandwagon.

It’s therefore heartening to see that tech giants like Spotify, WhatsApp and TikTok are investing in the idea of bringing learning to anyone who has a phone.

This not only means that real dollars are being poured into learning on a global scale, but that there is an innate, human desire to learn.

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There is no such thing as the “perfect” format for learning

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We’re big fans of microlearning here at Thrive, fully embracing it on our own digital learning platform. There’s certainly good reason to be a microlearning champion, with one study finding that students who used microlearning performed 20% better than students who took a longform training session.

You only need to look at our TikTok example to understand that people respond well to short form content (understatement of the century) but completely different apps like Spotify and WhatsApp following suit shows that there are so many different ways to learn.

What’s the common thread that links them? It’s the social element. (Unsurprising, given that we’re talking about apps that are predominantly social in nature.)
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Social learning really places an emphasis on human connection, and the effectiveness of like-minded people sharing knowledge in an informal, social setting. While talk of AI supremacy is sweeping the conference circuit in L&D circles - and in many other industries - it’s so important that we don’t lose this sense of humanity that represents what learning is really all about.
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Learning needs to meet people where they are

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This new wave of in-app learning signifies that there is a real demand for learning that meets the users where they are – and our CLO Helen Marshall agrees. She had this to say:

"One thing you can be sure any learning and development professional will say at some point in their career is that learning needs to meet people where they are. It's one of the reasons a lot of learning tech falls flat: There's not enough thought given to how it's used on a daily basis.

After TikTok revolutionised video-knowledge at people's fingertips, it's no surprise to see how other platforms are following suit. Spotify's most recent 'courses' feature has opened the door for a generation of learners who now have content at their fingertips. What's significant here is that if Gen-Z will be entering the workforce with an expectation that learning happens via the apps they already use, what does this mean for learning at work?

Which leaves me asking: How do we truly meet users where they are?"

How do we meet users where they are?

Learning that travels with them is a great place to start.

We’ve always embraced this at Thrive, catering to the need for on-the-go learning with our intuitive mobile app. With all the knowledge from their desktop app contained neatly within their phones, learners can tap into learning at any time, from any place – whether that be from the shop floor or on the bus to work. Spotify, WhatsApp and TikTok are all also great examples of learning that can be taken anywhere, making this new move for Spotify all the more valuable.

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Should brands like Spotify be entering the elearning market?

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So with all of that being said, should these brands be entering the digital learning market?

In a word: Yes.

This move from Spotify proves a demand for, and commitment to, lifelong learning – whether that’s about baking the perfect sourdough loaf, dancing like a K Pop star, or understanding scientific phenomena. From a workplace learning perspective, the personal development that happens outside of working hours serves to enrich your career, and amplify the learning that happens within working hours.

We’re heartened to see that not just brands, but people all over the world, are taking learning into their own hands and phones – even if some of the dance moves are questionable.

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