Back in June, Facebook announced a new commitment to training a million US business owners in digital literacy by 2020, with it's Community Boost program, and its updated Facebook Blueprint courses, forming the key elements of its expanded push.
Now, Facebook's adding some more new training tools into the mix, with an entirely new training website and new tools to help connect job seekers with relevant assistance and opportunity.
Here's what's been announced:
First off, Facebook's partnering with Goodwill Community Foundation to help promote a new career development site called Learn with Facebook.
As explained by Facebook:
"Learn with Facebook [is] a career development site that provides an introduction to both the hard and soft skills people need to advance in today’s digital workforce. Learn with Facebook’s lessons include “Ace Your Interview” and “Manage Your Content Marketing” and are free to access. They feature case studies, insider tips and resources from industry experts."
There's a range of lessons on offer, including digital and content marketing elements, and others focused on resume building and interview prep.
Each course element is around 8 minutes long, and provides quick tips and notes to help improve your knowledge. Each element also includes questions based on the notes provided - most of the questions are fairly basic, but they serve as a good introduction to the key aspects - and all are available for free at the new website.
It's an interesting collection, with a good range of topics covered - if you're looking to polish up your knowledge, or introduce elements to people within your organization, it's definitely worth a look.
In addition, Facebook has also officially announced the launch of job listings in groups.
Facebook actually announced this last month, looking to get ahead of the holiday hiring push, but they've included it in this new announcement as part of expanded job tools.
"Today, more than 200 million people on Facebook are members of Groups they consider meaningful, and this update will allow people who may be interested and qualified to better discover open roles."
And lastly, Facebook's also updating its group Mentorship option which helps "connect people in Groups who are seeking mentorship with others in their community". The new update will make it easier for people in Groups to choose a mentorship partner based on their goals and interests.
Facebook first announced Mentorships in groups back in August, which seeks to tap into the popularity and community of groups to maximize opportunities. To utilize the option, Group admins first need to create a mentorship program for their members. Admins can choose from a variety of templates for their program, including 'career advancement', 'skill development', or 'encouragement and support'.
These are interesting additions from The Social Network. Of course, there has to be some skepticism over digital marketing training being provided by the company that stands to benefit most from the same, but Facebook would also, obviously, have access to in-depth insights and information to help educate people on such. Maybe I'd give their advice on paid social a little more scrutiny, but still, the courses are free, quick, and can help to either refresh or teach new digital skills, while tapping into the engagement of groups is also a logical step.
You can check out Facebook's new 'Learn with Facebook' website here.