Building communities that stick: why social learning works best in Spaces
Why building community into your LMS is the secret to lasting engagement
Research shows employees are five times more likely to ask a colleague than consult a manual — yet most platforms still treat social learning as optional.
When was the last time you learned something valuable from a colleague over a quick chat rather than from a course or a PDF? Chances are, it wasn’t that long ago. People don’t just learn by reading and watching. They learn by sharing, questioning, debating, and swapping stories. That’s the heart of social learning.
But here’s the problem. Traditional learning platforms have been great at delivering content, but terrible at creating community. There’s no hub to keep conversations alive, no dedicated space to connect with peers, and no sense of belonging.
At Thrive, we’ve always prioritised social learning. And our new feature, Spaces, continues to change the game.
Why social learning matters
We know that people learn best when they’re part of a group. When you can talk about a topic with others, ask questions, and see how knowledge applies in different contexts, learning becomes stickier. It’s no longer a solo experience — it’s reinforced by the community around you.
Research backs this up. Learners are more likely to apply new skills when they’ve had the chance to discuss and practise them with others. And from an organisational point of view, social learning reduces reliance on top-down training by letting knowledge flow laterally across teams.
But most learning platforms haven’t made space for that interaction. They’re built for delivery, not dialogue.
Introducing Spaces: Thrive’s hub for social learning
Spaces is our answer to that challenge. Think of it as a dedicated hub where people, content, and conversation come together. Every Space starts with a homepage, which can stand alone as a simple hub or expand into a tree of nested pages — up to five levels deep — to act like a micro-site.
What makes Spaces powerful is the social feed. This is a live, interactive stream of updates where learners can:
- Post updates, questions, or insights
- Share images, videos, or links
- Mention colleagues to pull them into a discussion
- Like and comment to keep conversations flowing
In short, it turns a Space from a static library into a living, breathing community.
From information hubs to thriving communities
Spaces won’t replace content. They’re there to give it a home, and surround it with useful dialogue.
For example:
- Onboarding hubs can include a social feed where new starters ask questions and learn from peers who’ve been through the same journey.
- Leadership academies can use Spaces to blend curated resources with live conversations, allowing aspiring leaders to discuss challenges and successes.
- Communities of practice — like DEI, wellbeing, or digital skills — can bring people together around a shared theme, making learning feel collective rather than isolated.
The key difference is that learners no longer log in just to consume. They log in to connect.
Why admins love it too
For admins, Spaces eliminates the headache of setting up off-platform forums or building makeshift hubs. In a traditional LMS, admins spend a lot of time building audiences or populations behind the scenes to ensure the right people get the right content. But those groups never really see each other. They don’t connect, they don’t share, and they don’t benefit from being together.
With Spaces, you can change that. Spaces lets you surface those audiences into intentional, safe groups where people can interact, collaborate, and build a sense of community. Not every audience needs a Space, but when they do, it transforms a one-way delivery of content into a shared, social experience.
And because it’s all inside Thrive, learners don’t have to juggle multiple tools. Everything they need — from content to conversations — is in one place.
The bigger picture: building belonging
Learning is only part of the story. The Spaces feature also supports culture. People feel more engaged when they’re part of a community; more connected to the organisation’s purpose.
That’s what makes Spaces more than a feature. It’s a foundation for building belonging.
Ready to build your community?
If you want your learning culture to be social and built to last, Spaces is here to help. It’s the dedicated hub your people have been waiting for — and the missing piece in turning your platform into a true community.
Explore how Spaces could work for your organisation by booking a demo with our team today.
