Many times we are informed through our social media accounts or emails that our friends, relatives, business contacts, or even casual acquaintances have purchased some product or other from so and so seller. At times, we come to know again from the same electronic channels that some product or service is liked by our contacts. These messages are automatically circulated by the platforms where we have our online presence primarily with the objective of creating a good word-of-mouth atmosphere about the product or service concerned. These are fueled by our innate desire to brag about a status-enhancing product recently owned by us or even by our genuine desire to talk good about something that we like or admire. The online social world is about connecting people, informing the world about their likes and dislikes, spreading their opinion far and wide, sharing bits and pieces of their psychological world.

So, it is quite natural that you will expect your most satisfied students to talk highly about your courses through their social media accounts. This is the reason some learning platforms brag about social media integration as a prominent feature. But you may be disappointed to know that the students who rate your courses the best and give you five stars are so reluctant to talk about it let alone talk highly about it in their Facebook pages or other social media accounts. Are they just plain dishonest or hypocritical? No way. They do love your courses and hence do not want to tell anybody else about it, because each new student in your very promising course is one more competition for the existing student in life. Education is kind of a weapon of success in the hands of many. University students who access online resources do share notes and exchange ideas through the online platform, but that is because the students have already become each other’s competitor already and they have no choice but to collaborate for many activities.

Competition is thought of as a rivalry in which the success of one requires the failure of the other – says Monnica T Williams (PhD) in Friendly Competition.

Here is another good read from Kristi Hedges in Forbes – The Real Reason You’re Jealous of Your Friend’s Success.

So, next time you think about how to market your online courses think about your own social media presence instead of relying on the social media presence of your satisfied students.