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Social Media Roundup: Do You Know the Difference Between LMS and LCMS?

If you're stumbling over two of the biggest acronyms in e-learning, you're in luck. Plus: The Netflix model meets traditional magazines.

Can’t tell a learning management system from a learning content management system? You’re not alone, and today’s Social Media Roundup is here to help you distinguish between the two.

LMS vs. LCMS

For educating members and creating your own educational content, should you turn to an LMS or an LCMS? It’s a question that prompts plenty of confusion. Luckily, digital marketing pro Sarah Lugo breaks down the differences between the two systems in a post for the company’s Association eLearning blog.

By Lugo’s definition, “an LMS manages people’s interactions with learning content.”

“It gives your association one software package that delivers, assesses, and reports on online training programs. In many cases, the learner can receive his or her LMS-generated certificate at the end of a course. In short, it’s the learning delivery platform,” Lugo writes.

An LCMS, on the other hand, allows you to create your own learning content. “As a result, your association can create, store, reuse, and manage courses and training materials all in the same program,” she says.

Now that you know the difference, which should your association choose? And how can you navigate negotiations with companies providing e-learning services? You’ll have to read Lugo’s post to get the entire story.

“Remember, if a system offers content creation it’s an LCMS, even if the provider calls it an LMS,” Lugo notes. Both systems can address an organization’s educational needs and can provide associations with new sources of nondues revenue from members and nonmembers alike. (ht @digitec)

the “Netflix of Magazines”

Does your association have a print or digital publication? Then it may want to keep an eye on Next Issue Media. A subscription service similar to Netflix, Next Issue just received $50 million in funding, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“When we initially launched originally with 39 magazines, there were a lot of questions about pricing that we’ve since addressed,” Next Issue CEO Morgan Guenther told the WSJ. “Now we have to show whether magazines can become a key part of the streaming bundle, next to music, television, and movies.”

For now, Next Issue’s publications represent the heavy hitters of the publishing world, but with more than 150,000 subscribers already paying $9.99 each month, there’s a chance the company, or one like it, could expand to more niche offerings, such as association publications. (ht @perlberg)

(Bet_Noire/ThinkStock)

Morgan Little

By Morgan Little

Morgan Little is a contributor to Associations Now. MORE

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