{"id":7640,"date":"2026-04-24T12:03:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T12:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=7640"},"modified":"2026-04-24T16:03:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T16:03:49","slug":"how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\/","title":{"rendered":"How Online Forums Can Boost Career Development"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nick Keppler<\/a><\/p>\n

Almost every career or profession has a subreddit or Facebook group dedicated to it. In some cases, online forums where professionals solicit and give advice, peer to peer, make for an invaluable way to learn vicariously from others, said Academy of Management Scholar Christoper Myers<\/a> of Johns Hopkins University.<\/p>\n

Myers studied a closed-member Facebook group for robotic surgeons. New devices<\/a>, such as Intuitive Surgical\u2019s Da Vinci Robotic Surgical System<\/a>, have created a new mode of surgery, where surgeons control robotic arms from a console and view the process through high-resolution cameras.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time we were doing our study, it was still new enough that you might be the only person doing robotic procedures within a 50-mile radius of where you are,\u201d Myers said, meaning that practitioners did not have a pool of colleagues physically nearby with whom to consult.<\/p>\n

\u201cFacebook provided a substitute for that,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople were able to plug into a worldwide network and get advice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many interviewed for his research saw the group \u201cas a big part of their professional development and learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

This group had some unique facets that probably made it more efficient than an average subreddit. Administrators only admitted vetted robotic surgeons. The comments section was not littered with chime-ins from random lurkers.<\/p>\n

Also, robotic surgery creates a record of videos detailing every part of the process.<\/p>\n

Surgeons could simply post them. They did not need to describe an issue in detail, a time-consuming process, and other members got an accurate, unadulterated view of the concern about which they were being queried. (Because they did not show any identifying details, these videos were seen as generally compliant with laws governing patient privacy.)<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin a matter of hours, you can have ten opinions, feedback from vetted folks,\u201d Myers said.<\/p>\n

Other career forums may be less valuable than this example, said Myers, but this type of online group of people working in a particular profession have become a permanent part of the way people build their professional knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there’s variability in how high quality the exchange can be, but I think they\u2019re increasingly a part of our lives, and as we turn to more remote work setups, these will likely take the place of kind of the water-cooler conversations that used to help us get feedback or new ideas from colleagues working on similar problems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nick Keppler Almost every career or profession has a subreddit or Facebook group dedicated to it. In some cases, online forums where professionals solicit and give advice, peer to peer, make for an invaluable way to learn vicariously from others, said Academy of Management Scholar Christoper Myers of Johns Hopkins University. Myers studied a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":7620,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,71,76,342],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[840],"class_list":["post-7640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-careers","category-communicating","category-performance","category-technology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow Online Forums Can Boost Career Development - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Almost every career or profession has a subreddit or Facebook group dedicated to it. In some cases, online forums where professionals solicit and give advice, peer to peer, make for an invaluable way to learn vicariously from others.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nick Keppler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nick Keppler\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8aff6a6e3f22d0d813c97e6aab7149\"},\"headline\":\"How Online Forums Can Boost Career Development\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-24T12:03:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-24T16:03:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":408,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"CAREERS\",\"COMMUNICATING\",\"PERFORMANCE\",\"TECHNOLOGY\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\\\/\",\"name\":\"How Online Forums Can Boost Career Development - Academy of Management Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-24T12:03:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-24T16:03:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8aff6a6e3f22d0d813c97e6aab7149\"},\"description\":\"Almost every career or profession has a subreddit or Facebook group dedicated to it. In some cases, online forums where professionals solicit and give advice, peer to peer, make for an invaluable way to learn vicariously from others.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"New devices have created a new mode of surgery, where surgeons control robotic arms from a console and view the process through high-res cameras. Source: Shutterstock\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How Online Forums Can Boost Career Development\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/\",\"name\":\"Academy of Management Today\",\"description\":\"Smarter, faster business news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8aff6a6e3f22d0d813c97e6aab7149\",\"name\":\"Nick Keppler\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Nick-Keppler-img.webp2153592ac7dfcdcd341f4f37b80f0ae0\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Nick-Keppler-img.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Nick-Keppler-img.webp\",\"caption\":\"Nick Keppler\"},\"description\":\"Nick Keppler is a freelance journalist, writer, and editor. He has written extensively about psychology, healthcare, and public policy for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, The Daily Beast, Vice, CityLab, Men\u2019s Health, Mental Floss, The Financial Times, and other prominent publications (as well as a lot of obscure ones). He has also written podcast scripts. His journalistic heroes include Jon Ronson, Jon Krakauer, and Norah Vincent. Before he went freelance, he was an editor at The Houston Press (which is now a scarcely staffed, online-only publication) and at The Fairfield County Weekly (which is defunct). In addition to journalism, he has done a variety of writing, editing, and promotional development for businesses and universities, including the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, and individuals who needed help with writing projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/nick-keppler-516747340\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/author\\\/nick-keppler\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Online Forums Can Boost Career Development - Academy of Management Today","description":"Almost every career or profession has a subreddit or Facebook group dedicated to it. In some cases, online forums where professionals solicit and give advice, peer to peer, make for an invaluable way to learn vicariously from others.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nick Keppler","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\/"},"author":{"name":"Nick Keppler","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/1b8aff6a6e3f22d0d813c97e6aab7149"},"headline":"How Online Forums Can Boost Career Development","datePublished":"2026-04-24T12:03:32+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-24T16:03:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\/"},"wordCount":408,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["CAREERS","COMMUNICATING","PERFORMANCE","TECHNOLOGY"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\/","name":"How Online Forums Can Boost Career Development - Academy of Management Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-24T12:03:32+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-24T16:03:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/1b8aff6a6e3f22d0d813c97e6aab7149"},"description":"Almost every career or profession has a subreddit or Facebook group dedicated to it. In some cases, online forums where professionals solicit and give advice, peer to peer, make for an invaluable way to learn vicariously from others.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"New devices have created a new mode of surgery, where surgeons control robotic arms from a console and view the process through high-res cameras. Source: Shutterstock"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-online-forums-can-boost-career-development\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How Online Forums Can Boost Career Development"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/","name":"Academy of Management Today","description":"Smarter, faster business news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/1b8aff6a6e3f22d0d813c97e6aab7149","name":"Nick Keppler","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Nick-Keppler-img.webp2153592ac7dfcdcd341f4f37b80f0ae0","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Nick-Keppler-img.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Nick-Keppler-img.webp","caption":"Nick Keppler"},"description":"Nick Keppler is a freelance journalist, writer, and editor. He has written extensively about psychology, healthcare, and public policy for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, The Daily Beast, Vice, CityLab, Men\u2019s Health, Mental Floss, The Financial Times, and other prominent publications (as well as a lot of obscure ones). He has also written podcast scripts. His journalistic heroes include Jon Ronson, Jon Krakauer, and Norah Vincent. Before he went freelance, he was an editor at The Houston Press (which is now a scarcely staffed, online-only publication) and at The Fairfield County Weekly (which is defunct). In addition to journalism, he has done a variety of writing, editing, and promotional development for businesses and universities, including the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, and individuals who needed help with writing projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/nick-keppler-516747340\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/nick-keppler\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":840,"user_id":12,"is_guest":0,"slug":"nick-keppler","display_name":"Nick Keppler","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Nick-Keppler-img.webp","url2x":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Nick-Keppler-img.webp"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true],"owl_elementor_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-600x400.jpg",600,400,true],"owl_elementor_team":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-350x450.jpg",350,450,true],"owl_elementor_testimonial":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/robot-surgical-system-in-hospital_cropped-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Nick Keppler","author_link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/nick-keppler\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/careers\/\" rel=\"category tag\">CAREERS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/communicating\/\" rel=\"category tag\">COMMUNICATING<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/performance\/\" rel=\"category tag\">PERFORMANCE<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/technology\/\" rel=\"category tag\">TECHNOLOGY<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"By Nick Keppler Almost every career or profession has a subreddit or Facebook group dedicated to it. In some cases, online forums where professionals solicit and give advice, peer to peer, make for an invaluable way to learn vicariously from others, said Academy of Management Scholar Christoper Myers of Johns Hopkins University. Myers studied a…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7640"},{"taxonomy":"sp_smart_badges","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sp_smart_badges?post=7640"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=7640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}