Research into tacit knowledge sharing has consistently identified a small set of key conditions: social interaction, experience sharing, observation, informal relationships, and mutual trust. These conditions trace a long tradition from Polanyi to Nonaka, emphasising that tacit knowledge is deeply rooted in human experience and cannot be fully formalised or transferred through formal systems alone.
Recent research indicates that digital environments—especially social media—can foster these conditions. (Panahi et al., 2012). Platforms facilitate real-time interaction, storytelling, multimedia sharing, and network building, creating a rich environment for tacit knowledge exchange. From this view, social media can be regarded as a valuable facilitator of knowledge flow in distributed settings.
However, two critical limitations remain.
The first point is that these models focus on the conditions for sharing knowledge, but not on how knowledge stays valid, relevant, or alive over time. The implicit assumption is that if people interact, share experiences, and build trust, knowledge will naturally keep its value. In practice, knowledge remains useful only through continuous testing, reinterpretation, and reintegration through practice. Without ongoing socialisation, explicit knowledge becomes disconnected from reality and begins to decay.
The second limitation is more fundamental.
Digital interaction is not the same as face-to-face experience. It lacks the richness of context, embodiment, and shared environment where much tacit knowledge is created and shared (Malcolm, 2025). Subtle cues—hesitation, tone, physical demonstration, timing, and situational awareness—are often diminished or completely lost. Observation becomes partial. Dialogue becomes restricted. Trust may develop, but it tends to be thinner, more fragile, and less rooted in shared experience.
From a SECI perspective, this matters deeply.
Socialisation isn’t just about interaction; it’s about shared experiences in context. When this shifts to mediated communication, the quality of tacit exchange alters. Externalisation still happens through discussion and artefacts, and combination can be sped up via digital platforms. However, internalisation—learning through doing, observing, and participating in real situations—is weakened when disconnected from practice.
This helps explain a broader pattern observed in organisations.
Documentation might increase. Communication could speed up. Platforms might grow in number. Nonetheless, tacit ability can still diminish. Similar to soil degradation, the surface might seem intact while the underlying fertility is lost.
The message is clear. Social media and digital platforms can facilitate knowledge exchange, but they cannot, on their own, maintain the conditions needed for deep learning and renewal. Knowledge stays alive only when it is continuously linked to practice through rich socialisation—often rooted in shared, real-world experience.
Malcolm, R. (2025). Adapt, Survive and Flourish. Green Hill Publishing.
Panahi, S., Watson, J., & Partridge, H. (2012). Social media and tacit knowledge sharing: Developing a conceptual model. World academy of science, engineering and technology, 64, 1095–1102.