Digital Badges

 Digital badges offer a way to gamify learning. Everyone is looking for a way to make learning more interesting and increase engagement, and badges offer a 'concrete' incentive to do so. Most of the time, these badges have no bearing outside the context of the community that implements them, but that doesn't diminish the desire to achieve them. 

Personally, I see badges in two main formats online: in Reddit and Facebook. Facebook communities can use "Top Fan" badges to notate who engages the most. Reddit can create different 'flairs' for users based on what kind of contributions they make. I have had a 'Top Fan' badge once, when I was liking a lot of a community's content. I don't think I currently have any other badges of note. 

Ultimately, I can some up the reading with this: Wanna increase your engagement in a low cost way? Create badges for users to earn. 

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