New Research- Do Social Media Support 'Social' Change?

In a recent article published in the peer reviewed proceedings of the Canadian Communication Association Dr. Ataharul Chowdhury and Dr. Helen Hambly-Odame explore the topics of social media and social change. By critically analyzing the change processes in agriculture and rural development they found that having access to new media does not necessarily actively encourage social and collective change.

Find the article here.

Social Media Possibilities for Farmers

Get Farming Australia looks at the future of farming and sees social media as major tool that can be used by all famers to grow their business and learn. The article states that “in the United States, 76 percent of farmers between the ages of 18 and 35 use social media to share knowledge, connect with consumers and promote their business”. Still in many countries the possibilities that social media has for farmers is still not fully realized, but with over 1 billion people on Facebook and 554 million people using Twitter worldwide the trend is certainly engagement, knowledge sharing, and customer outreach.
See the full article here.

Social Media Connects Rural Women in Australia

In this brief but telling article from Australia the new head of Australian Women in Agriculture uses the ease of connection with social media to stay in touch with other members. These new connections are hoped to foster more conversations across expansive geographies to provide support for women in rural areas.

RuralTube

Poor connectivity and population decline in rural Ontario present challenges to those who reside there as well as governments and other stakeholders. Before we can consider using social network technologies and mobile phone technologies to bridge the rural/urban or rural/global divide it would be prudent to discuss what it is that makes rural Ontario rural? Is it a lifestyle that is idealized or is it opportunity for economic growth? As reported on the Canadian Rural Research Network’s blog current affairs show, The Agenda, looked at these themes through interviews and a Google+ Hangout. 

Read the article and watch the videos here.

Investing in High-Speed Broadband in Rural Ontario

Social media and social networks require investment in infrastructure to accommodate growth in communication and education. In rural Ontario having access to high speed broadband networks will boost social connectivity between the small towns that populate rural areas and the global population beyond. At the moment, as Serge Lavoie writes on the Rural Ontario Institute’s blog, Ontario is lacking in investment in broadband networks that would potentially reverse the population drain currently happening in rural communities. 

Read the full article here.

Finland and Vodacom Tanzania Partner to Help Farmers

Allowing farmers to be able to access information through mobile phone use has become more important in a globalized economy. In Tanzinia the Finnish government, Finnish company Sibesonke, and mobile service provider Vodacom Tanzania have come together to help farmers access information through the use of their mobile phones. The Head of Brand and Communication at Vodacom Tanzania, Kelvin Twissa, explained that his company is always trying to find new ways to benefit its customers while Sibesonke CEO Uwe Schwarz described the partnership as a major step towards implementing their life-improving technology using social media and mobile phones in developing countries.Sibesonke is a spin-off of Nokia and created technology that allows interactive social networks to be used with inexpensive phones.

Read the full article here.

Using Social Media to Avoid Food Waste

Image source: http://goo.gl/ujVavO

Social media can be used to connect with others and broaden the conversation. According to this article a farm in the United States began using social media to avoid waste.

The idea arose after Nick Papadopoulos of Bloomfield Farms in California found he was repeatedly returning from markets with high quality unsold produce. After one weekend of being at the markets he began to promote what produce was left using Facebook and selling it at discounted prices. It turned out to be such a success that that Papadopoulos has created a blog-like website to connect with even more people called CropMobster.

With CropMobster many farmers and grocers can contribute and connect with small businesses or charities looking for less expensive good food.

Facebook is Getting the Conversation Going

Image source: http://goo.gl/2BDOVC

Facebook has recently announced that it will begin allowing its users to connect to broader conversations or trending topics using the hashtag, already in popular use on other social media platforms. An article in TechCrunch states that the hashtag on Facebook will involve capabilities such as “searching for hashtags, clicking on hashtags that come from other services, and writing posts directly from the hashtag feed”.

With the new hashtag feature introduced on Facebook its users may be able to use the social media site more like Twitter is used. On Twitter, using hashtags, you have the ability to begin conversations or even include yourself in conversations on topics far beyond your conventional social group. The result of this is, at the users discretion, they have a voice in either broad topics or niche topics where without the hashtag they would not have this option so easily available to them.

Using the Internet to Connect Potato Growers

Recently Dr Chowdhury was quoted in in an article about the current and future social media use amongst potato farmers. The article was published in the Top Crop Manager/Potatoes in Canada - a widely circulated crop magazine which focuses on the needs of potato growers in Canada.

The need for communication amongst potato growers is an integral part of a successful agriculture operation, but it is claimed that the 'use of digital media, especially social networking media is only a recent development in the industry'. The article states that the Potato Variety Management Institute (PVMI), based out of Oregon in the United States, launched an online forum in 2012 for its users to exchange thoughts related to the industry. PVMI is tracking the use of the forum and reports promising initial numbers with usage slowly growing. Also, in 2012 the United Potato Growers of Canada (UPGC) updated their website and began tracking the number of hits it receives. In the article Kevin MacIsaac, the UPGC general manager, says that he is unsure to what degree potato growers are using internet-based communication tools, but does see the potential benefits of engaging through Twitter and YouTube in the future. He also sees growing use of smartphones in the industry and the potential use of smartphone apps to keep a close eye on market prices- something that other agricultural sectors, he says, are ahead on.

Social media can be a great way to actively locate and share information, but how will these digital tools be used for communication in the agricultural sectors? How are people in agriculture using social media right now? What is the digital literacy level of agricultural producers? What is the future of social media use in agriculture? How do the media influence learning among different actors? What is the role of social capital/relationship building? In an age where many aspects of our daily lives and workflow are transitioning to an online and virtual format these are important questions to ask.