Dr. Chowdhury Discussing Social Media and Extension

Dr. Ataharul Chowdhury was recently featured in Top Crop Manager where he discussed the scope of this project, including the next phase. Chowdhury describes the the efforts of this project as exploring how various stakeholders in the agricultural community can use social media as a tool for communication and exchange in a useful and practical way. The next phase of the project includes surveying individuals in the rural development and agricultural community to grasp in further detail how social media is being used at the moment.

Check back in the coming weeks for more updates.

University of Guelph feature here.
Top Crop Manager article (page 34) 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.

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.

Socialnomics Presents: The Social Media Revolution 2012

"Is social media a fad? Or the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?" These are the pressing questions that Eric Qualman, the founder of the social media marketing company Socialnomics, continues to ask throughout the company's intriguing video entitled "The Social Media Revolution".These are the pressing questions that Eric Qualman, the founder of the social media marketing company Socialnomics, continues to ask throughout the company's intriguing video entitled "The Social Media Revolution".The video provides numerous and surprising statistics concerning the emergence and rapid adoption of social media platforms across the globe. Equally as important, the video highlights the potential and factual impact of social media use on the success of businesses everywhere, from the major brands to independently-owned enterprises.Judging on the fact that social media adoption has shattered every other technological-adoption in recent history, it's no surprise that agri-businesses and farmers are becoming increasingly aware of the postive business and networking outcomes from the use of social media sites.

User-Preferred Content on Social Media Sites: A Study by Performics

Simply Zesty, a marketing company that focuses on the use of social media marketing, video production and “app” development for integration by businesses recently reported on a study that analysed user patterns across social media applications.

The study, which was carried out by a marketing services provider called Performics, produced a few key findings about the type of content that users prefer to engage with on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. Thirty-five percent of surveyed users identified images as the most desired form of content when interacting with posts of friends. Status updates followed images in popularity and videos were ranked as the least preferred form of content. Similar results were found with content posted by businesses and brands. Images were once again the most favoured type of post with forty-four percent and videos, which were significantly more popular when posted by brands, placed third in popularity at thirty-seven percent.

It is increasingly acknowledged that social media applications significantly increase the potential for business success, community development and interactive communication. However, in-depth and sector-specific analyses on these social networking sites are needed in order to achieve a deeper understanding of the issues at play.

For the full article of the Performics study, visit the Simply Zesty site at http://www.simplyzesty.com