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.

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.

Learning a Language Through YouTube

Using social media networks to communicate is continually offering more ways to connect. This Mashable article explains that using social media networks not only to expand your virtual social networks, but also to learn a language as well.

Using YouTube can be a great way to gain the benefits of learning another language and being introduced to another culture through communication. YouTube allows for the casual viewer to gain a basic introduction or for the focused student to engage and begin to learn word and phrases.

The possibility of YouTube for learning is rooted in its ability to be accessible and flexible- it is free too!

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.

New Article Published: Transforming roles of agricultural extension agency...

In their recent article published in The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, Dr Chowdhury and Dr Helen Hambly Odame raised several critiques on roles of agricultural extension agency in facilitating and strengthening agricultural innovation in Bangladesh. The authors concluded that the public-sector agency encountered several challenges in supporting innovation as a collective action that would satisfy needs of different stakeholders. The authors argue that there is a tendency of the extension agency to remain in a linear paradigm of information dissemination, and does not foresee extension methods (e.g. training, demonstration) as the facilitation of interactive learning and knowledge embedding processes. 

Based on these findings, we get some hints on how the public-sector extension agency would use the new ICT and social media for enabling innovation in Bangladesh.  In this particular case, this is plausible that extension agency (if get access to) would use social media to perform their traditional communication tasks, such as information dissemination. Nevertheless, this is an important question to ask, if we want to harness the power of new media for strengthening agricultural innovation. 
  
Article

A Knowledge Sharing Platform for Agricultural Water Management

Climate change, water scarcity, and food security are all contemporary issues whose negative effects are sensed at a global scale. Connecting those with shared interests on these topics to find solutions is becoming even more critical.

Agriwaterpedia is a website that functions as a knowledge sharing platform in an attempt to connect researchers, practitioners, students, and others. By using agricultural water management as the basis for conversation Agriwaterpedia also engages with larger concerns like climate change and food security.

Agriwaterpedia promotes freely accessible knowledge and collects articles on the topic of agricultural water management in its online library for all to use.

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.

6 Guidelines for Better Development Outcomes Using Social Media

Image source: Afrographique.

As more people in rural communities and developing countries continue to come online the option to communicate through social media becomes increasingly more viable. The dynamic and non-hierarchical properties of communication through social media tools contrasts heavily with the more traditional forms of radio and television making its use a popular choice in many contexts across the world.

If the power of social media lies in its ability to democratize communication how can you implement social media strategies to strengthen this quality?

On ICTworks Wayan Vota offers 6 guidelines for developing and implementing social media strategies.

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.

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.

"We want information and we want it now": An Interview with Siân Ringrose from the Scottish Agricultural College

Recently, we’ve had the pleasure of meeting with Siân Ringrose of the SAC, an institution that strives to engage in innovation and knowledge-creation for the development of land-based industries and rural communities in Scotland.

Through her work as a policy analyst and researcher with the SAC, she has gained an extensive background in the effectiveness and barriers involved in knowledge transfer activities and communication strategies that promote innovation amongst farmers. In May 2012 Siân launched the Rural Policy Centre, SAC on the social media application Twitter (@RuralPolicySAC).

In order to gain a better understanding of why agricultural organizations adopt social media technologies and the strengths and weaknesses involved in social media use, we approached  Siân for a brief, informal interview. To our delight, she accepted.Siân discussed many different factors involved in the reason for her Twitter use, as well as the issue of organizational adoption of social media applications. Speaking with Siân provided an interesting glimpse into the organizational, political and social factors involved in the social media use of actors in the agriculture and rural sectors.

When asked why Twitter was chosen as the starting point for the SAC’s ease into social media, Siân stated that “knowledge mobilisation should be seen as more of a product...and we need to sell it. And how you sell it is by using Twitter”. She went on to describe how the short and real-time communication method employed on Twitter is ideal for sharing information quickly. Siân went on to say “We’ve gone from a three-second world to a one-second world. We want information and we want it now, and I think that’s one of the reasons people use Twitter”. 

Amongst the fast-paced feel on Twitter, Siân described other benefits of using Twitter in an organizational capacity. For instance, she discussed how Twitter is an efficient and easy way to network with other individuals and organizations that share similar interests, as well as keeping up with relevant issues that relate to the SAC’s work. For example, Siân discussed how she stayed informed about the dairy industry issues while away from Scotland through a movement on Twitter called “SOS Dairy”, a page dedicated to sharing information, news and events concerning dairy farmers and dairy prices in Scotland.Although Siân remained an avid supporter of Twitter, she did experience a few challenges on the route to social media adoption. “I think generally you find in research organizations that senior levels may not fully understand social media... Our senior levels were concerned about public image-whether or not you say the right thing- that goes back to being careful about what you say. But I think we kind of got over that by saying you can’t have this corporate look, you’ve got to just go for it! Just be human.” 

Siân also described the lack of multiple social media adoption (if any) by organizations as a “capacity issue”. She went on to discuss how she alone is spearheading the social media use in the Rural Policy Centre, along with her other responsibilities as a policy-analyst and researcher. Despite the challenge of finding the time and resources to use social media, Ringrose continues to support social media adoption in agricultural organizations.

“I think if you can disseminate your work and information in as many varieties and communication tools as possible, then great! Farmers and organizations are getting more and more social media-orientated...It [using technology] is coming through in the next generation. It’s the future.”

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

"Ontarian Agri-food and Rural Development Stakeholders Want to See Social Media as a Communication Strategy":

Findings of a Recent Study Conducted by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

It seems as though the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) is increasingly interested in understanding the social media use of stakeholders in the agriculture and rural sector; a curiosity that is shared by the researchers of the ongoing study presented on this blog. OMAFRA recently conducted an online survey, created by a leading Canadian marketing research corporation Ipsos Reid, regarding the web browsing and social media usages and attitudes of various actors in the agriculture sector. The online survey, hosted on the OMAFRA website between February 6 and March 5, 2012, was completed by a total of 439 individuals, many of whom identified as farmers, farm employees, agri-students, agri-business personnel, and members of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.  

The survey reveals an increasing trend of social media use as a communication strategy by the agri-food and rural development professionals in Ontario.  84% of the participants reported using social media in the past year and 73% of the participants found the social networking sites as important to their work. Twitter was the most commonly used social media application for agriculture-related purposes, such as the sharing and capturing of knowledge and information, professional networking and marketing. Following Twitter was YouTube, blogs, and agriculture-specific online social networks. Facebook was one of the least-used applications for agriculture-related purposes, but the most used for personal networking amongst the survey respondents. There is a potential scope for using these tools for business and entrepreneurship development as indicated by 87% of social media users that they would more likely to buy/use specific agri-product/service after a positive review on social media.    

The OMAFRA-supported survey also shed light on gaps in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the agriculture sector. For instance, 12 percent of respondents identified the lack of agriculture-specific “apps” as a significant drawback to their technology-use. The most significant drawback identified by the participants was the lack of social media use by governmental bodies, including the agriculture sector. With 89 percent of survey respondents in compliance, the report suggests that OMAFRA and service agencies should develop a policy to adopt ‘social media’ as a communication strategy.

The survey provides first-hand information about existing social media practices and depicts a very positive interest about social media by agri-food stakeholders. However, the study has not touched upon in-depth understanding of social media practices such as specific goals, benefits and challenges for networking, relationship building and learning by multiple stakeholders.  The findings urge to conduct in-depth analysis on these issues; a task that the ongoing study on agricultural innovation systems and social media applications by Dr. Chowdhury and Dr. Hambly Odame undertakes.