Social Media: Shaping the Future of Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services

"The society - the rural people, the field level extensionists, farmers - do not read journals; they read blogs, watch YouTube and use Facebook and Twitter and these are the mediums that reach them effectively. These platforms provide incentives to every actor to communicate online forming networks and initiating development."

In an effort to understand the perception agricultural extension stakeholders have towards use of social media in agricultural extension and advisory services (AEAS) and how they are using it to communicate with clients, the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS) conducted an online survey during February 11 to May 31 2015. As noted here, agriculture sector professionals are increasingly using social media to form networks and disseminate information, with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and blogs the major platforms. Strategies and guidelines need to be developed to make social media an integral part of AEAS, and with this objective, this global survey was conducted.

An example given in the report of how social media can be used to bring farming and entertainment together to create awareness about agriculture is the Peterson Farm Bros. – three brothers from Kansas, United States (US) who shot to stardom after creating a viral parody video of the pop song "I am sexy and I know it" by LMFAO called "I am Farming and I grow It" (9.4 million views) and then "Farmer Style" (16 million views) to the tune of "Gangnam Style" on YouTube. They designed these videos to educate the general public about the everyday life of US farm families; their more recent video initiative "Life of a Farmer" is also designed to promote positive discussions about modern agricultural practices and consumer concerns and to engage youth in the farming lifestyle. Their Facebook page and YouTube channel are popular, as are the individual tweeter handles of the brothers, WordPress blog, and Instagram accounts through which they communicate with people across the globe. Some other prominent examples of use of major social media platforms in agriculture are given in Table 2 in the report. Farmers are becoming more and more innovative in using social media, and "felfies" (farming selfies) trending across social media platforms are a good example. Farmingselfie.com collects all the recent felfies from around the world to showcase rural farm lives across. These examples show the increasing interest and number of users of social media platforms in agriculture from the grassroots, as well as the increasing audience for agricultural information throughout the globe. The use of platforms is dependent on the users, region, and economic status (as internet-enabled devices and data usage are still costly affairs for many), but with increased reach of internet and increased use of social media platforms, the opportunities for "agvocacy" (the combination of two words 'agriculture' and 'advocacy', which is about the representatives of agriculture proactively telling their story) are, according to the authors, significant.

A total of 229 respondents from 62 countries participated in the GFRAS survey, with 78.5% of them hailing from developing countries. The report shares the results, focusing on findings such as personal details of the respondents, social media participation, attitudes toward social media in AEAS, and organisational use of social media in AEAS. Facebook was found to be the most popular social media platform used by AEAS actors. Overall, the survey found that social media is a very useful tool in agricultural extension and rural advisory services. To quote one respondent, "social media is not only a tool for reaching large audiences; it is also an opportunity to develop relationships." The major activity on social media was searching for news and events and sharing information. Reaching clients (77.4%) was also a major use of social media in AEAS. Social construction of information (development and publication of information socially by the users) was considered the most important feature of social media (95.1%). Ninety-five percent of the respondents believed social media can play an important role in bridging the gap between stakeholders in agricultural innovation systems (AIS). The greatest strength of social media as reported here is the democratised information that is created and also made accessible widely without any conditions.

Weaknesses and challenges are outlined. For instance, a major impeding factor for social media use was the lack of authenticity of information shared online. Furthermore, training in social media use was uncommon, and 71% of the respondents said they need such training. If and when there was training conducted by the respondents' organisations, it mainly focused on the specifics of different social media platforms and awareness creation on the use of social media in agricultural extension. But on an organisational level, social media is still not given much importance by higher authorities, and social media policy restricts rather than encourages its use. Also, weak or non-existent connectivity in rural areas, high cost of data charges, illiteracy of clients, and low participation and lack of interest of clients are reported to be major problems.

Major issues that were identified from an extensive literature review and the global survey are:

• There is a lack of skill and competency among extension personnel; it is a major reason behind minimal use of social media by field level extensionists. Proper awareness and training programmes need to be conducted to address the needs.
• Organisational guidelines need to be encouraging towards employees' use of social media to communicate with clients maintaining professionalism.
• Physical infrastructure is a must for translation of information into practical use.
• Social media can be very helpful in knowledge management for rural users.
• A positive attitude towards social media is important for using it, and this needs increased awareness and training programmes.
• Social media is all about user engagement, and as long as rural users are not engaged in conversations, it will not be of much help to anyone.

The authors of the report argue that, to overcome the hurdles that are hindering the use of social media in agriculture, there needs to be a multi-pronged approach at individual, institutional, infrastructural, and policy levels. While individual use needs to be increased, organisations need a more positive attitude towards social media. Infrastructure needs to be provided in rural areas to put information into use with policy support at political level. They say that social media has high potential to change the face of rural areas for good, but the actual benefits accrued depends on the potential tapped into by agricultural stakeholders. "Further research into actual impact of social media on rural development and then scaling up are needed at local and global level."