social media

Taking Online Dairy Advocacy to the Next Level

Truffle Media Networks — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:25:08 +0000

How can you utilize social media in agriculture? What steps should you take when general media portrays farming operations in a negative light? This webinar offers some guidance, tools, and resources to help. Webinar from Dairy Management Inc. and myDairyToolkit.com, December 14, 2011.

For full screen, click on player below. Click to share video with others.

Emily Zweber will become the AgChat Foundation's first executive director

Truffle Media Networks — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:33:49 +0000

via AgChat.org

Emily Zweber (@ezweber ) will become the AgChat Foundation's first executive director. The nonprofit AgChat Foundation (ACF) educates and equips farmers with the skills needed to effectively tell their story on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, YouTube, LinkedIn and other social media services.

Zweber, an organic dairy farmer from Elko, Minn., will focus on furthering ACF's mission of connecting farmers to diverse audiences via social media platforms. She also will provide day-to-day management oversight and fundraising support.

"Emily uses social media every day on the family farming operation, so she’s a great choice for this position," says Darin Grimm (@kansfarmer), ACF president. "What began as an all-volunteer outcropping of an agricultural social media movement is growing into a professionally managed organization. Having Emily on board is a real boost."

Grimm added that ACF's highly-successful summer thought-leadership and social media training conference is slated to provide more content than ever in its third year, and that additional training programs are planned.

Emily received her bachelor’s degree in agriculture economics and international studies from South Dakota State University and is a University of Minnesota Center for the Study of Policy and Governance Humphrey Policy Fellow. Previously, she has served as the Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation’s executive director and the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation’s special programs coordinator. Emily and her husband, Tim (@ zweberfarms) , co-own and operate Zweber Farms with Tim’s parents.

Missing in Agricultural Media?

Truffle Media Networks — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:04:07 +0000

via Truffle Media

Amongst agriculture communicators, many are familiar with webinars, online media consumption, and using a smart phone. However 62% feel they are beginners or have no expertise in search engine optimization (SEO). Additionally, 64% believe social media will be more important than email in the next several years, as a way to communicate with those in agriculture. This information is from a survey Truffle Media conducted in August 2011 (PDF).

What are believed to to be most valuable communications tools in the next several years: Social media and smart phones top the list.

Ag communicators level of expertise with the following (1 = No expertise, 5 = High expertise): Many people feel comfortable with Facebook and YouTube but they do not believe they have expertise in search engine optimization (SEO) or location based apps.

Farmers, Ranchers, and Marketers Digital Expectations?

Truffle Media Networks — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:07:36 +0000

via TruffleMedia.com

With respect to new and social media, across beef, dairy, poultry, swine, and crop farmers, 30% of the people spent at least 10% of their week reading watching, or listening to industry information. 50% of the people spent 20% or more of their week reading, watching, or listening to industry information. This is from a survey series conducted Q1 2010. In a survey conducted Q2 2011, 87% of swine producers listed email as their most valuable communications tool today, with newsletters and magazine at 39% and 25%.

Survey of Agriculture Company and Organization Social Media Bases

Truffle Media Networks — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 17:51:52 +0000

In a survey of 526 agribusiness and organizations, 215 had a LinkedIn page, 146 had an organization focused Twitter account, and 252 had a Facebook page.

Public link to Google Spreadsheet

When did agriculture become a dirty word?

Truffle Media Networks — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:00:05 +0000

via Food Dialogues

When did agriculture become a dirty word? The U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance has setup a Food Dialogue Town Hall September 22, 2011. This event will be simulcast from The Newseum in Washington, D.C.; Chelsea Studios in New York City; UC-Davis Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science in California; and Fair Oaks Farm in Fair Oaks, Indiana (map). The event will be webcast and questions are be sought from the public via the Food Dialogue website and via social media (Twitter #FoodD and the USFRA's Facebook).

Americans have a lot of questions about how food is raised, the impact on our health and the health of the planet. Today it seems there are more questions than answers. Join us on September 22 for The Food Dialogues – the launch of a new effort to bring together different viewpoints on farming and ranching and the future of food to solve our most challenging problems.

AgChat on Agvocacy

Truffle Media Networks — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 21:30:21 +0000

What is AgVocacy? How can people broaden agvocacy beyond the ag 'choir'? What do you feel are some of the best ways for youth (FFA, 4H) to partake in agvocacy? AgVocacy was the topic of AgChat right on the close of the Agvocacy 2.0 conference in Nashville, TN.

Advanced Twitter

Truffle Media Networks — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 03:50:57 +0000

The links mentioned in this presentation are also listed in Truffle Media's Delicious stream.

Jeff Fowle's #ACFC11 Advanced Twitter session material can be found on Farm Bloggers.

ACFC11: Are you rocking a smartphone? If so, what type do you have?

Truffle Media Networks — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 01:27:45 +0000

Are you rocking a smartphone? If so, what type do you have? Google Maps and BatchGeo.com help provide an interactive map of where AgChat Foundation Conference (#ACFC11) attendees are from and what smartphone is used.

View ACFC11 Smartphone in a full screen map

eXtension Twitter information and related links

Truffle Media Networks — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:13:57 +0000

Twitter eXtension CoP and network accounts

Animal Manure Management, @LPELC
Bee Health
Beef Cattle
Blueberries, @bluesberrybush
Child Care, @BetterChildCare
Climate, Forests and Woodlands
Community Planning and Zoning
Companion Animals
Cooperatives
Corn and Soybean Production
Cotton
Dairy Cattle
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, @eXtensionDEI
Drinking Water and Human Health
Entrepreneurs & Their Communities
Extension Disaster Education Network, @EDENtweets
Extension Master Gardener, @exemg
Families, Food and Fitness, @FFFCoP
Family Caregiving, @FamiliesCaring
Farm Energy
Floods
Food Safety
Freshwater Aquaculture
Gardens, Lawns & Landscapes, @exgll
Geospatial Technology, @eXGeospatial
Goats
Grapes, @eViticulture
Hogs, Pigs, and Pork, @USPorkCenter
Home Energy
Horses, @eXtensionHorses
Imported Fire Ants
Military Families, @MilFamLN
Organic Agriculture, @eOrganic_CP
Parenting, @JITParenting
Personal Finance, @moneyeXtension
Pest Management In and Around Structures, @URBANIPMtweets
Plant Breeding and Genomics
Science for Youth
Small Meat Processors
Wildfire
Wildlife Damage Management
Wood Energy

Cooperative Extension, @CESValue
Ask An Expert Wranglers, @AAEWranglers

Use and share consistent hashtags so tweets can be found in search.
Hashtags in the body of a tweet are a way for people to create communities of interest around specific topics.
#coopext (Cooperative Extension, Anne Adrian is the source, registered hashtag on Twubs),
#news (source Twubs),
#cesvalue (Cooperative Extension Service value, registered on Twubs)
#eXPD (eXtension professional development, Beth Raney is the source)
#fb (Facebook, source Twubs)
#tips (source Twubs)
#NeVC (National eXtension virtual conference, registered on Twubs)
#elearning (source hashtags.org)
#climate (source hashtags.org)
@AdobeConnect

Tip: Create a list of hashtags that are in general use and relate to your eXension community or network. Example
#organic

For top hashtags used on an account, see http://tweetstats.com/.

What is a #hashtag?
A user-created standard for identifying tweets belonging to a topic. Include the tag in your tweet and other people searching for the same tag will be able to find it. Register a hashtag on Twubs at http://twubs.com/registerhashtag. From twubs.com.
The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keyword or topic in a tweet. Any Twitter user can categorize or follow topics with hashtags. From hashtag.org.
Twilert can give Twitter alerts of keywords, brand names used in tweets. http://www.twilert.com/

Give your hashtag context
Most people won’t actually know what your hashtag means, so give a quick explanation in one of your tweets or, if you’re making a hashtag, make it very apparent what it’s talking about.
If you want to create a hashtag, be sure that it adds value.
Conferences and events rely on the hashtag system more than almost any other entity. It’s become standard to track the conversation about speakers and afterparties via a hashtag.

Event hashtags
If you’re about to put on an event or are looking to take your event to a new level, here are some useful tips for hashtag organization:
- Choose a single hashtag early. This may seem simple, but it is vital to get right. Choose a simple hashtag that represents your event or brand.
- Remind attendees of the hashtag constantly: On your website, on your Twitter feed, at the opening remarks, and throughout the day, make a friendly reminder about your hashtag and that you can track the conversation through it.
http://mashable.com/2009/05/17/twitter-hashtags/