Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 12 Document Number: D10405
Notes:
4 pages., Online from Australian Broadcasting Corporation website., During a severe drought, a Queensland grazier decided to share her story on a social media post that included distressing images of livestock. Unintended consequences included accusations of animal abuse and investigation by Biosecurity Queensland.
Role of social media for civic participation, drawing on Swedish volunteer initiatives that emerged in the context of the migration crisis in 2015 as a case study.
Wandersee, Cassie (author) and Baker, Lauri (author)
Format:
Paper abstract
Publication Date:
2018-02
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 199 Document Number: D10018
Notes:
Abstract of paper presented at the National Agricultural Communications Symposium, Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) Agricultural Communications Section, Jacksonville, Florida, February 4-5, 2018.
Garrett M. Steede (author), Courtney Meyers (author), Nan Li (author), Erica Irlbeck (author), Sherice Gearhart (author), and Texas Tech University; University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2018
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 149 Document Number: D10103
Article 4; pgs. 1-16, On January 1, 2017, the final rule of the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) was put into place requiring
antibiotics approved for both humans and animals to be discontinued for growth promotion. This change was
brought on by the role growth promoters in livestock production play in the development of antibiotic
resistance. Antibiotic resistance increases the costs associated with human health care by increasing the length
of stays in the hospital and requiring more intensive medical care for patients. The purpose of this study was to
explore sentiment and characteristics of social media content and the characteristics of the key influencers
whose opinions had the greatest amount of reach on social media in regard to antibiotic use in livestock and
antibiotic resistance. Nuvi, a social media monitoring program, provided sentiment for each tweet and coded
64.8% of the content (n = 129) as negative compared to 38.2% (n = 76) humans coded as negative. The
contrast between human coders and Nuvi indicates there could be discrepancies between how Nuvi codes
content and the way a human might interpret the content. No key influencer discussed antibiotic use in
livestock positively. Findings suggest agricultural communicators should not rely completely on the output
from sentiment analysis programs to evaluate how the public discusses issues related to agriculture,
particularly controversial issues. Further, agricultural communications practitioners should prioritize
monitoring the content shared by key influencers in an effort to better understand the content being shared by
the most influential users. Recommendations for future research are provided.
9 pages., via online journal., Social media platforms and other new technologies support the communication of many topics, both beneficial and controversial to t he development of the agriculture industry. Agricultural communicators’ use of these platforms is critical for engaging with stakeholders and communicating information beneficial to agriculture . The purpose of this study was to explore agricultural communicators’ use of devices and soci al media platforms in the United States. Researchers administered an online, descriptive que stionnaire to collect data from members of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. A ma jority of respondents used social media for work, with smartphones being the most common device used. Facebook and Twitter were used more than blogs and YouTube to interact with farmer s/ranchers. Respondents agreed that social media allowed them to quickly and conveniently comm unicate with others. Significant relationships existed between perceived usefulness and Pinterest, blogs, and Instagram, while one significant correlation existed between perceiv ed ease of use and Instagram. Respondents should continue to use Facebook and Twitter to enga ge their stakeholder groups in conversations about agriculture.
The article reports findings of a media-use survey conducted among agricultural communicators attending a meeting of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. A majority of respondents reported using a variety of social media for work, with smartphones being the most common device used. Among other recommendations, authors suggested that respondents should continue to use Facebook and Twitter to engage their stakeholder groups in conversations about agriculture. The survey identified stakeholder groups of the communicator respondents.
