General
Topic outline
- General
- Social Media - Facebook
Social Media - Facebook
Facebook is an online social networking service. Initially it was limited to a couple of American universities. It gradually added support for students at various other universities before it opened to high-school students, and eventually to anyone aged 13 and over. Facebook now boosts 1.23 billion users active on the website every month.
Facebook is growing fast with farmers around the world using it to share ideas, look for new markets, collaborate on projects, or to just keep in touch especially over vast distances. Search the internet for lots of great innovation stories about farmers using Facebook in their businesses.
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This short video will explain what you can do on Facebook, you will be surprised!
In short, Facebook is fun and useful, because so many people and so much information is there. And in a few short steps, you can be, too. Your first step, of course, will be creating your profile. After that, you can start searching around for your friends. Once you are set up, you can start updating your status regularly, posting on friends' wall, sharing information, and uploading and viewing photos and videos.
If you are brand new to Facebook and it all sounds like a lot to take on, do not fear! It is actually very easy to set up and maintain your very own page, and of course setting up a page for your business.
Click on this link to go though how to set up a account.
A simple guide of do's and dont's when using Facebook.
Make sure you set your privacy settings and beware of what you post or you may end up on Ellen! - a funny look at what could happen.
This video will show you how to set up your farm Facebook profile. It also discusses the different types of Facebook profiles and why it is SUPER IMPORTANT that you pick the right one.
- Social Media - Twitter
Social Media - Twitter
A simple step-by-step tutorial that explains all you need to know on joining and using Twitter, from "Following" and posting "Tweets" to "Hash-tagging" and getting the most out of it. Increasing numbers of media-savvy farmers across the UK are using Twitter and Facebook to get advice, share ideas and keep up-to-date with developments, according to the online survey of 1,000 people carried out this month.
Just over half of farmers, 53 per cent, said they used social media, the main reasons being to communicate with customers and to raise issues relating to farming.
A smaller number use it as a "direct line" to policy makers and politicians as the industry faces up to the economic downturn and rising costs, while 87 per cent described social media as an ''effective'' tool.
The results of the survey by JCB Workwear also signal an optimistic mood among farmers, despite reports some sectors are in decline.
The top reason given by farmers for using such sites was to flag-up farming-related issues (41 per cent).
*Article from The telegraph – 15th April 2014