Social Media Use in Agribusinesses

Abstract

<p>Social media have been a transformative tool in modern society. People use them to post updates and connect with friends, businesses use them as an advertising and public relations platform, and activists use them to spread their ideas and values. Because of these different uses and methods, it becomes difficult to give a definitive overall summation of best practices. The agricultural sector is a significant group that uses social media. Because this can be a broad field, this study narrowed its focus to agriculture businesses, namely agronomy and animal science, as they share similar business objectives. These focuses also complement my minors. The 16 businesses were monitored for their 2015 Twitter use. In many ways, social media is too new to specifically say the “best” way to use them, but it is possible to examine how various groups are using them and observe how their posts are received. Overall, the findings of this project suggest that agribusinesses dedicate the bulk of their Twitter output to self-promotion, additional marketing, and professional networking.</p>