Going Social

One of the great challenges of Land Grant Universities is to deliver information to the nontraditional learner.  Through the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service all 120 counties in the commonwealth have a brick and mortar connection to the university and its research based information.  The greater challenge is how does extension reach clientele that does not come through the door of the local extension office?  Let’s go Social!!!

Social media has opened a door for many nontraditional extension clientele.  We can now reach the mother that is too busy to come to the office, or the person that has limited transportation by the swipe of a finger.  In January 2019, the Christian County Cooperative Extension Service created a contest to engage Facebook users.  The Plant of the Week Contest was created to inform nontraditional clientele about the plants they may encounter in their typical environments.  Each week a post is made with pictures collected of plants from our local region.The first person to correctly identify the plant wins a UK Cooperative Extensions Service cap.  At the end of the week a brief write up is given that describes the plant and some of its unique characteristics or methods for control.Of the 26 post from January until June, over 18,141 people were reached through the Plant of the Week Contest alone.

While taking pictures of plants and handing out ball caps is fun, the greater impact is that over 18,000 people were able to learn something about the environment around them that they may have not already known.  When we tie this platform back to research based information we can allow home and property owners that aren’t traditional extension clientele access to knowledge that will allow them to make informed decisions about managing their property.  How can Land Grant Universities reach nontraditional clientele?  Let’s go Social!!!