Social media outlets seem to be the growing way to communicate with people in our fast paced society.  With 78% of the population of Trigg County being under the age of 65, social media outlets such as Facebook is an important communication tool.  In Trigg County the FCS agent has maintained the Trigg County Cooperative Extension Family and Consumer Sciences program Facebook page for several years, but its reach has been limited.  

Two weeks into working from home, the FCS agent began recording and posting food preparation videos from her home kitchen.  These included the monthly recipes from the SNAP Nutrition Calendar and basic how-to videos on cooking an egg and basic knife skills.  The reach on these videos was a total of 4,538.  Before the videos, reach was anywhere from 50-120.  

One of our Farmers Market vendors that sells aquaponic lettuce and kale had planted a big portion of his crop in anticipation of the market opening the first Saturday of April, which was postponed to May.  On April 16, 2020 the Trigg County FCS agent received word that he was in danger of losing his crop because of the lack of Farmers Market sales, which would have been a great economic hit for him.  A post about the situation was put on the Trigg County Cooperative Extension Family and Consumer Sciences Facebook page.  The post reached 3,010 people and was shared 39 times.  As a result, the vendor sold most of what he had and did not have to throw away any of his produce.  

Since the start of posting the videos on the program Facebook page, 36 people have either liked or now follow the Trigg County Cooperative Extension Family and Consumer Sciences program page.  This constitutes a 25% increase in reach in the past 3 months.  It is hoped that this reach will continue to increase, providing helpful information to more families.