After Covid 19, the way Extension does programming shifted due to necessity. Social Media has played a huge role in reaching people with important information. Traditionally it was normal for 5-10 people to come to a hands on workshop to learn about one of the areas of Food Preservation for example. This is the most expensive and labor intensive way to share information, but also very effective.  A facebook post would have reached 25-30 people if they were interested enough.

This year, a renewed interest in food preservation in particular has evolved as a result of the pandemic. The use of social media is at an all time high as well.  Food security is at the top of people's priorities. Growing gardens, and preserving foods has been a personal tool to help the family secure food for themselves and their families. It also means there is an increased rate of sharing recipes and preservation methods, many that are not approved by USDA and some that are dangerous. The latter was the case when the FCS agent in Johnson County recognized that some Homemakers were canning beans in their oven, thinking that as long as the lids sealed, they would be okay. The age old erroneous belief that "as long as you boil them good it'll be okay" became very pronounced through the facebook platform. The FCS agent made a post on August 4th, explaining the need for pressure canning for green beans in particular, and any low acid food and the high risk for botulism.

The post reached  20,438 people with 67 comments, and 272 shares by the third week of August. Each week this same post has continued to reach another 50-100 people. The agent made a special request to the state specialists to create professional posts after discovering from other FCS agents that it was happening across the state. The Specialist reacted immediately and created a number of preservation posts. One on (Canning Beans and Corn ) reached over 2,609 people for example, on one JC page alone. Another one on how to use the Pressure Canner reached 974, and oven canning reached 386 from just one page and one post, just in Johnson County. Well over 20 related posts were made within this time frame, reaching an average of 500 each time. (See state specialists for statewide data). When we do "Grab and Go bags" with publications and sometimes other incentives, an average of 1,000 are reached through facebook with an average of 30 actually taking the time to come in and get the bag, each time we post something. Many stated "thanks" for the information, some asked further questions about how to properly process them, and others wanted to know what they could do with the ones they had already processed. Learning was achieved differently, but much learning took place in the month of August on food preservation! One could easily project that learning about food preservation in Johnson County increased by well over 3,000% over years past.