Event Information

The power of social media - for those who have access - is truly remarkable. Globally, nearly one in four people connect to social networks on a monthly basis. More than one billion accounts are registered on Facebook alone and these numbers climb every quarter as populations in developing nations increasingly come online.

But what does this mean? If agricultural projects can harness this wave of connectivity via social media, they may achieve the scale that has proven costly, inefficient, or downright impossible by other means. For development practitioners, social media tools can expand the reach of your community, strengthen partner relationships, support programmatic initiatives, and provide a vital means to increase the visibility of your public profile and engagement.

Despite global enthusiasm for social media, gaps in available bandwidth speeds and device functionality are increasing. Factors such as cost, gender barriers, and illiteracy can prevent people from connecting. Understanding those continuing technological and social gaps is critical to the success or failure of social media-based agricultural communication initiatives.

Join us at the September Ag Sector Council webinar, where Dustin Andres of FHI 360 will discuss highlights from the just-released "Social Media Handbook for Agricultural Development Practitioners," developed under the USAID FACET project. Michael Riggs of FAO will explore his practical experience harnessing social media to build the e-Agriculture community, which connects more than 10,000 ICT for Agriculture practitioners around the globe.

Please note - although Ag Sector Council traditionally features an in-person component, our September seminar will be an online-only event. Considering the topic of social media, we think it will be useful and appropriate to convene in an online space!

This webinar is co-hosted by USAID's FACET project.