Engaging rice stakeholder on social media : the case of Philrice's Facebook page

This study aims to explore the potential of social media, particularly Facebook, in engaging the public on rice science and advocacies. Rice Matters, the official fan page of PhilRice, was examined with data from January 2015- December 2016 collected through Facebook insight, a user interaction and performance tracking tool. Benchmarking 2016 result to the previous year, analysis reveals that increasing the frequency of posting, diversifying content, and using multimedia correlate with increased page likes (40%) and post reach (103%). Content that reach as much as 21,000 people per post (organic/unpaid) and generate high user engagement (post reactions, shares, and comments) are about rice technologies varieties, machines, crop protection, and general rice information. Majority of those who are reached are the younger fans; 18-24 y/o (20%); 25-34 y/o (32%); and 35-44 y/o (25%). The page also facilitates inquiries from farmers and other rice stakeholders through comments on a certain post or direct message to the page. This study recommends to maximize the use of social media in creating awareness, disseminating information, and eliciting public engagement in agricultural science and development by strategically posting relevant and interesting content. Multimedia post are highly encouraged such as links, infographics, photos and videos. Consequently, this calls for government institutions such as PhilRice to put premium on social media as a digital communication platform to better engage the public and to boast a positive organizational image. This may include institutionalizing a social media policy, creating a strategies social media plans and investing on boosting or advertising features of social media for under reach and more user engagement. This study can further analyze how active social media engagement translaTE-S to actual farming engagement.