Farmers' Use of Social Media and its Implications for Agricultural Extension: Evidence from Thailand

Social media are viewed as having potential for agricultural extension. This study therefore surveyed social media use by farmers in a developing country, and their role as a source of agricultural information. To this end, 365 farmers in Chiang Mai, Thailand, were sampled and interviewed using a questionnaire. The findings revealed that the majority of respondents (81.92%) did not adopt social media and, these remained marginal as a source of agricultural information for farmers. Those using social media (18.08%) employed certain applications, i.e., LINE, Facebook and YouTube, mainly for communication, new updates and entertainment. Younger farmers and farmers with a higher formal education related to social media use significantly. To fully harness the potentials of social media for agricultural extension, more farmers need to be encouraged to use them, while relevant agencies also are required to provide support for this effort, such as staff training in social media use, and enabling a social media policy.

社交媒体（Social Media）被认为具备农业推广的应用潜力。据此，本研究针对发展中国家农民的社交媒体使用情况，及其作为农业信息来源的角色展开调研。为此，研究人员以泰国清迈的365名农民为抽样对象，通过问卷形式开展访谈调查。调研结果显示，绝大多数受访者（81.92%）未使用社交媒体，且社交媒体在农民获取农业信息的渠道中仍处于边缘地位。使用社交媒体的受访者占比18.08%，他们主要使用LINE、Facebook、YouTube等应用，用途涵盖沟通交流、获取资讯更新与休闲娱乐。年轻农民以及受正规教育程度更高的农民，其社交媒体使用行为与年龄、受教育水平两项特征显著相关。为充分挖掘社交媒体在农业推广中的应用潜力，需鼓励更多农民使用社交媒体；同时相关主管部门也应为此提供支持，例如开展社交媒体使用技能培训，并制定配套的社交媒体管理政策。