Agricultural Crisis Communication Using Social Media

Purpose & Objectives

This study investigated social media use during three very different agriculturally-related crises to understand how social media played a role in the communication efforts of those involved with each crisis. The intended purpose of this research was to develop a model for social media use during a crisis situation aimed specifically for use by those in the agricultural industry. The model can be utilized to help communications directors in the agricultural industry develop and adopt a crisis communications plan that utilizes social media. This study was guided by the following research objectives:

1. Describe how agricultural organizations and their communications managers used social media tools during identified crisis situations.
   
2. Examine social media communication strategies used by the agricultural organizations during identified crisis situations.
3. Examine the crisis communication plans used by agricultural organizations.
   
4. Identify how agricultural organizations perceived the effectiveness of their social media use during a crisis situation.
   
5. Describe lessons learned by participants in regard to their social media communication during a crisis situation.