Social Media Utilization by the Farmers of Coimbatore District in Tamil Nadu – An Analysis

Abstract

Social media is an innovative, interactive communication tool used for social networking, sharing of text, audio, video to individuals, groups and mass audience over internet and social media platforms. According to Global Digital 2023 as of February, social media users in India is about 467 million. Considering the wide use of social media by the farmers and public, it is imperative to understand the usage behaviour of farmers, as it is essential for researchers, extension officials and policy makers to develop appropriate strategies for improving the technology delivery among farmers. Hence, a study was conducted among 120 randomly selected farmers in Annur and Kinathukadavu blocks of Coimbatore district during 2023 to find out the utilization pattern of social media. This study mainly focused on the understanding the usage pattern of farmers of Coimbatore district how they are engaged with social media platforms. It was observed from the study that majority of the farmers were young, educated up to higher school level, practised farming as the major occupation with medium level of information seeking, innovativeness and with high level of digital literacy. It is evident that WhatsApp is the most used tool (78%) for communication while Facebook and YouTube for entertainment purpose. It is found that the utilization index was high for messaging friends and family in using WhatsApp whereas looking for funny and entertaining content ranked top in both Facebook and YouTube. Further, significant relationship was found between age, education, occupation, farming experience, information seeking behaviour, perception and digital literacy with utilization pattern of social media. People should be made aware that it can provide real time information and support and has the potential to improve the efficiency and effectiveness, facilitate interactive collaboration and communication.