Members of the Lamm Lab presented research papers and posters at the National Agricultural Communications Symposium in New Orleans, Louisiana, from February 13-15, 2022.
Social Media and Science Communication Paper Presentations
Two manuscripts from Allison Fortner‘s master’s thesis research, supported by the UGA Agricultural Experiment Station, were presented on Allison’s behalf.
The first paper presented titled “Exploring the Impact of Source Credibility When Communicating about Agricultural Science on Twitter” addressed strategic communication to reach millennials by exploring engagement differences when specific factors affecting source credibility were emphasized when communicating with millennials about agricultural science on Twitter. This paper was presented by Dr. Abigail Borron, Associate Professor in the UGA ALEC Department.
The study used a live Twitter account to release news covering University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences research from peer-reviewed publications. Each research project featured required researchers diverse in focus area, and perceived age, race, and gender. Descriptive analysis of social media engagement metrics of 32 tweets with diverse researchers and topics found strategically utilizing diverse scientists in research communication may be useful to build engagement in universities’ social media. This paper received the second runner-up research paper award at the 2022 Conference.
The second paper was presented by Dr. Jessica Holt, Assistant Professor in the UGA ALEC Department. The second of Fortner’s thesis manuscripts, “Exploring Source Credibility Across Social Media Platforms to Inform Agricultural and Environmental Science Communication” examined interaction with science communication research across Instagram and Twitter using principles of audience segmentation and source credibility. By posting platform-appropriate, identical research information and graphics on both Twitter and Instagram, this exploratory study sought to identify engagement differences between the platforms when perceived age, race, and gender were emphasized in posts featuring university scientists. Descriptive analysis of engagement metrics from Twitter and Instagram found audiences engage differently across platforms, and Instagram may be key to disseminating information to non-agricultural audiences based on higher engagement rates by impressions.
Both paper presentations were authored by Allison Fortner, Dr. Alexa Lamm, Dr. Abigail Borron, Dr. Jessica Holt, and Dr. Allen Moore.
Politically Polarized Audience and Water Conservation Poster Presentation
Kristin Gibson, Katie Sanders, Allison Fortner, and Alexa Lamm presented a poster titled “Water Conservation and the Politically Polarized Audience: Examining Audience Segmentation through the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.”
The study presented in the poster used audience segmentation to describe if intentions to conserve water varied between respondents in states where Biden or Trump received all or a majority of electoral votes in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The descriptive statistics found a significant difference between water conservation intentions between the two groups of states. Water conservation intentions were lower in the states where Trump received the majority of elector votes. Therefore, researchers recommended eliminating political jargon when talking about water conservation and instead focusing on shared values.
The National Agricultural Communications Symposium was held in conjunction with the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists annual meeting. To learn about additional Lamm Lab presentations held at this convergence of conferences, see our post on the Southern Rural Sociological Association Conference, Southern Region meeting of the American Society for Horticultural Sciences, and the Southern Region meeting of the American Association for Agricultural Education.
