Researchers Allison Byrd, Katie Sanders, and Alexa Lamm recently published a research note in the Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education to explore if engagement differed when domestic and international scholars were featured on university social media channels.
The study, an extension of Byrd’s master’s thesis work, created Instagram and Twitter posts that highlighted peer-reviewed research conducted by scholars at the University of Georgia. One Instagram and one Twitter post was published for each featured scholar. In this study, the scholars were categorized by both their status as an international or domestic scholar and by their academic discipline.
With audience segmentation in mind, researchers were interested in seeing if the audiences on Instagram and Twitter responded differently to these posts according to the social media platform. Therefore, researchers measured engagement rate by impressions on each platform.
Descriptive analysis revealed that audiences on Instagram were more likely to engage with food science and safety content and with posts featuring international scholars. On Twitter audiences were more likely to engage with plant sciences content, and domestic scholars tended to receive higher engagement rates by impressions.
To read the full article, including additional findings and recommendations for future research, click here.
