“Social Media 101: What you wanted to know but where afraid to ask,” was the title of the afternoon session today at the Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference. The interactive session was given by Staci Garcia, Public Relations for United Dairy Industry of Michigan and Sara Long, Michigan State University Communications Manager. The session was given to dairy partners of all ages, who had varying experience in technological use. Needless to say, despite the basics that were presented in the session, I learned a few fresh ideas. Here is what they had to say…

Did you know 6 in 10 Americans younger than 30 say they get most of their news online? New media is redefining journalism, entertainment, education and networking. In addition, 90% of consumers consider word of mouth as the best way to spread ideas. Did you know 1.4 new blogs are created every second? Did you know that 13 hours of YouTube videos are posted every hour? Not a big shock, but Facebook has been listed as the seventh most popular website in the world. LinkedIn has more than 30 million users, and Twitter has more than five million “tweeps.”

This is only the tip of the iceberg as to the contents of the entire presentation. These dairy producers are working hard to promote a positive image of their industry, and their efforts can be viewed at Dairy Farming Today. Also, they will soon be introducing myDairy, a social media program for dairy advocates. I couldn’t be more proud of these energetic promotional efforts on behalf of animal agriculture. Great job, guys!