The National Extension Master Gardener Blog and Social Media Effort: Opportunities for Expanding Volunteer Learning Opportunities and National Program Brand Recognition

The Consumer Horticulture Community of Practice launched the Extension Master Gardener blog (http://blogs.extension.org/mastergardener) in May, 2010 to serve as a national focal and contact point for the Extension Master Gardener (EMG) program, engage EMGs in sharing knowledge across state and county lines, and to ultimately provide new opportunities to increase EMG program brand recognition. Generating discovery, interest, and use of the newly launched EMG blog was quickly discovered to be dependent on the ability to engage the nation’s vast network of Extension professionals (largely EMG Coordinators), EMGs, and the general gardening public either as blog post contributors, or participants in the conversation via other social networks. To generate repeated use of the blog, and serve as additional channels for engaging EMGs around volunteer experiences, use of an official Facebook fan page and Twitter account were employed as part of the overall strategy to increase the reach and engagement opportunities for the nation-wide EMG program.   Through these additional channels and networking opportunities, insightful feedback has been gained about EMG needs and desires for more advanced training, continuing education units, sustainable and organic gardening information, and diagnostic tools. Engagement of both contributors (EMGs and EMG coordinators), and casual or repeat participants of this social media effort is continually being evaluated. It is hoped that the potential for the blog and social media efforts will continue to grow and become more active in terms of generating site visits, shared learning, and increased brand recognition for the EMG program.

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