Horticulture and Social Media: Florida Hops Case Study

Twenty-five percent of all webpage views are Facebook.com (Menlo Park, CA). In 2015, Facebook reported 1.59 billion active monthly users including 823 million mobile only users, from around the world, representing 38.6% of the global online population. The growing trends of increased social media use has also been illustrated across other platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Snap Chat, Periscope, crowdsourcing sites such as GoFundMe, and multiple blogging applications. Active online profiles can garner greater market shares, return higher profits, and allow for direct user interaction by reducing marketing costs and engaging customers directly while also enhancing communication around local communities, urban agriculture, and agrotourism. This case study examines introduction of a possible new Florida crop and describes the experiences of using social media to develop interest and increase knowledge of hops (Humulus lupulus) for growers, brewers, drinkers, researchers, and Extension staff and faculty. This will in turn support the Florida craft beer industry which has already established a large and active following using an array of social media applications. A Facebook page was developed on 23 Apr. 2015 and as of 30 Mar. 2016 it had acquired 200 followers reaching 2,487 users. An Instagram account was initiated on 27 Apr. 2015 and as of 30 Mar. 2016 it had 276 followers with a total of 673 user “likes”. A Twitter account was launched on 25 Feb. 2016 and as of 30 Mar. 2016 it had 137 followers and was viewed over 12,300 times. Social media applications were used for the promotion of Florida Hops and reviewed in this case study to open discussion of the challenges and opportunities social media presents for horticulture.