2019 ASHS Annual Conference

Social media is prominent in society as various software platforms are now used exclusively on computers and mobile devices. Social media provides educators a way to reach audiences encompassing landscape professionals, other educators (including Master Gardener volunteers), and hobbyists (home gardeners). The “Garden Professors blog” group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/GardenProfessors/) site on Facebook was developed in 2009 and has grown rapidly in membership to over 22,000 members worldwide. The content of the GP group is managed by the “Professors,” most of whom hold academic titles at land grant universities or other institutions. A selected group of highly qualified volunteers administer the site to ensure members adhere to a published set of participation guidelines. An extensive collection of current and archived blog posts written by the professors are linked to the site. The group only references peer reviewed papers from horticulture and other relevant plant and soil sciences as evidence to answer questions from members. A survey of Garden Professors members was conducted at the end of 2018 to determine long-term impacts that group membership has had on individual behaviors. The survey collected regional data, age data, frequency of participation, and questions targeted at specific changed behaviors of interest to the professors. Participants were categorized by interest level: professional; education (formal); education (informal) and personal. Condition changes were measured as changed behaviors (78% responded that they changed their behaviors); including changed functional gardening activities (seven activities surveyed); science based learning activities increased (six activities measured). Professionals were frequent visitors to the GP site (ranging from 377 to 2190 visits per year) rather than occasional or moderate in their visitation. Those who changed their behaviors also downloaded significantly more articles from the GP blog and web pages. Blog readers had significantly more (95% confidence interval) improved garden activities and increased science-based learning activities than non-blog readers. Other significant outcomes were that 84% of those that indicated changed behaviors now read horticultural literature more critically, and over 10% initiated secondary education as a result of interacting on the GP site.