So why do this at all?

We're living through, I would argue, THE BIGGEST information revolution in the history of humankind.

In many ways, the shift returns us to our pasts, when we relied more on ourselves to circulate information and less on professionals.

That, in a nutshell, is what should make this more attractive to farmers. (There's a dark side to all this, which we'll discuss.)

But let's also make a list of what you want to accomplish.

Let's make a list of your needs.

Whom do you need to reach?

What do you need them to know?

What kinds problem involving communication and information-sharing are you struggling to solve?

What -- in the area of getting the word out and sharing a general sense of your operation -- would make you happier a year from now?

What kind of communicator are you right now? What do you think you do well?

Case study

So here's a very nice-looking website for a farm whose Provincetown farmer's market presence I recently visited.

Let's talk about what it does and doesn't do well.

Should it have an update-able blog?

Video.

Buttons for FB and Twitter?

A personality?

Different information on its home page?

A physical presence that points to its digital presence?

Techno-literacy

The New York Times magazine, conveniently, offered this set of guidelines yesterday for techno-literacy.

• Every new technology will bite back. The more powerful its gifts, the more powerfully it can be abused. Look for its costs.

• Technologies improve so fast you should postpone getting anything you need until the last second. Get comfortable with the fact that anything you buy is already obsolete.

• Before you can master a device, program or invention, it will be superseded; you will always be a beginner. Get good at it.

• Be suspicious of any technology that requires walls. If you can fix it, modify it or hack it yourself, that is a good sign.

• The proper response to a stupid technology is to make a better one, just as the proper response to a stupid idea is not to outlaw it but to replace it with a better idea.

• Every technology is biased by its embedded defaults: what does it assume?

• Nobody has any idea of what a new invention will really be good for. The crucial question is, what happens when everyone has one?

• The older the technology, the more likely it will continue to be useful.

• Find the minimum amount of technology that will maximize your options.

To those, I would add: Have Fun and Don't Be Intimidated.

Assimilate or else

Most of what I'm going to teach you today will be less relevant than your actual performance in Google.
Whoever handles your website should at least glance at Google's copious advice about SEO.
It's also a good idea, probably to have an actual Google account that links to your website. It's all about making their 'bots happy.

Further reading on websites

I don't especially agree with their example of a good farm website.
But I don't know much about the goat business.

But let's just pick a website and talk about it.

Always ask yourself, what's the unit of exchange in the platform I'm in?
In FB, it's the post (and the friend).
On a website, it's the link.

The Social Network

One of the best ways to think about social media is in terms of the energy expended to get a result.
Facebook is the king of low energy expenditure.
And let's talk about event pages.
And the art of the FB post.
And getting OTHER people to post about you.
(But don't completely forget about good old-fashioned email blasts.)

Coordination of activities like this one.

The joys of crowdsourcing

Wikipedia is crowdsourcing.

Let's crowdsource the idea of crowdsourcing for farmers and their friends.

Sites that aggregate

You probably know most of these:

buyctgrown.
CtFarmMap.
localharvest.
shared harvest.
farmfresh.

For PYO, this is a very effective site.

Here are some great-looking sites that, I think, do the social media thing very well.
This one in Chicago.
And this one in Fairfield County.

We should talk, in connection with those, about the idea of parnterships.
(Which goes to the issue of simplicity.)

Let's talk Twitter

So here's Twitter.
Some things you could use Twitter for:
-- real time updates to your customers about the condition of crops, i.e. "this is the last week for blueberries at Piotrowicz Farm!"
-- real time updates from a farm stand or farmer's market. "I've got five heads of bronze arrow lettuce left at the West End Market."
-- talking to (and about) legislators if there's a bill coming up that affects you.
-- to give and receive real time information about weather
If you do Twitter, it makes sense to learn more about hashtags.

One general thing to remember: the news media now troll Twitter and other forms of unpaid social media for news ideas.

The Commandments

Just to review, this is roughly the order in which you should worry about things.
1. Have a website.
2. Get your website listed with all the farm aggregators.
3. Be Google-friendly. It's probably a good idea to have a Google account with a profile that links to your website.
4. Join Facebook. Recruit friends.
5. (Maybe) Create a Twitter account.
6. If you do something that requires fresh content -- a website blow, Facebook or Twitter -- update a lot. A LOT!
7. make a little sign -- with your website and FB and Twitter info, if relevant --for your farmstand and especially for farmers markets.

Future Games

What would help?

Sometimes, it's the efforts of volunteers. Look what this person did in Los Angeles. One option would be to gather together a volunteer problem-solving council of people who love farms and have a way with digital media.

This enterprise, located not far from here, got an NSF grant to develop web presences for artists. This is another route Connecticut farmers could consider taking. I'd be happy to arrange a meeting between some farm people and Beth Mesina, founder of artbox.

Some other models, here in CT, for pooling resources.

A co-working site in NH.

I know Kate Emery, but I need to learn more about this.