Expanding Farm Business through Popular Social Network Site

Abstract

The main challenges of doing a farm related business, especially for the small one, are finding buyers for the products in a smaller population area, traveling greater distances for supplies and inventory, and finding support services. Communication and information constraints used to be root of the problem. However, the advancement and growing popularity of various social network sites, emerging number of internet cafes in the rural areas, as well as the availability of social network application in mobile phone can be seen as a good way out for overcoming those challenges. This paper will discuss about the possibility of using one of popular social network sites available on the internet today for expanding a small scale farm business. The activities to be covered are including market intelligence, product promotion/advertisement, direct selling and customer care. This can be done by using a number of applications that allow users to upload and share photos and videos, to post messages, notes or links, and to participate in an online marketplace. Although the website is not likely to become the homepage for some of the older generation, it holds a multitude of opportunities for young producers already interested in the website and its many features. A virtual store specialized in organic farming products is taken as an example case. Three-month experiences of using the popular social network site, Facebook - a project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, are examined to see its effectiveness, advantages as well as disadvantages related with the purpose. Terms of use of the social network site are carefully considered to avoid any violation.