Attitude towards the role of social media in disseminating agriculture information in East Champaran district of Bihar

Introduction

Social media has transformed communication, information sharing, and human interaction on a global scale. It encompasses a wide array of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, where individuals and organizations create, share, and exchange content in virtual communities. This digital revolution has redefined how people connect, influencing various aspects of society, including politics, business, education, and personal relationships. Social media's immediacy and accessibility have made it a powerful tool for spreading information, fostering engagement, and driving social change. However, its rapid growth has also introduced challenges such as privacy concerns, misinformation, and the potential for addictive behavior. Understanding the role and impact of social media is crucial in today's interconnected world, as it continues to evolve and shape the way people communicate and engage with one another.

The Latin term "medium," which also means "delegate" and "in the middle," is where the English word "media" originates. Its phraseology describing radio, print, and other data sources comes presumably from "wide communications." Simply put, "media" is the word "medium" in plural form. This is used to describe ideas, information, education, and media that arise from the distribution of different kinds of knowledge to a person or group. It is defined as an assemblage of basic visual and aural instruments. It makes clear the many ways that individuals in our society communicate. Since the term "media" refers to all kinds of communication, it may be used to describe everything from the phone to the evening news on television. We talk about media when we talk about how to reach a large number of people. Local media includes things like newspapers, radio, and television stations. Before, the only ways to get news and entertainment were through TV, radio, www.extensionjournal.com newspapers, and magazines. Right now, the internet is starting to take over. Print newspapers are failing as hundreds of millions of readers shift to online news sources every year. The nation's lifeline, the media spreads important news across the world. It also informs us and teaches us about current events and the effects of the media. People get acknowledged all the time. This is a tool for gathering and sharing information. One kind of agency that achieves objectives, spreads important information, or facilitates communication is the media. We utilize the media as a kind of communication tool to disseminate important information, novel ideas, state-of-theart technology, and other noteworthy facts. Through a range of channels and informational instruments, including the media, we exchange information and interact with one another.

Social media

The phrase "social media" is derived from the two working terms "social" and "media". Social contacts are those that occur between neighbours who have similar interests. A friendly design is used in virtual entertainment to convey data from the source to all collectors. The phrase "social media" describes computer technology that promotes the sharing of knowledge via digital platforms, including facts, ideas, and views. Social media is online entertainment that gives consumers instant access to a variety of content, such as recordings, photographs, videos, and archives of personal information. Social media is the most significant tool for social interaction in the current world. Human interaction now has more importance as a result of its utilization. It has caused an effect on everything in its vicinity.

Objective

To determine the level of attitude of the farmers towards role of social media in dissemination of agricultural information.

Research methodology

The design of the present study is descriptive one based on survey method to systematically describe the socioeconomic characteristics of farmers and their attitude levels of the respondents towards role of social media in dissemination of agricultural information to the farmers. In Bihar there are 38 Districts. Among them East Champaran District was selected by purposive sampling for the study. There are 27 blocks of East Champaran District of Bihar out of that one block namely Kalyanpur was selected through purposive sampling method. From Kalyanpur block, 6 villages were selected through random sampling method and 120 respondents were selected through randomly for the present study.

Results and Discussion

Table 1 outlines the socio-economic status of respondents in relation to their views on the role of social media in disseminating agricultural information. The data reveals diverse demographic characteristics among the participants. In terms of age, 36.67% are young (18-35 years), 42.5% are middle-aged (36-55 years), and 20.83% are old (55 and above). 47 individuals or 39.16%, are illiterate, while 28 (23.34%) have completed primary school. Educational levels drop as the education level increases, with only 11 (9.16%) having intermediate or higher education. In terms of caste, 43.33% belong to Other Backward Castes, 29.17% to General Castes, and 27.50% to Scheduled Castes, reflecting a diverse demographic distribution within the sample. Most respondents live in nuclear families (77.5%) and have small family sizes (55%). Regarding housing, 68.33% reside in semi-cemented houses, with a small proportion in huts (6.67%) or cemented homes (25%). Land holding is predominantly small (50.83%), with marginal (29.17%) and medium (17.5%) holdings being less common. The primary occupation for 61.67% is agriculture, followed by caste-based occupations (10%) and service (11.67%). Annual income is mostly between 1 to 2 lakh (53.33%), with fewer respondents earning more or less. For farm power, 70.83% use diesel engines or pumping sets, while 28.33% use tractors and 5% use bullocks. In terms of scientific orientation, 55% have a medium level of orientation. External contact sources for agricultural information include personal contacts (73.33%), with fewer turning to Krishi Vigyan Kendra (10%) or Village Development Officers (1.67%). Information sources are dominated by progressive farmers (81.67%) and mobile phones (78.33%), with other channels like radio (5%) and television (8.33%) being less significant. Table 2 illustrates the distribution of respondents' attitudes towards the role of social media in disseminating agricultural information to farmers. The majority of respondents generally view social media as a valuable tool, with 44.17% considering it essential for modern farming and 43.33% acknowledging its help in accessing expert advice. However, there is a notable variation in attitudes regarding trust and ease of use. While a significant number find social media beneficial for staying updated with trends and connecting with other farmers, confidence in the reliability of agricultural information on these platforms is less uniform. Around 47.50% are undecided about the trustworthiness of social media content related to agriculture, and 45.83% find sharing farming-related information somewhat challenging. Despite these concerns, many respondents appreciate social media's influence on farming decisions, marketing, and productivity. Yet, 34.17% view it as a potential distraction, reflecting mixed feelings about its overall impact on farming activities. www.extensionjournal.com This distribution reveals that a significant majority hold a medium attitude towards the subject, while there is a relatively even split between those with low and high attitude levels. Similar findings are reported by Patel and Kumar (2022) [7] . Table 4 examines the correlation between respondents' socio-economic profiles and their attitudes towards the role of social media in disseminating agricultural information. Key findings reveal that several factors have significant correlations with attitude levels. For instance, annual income (0.487), mass media exposure (0.516), risk-bearing capacity (0.463), progressiveness (0.575), and scientific orientation (0.499) all show strong positive correlations, indicating that higher levels in these areas are associated with more favorable attitudes towards social media.

Education (0.265), age (0.272), occupation (0.342), and size of land holding (0.354) also have moderate positive correlations, suggesting a notable, though less pronounced, impact. In contrast, marital status, type of house, and family type show no significant relationship with attitudes, highlighting that socio-economic factors like income and media exposure play a more crucial role in shaping attitudes towards the use of social media in agriculture. Scientific Orientation 0.499** * Significant at 0.05 percent level of probability ** Significant at 0.01 percent level of probability NS= Non-significant

Conclusion

It is concluded that the respondents were with a middleaged, intermediate-educated individuals engaged in agriculture, and a significant portion living in nuclear families and small land holdings. The attitude shows that most of the respondents have a medium level of attitude towards social media, with a balanced representation across low and high levels. The factors such as annual income, mass media exposure, risk-bearing capacity, progressiveness, and scientific orientation strongly correlate with more favorable attitudes towards social media, whereas factors like marital status and type of house have negligible impact. This comprehensive view underscores that while social media is increasingly valued in agriculture, its

Acknowledgement

www.extensionjournal.com effectiveness and perception are significantly influenced by various socio-economic factors.

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