Digital Cafe: Using Facebook to share your story

Digital Cafe: Using Facebook to share your story

When we share, we all benefit.

Facebook’s mission is: “to make the world more open and connected.” I believe we have a similar mission at the Stockgrowers to connect Montana ranchers with each other and to the greater public. According to Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s goal is to “give everyone in the world the best personalized newspaper we can,” and in order to create this experience for users, Facebook continually updates its look and its features. In the last months, Facebook has pushed for a greater emphasis on visuals, with changes in their News Feed content and dimensions of wall photos. The trend for story telling is through images. No longer is a text status update the “best” way to communicate.

What does this mean for MSGA? In order to continue to tell the story of Montana’s ranchers, we need more visuals. I have been really excited these past few months because ranchers from across Montana have been sending in photos of haying and other summer ranch activities. Most of the time, these photos are taken simply with a smart phone and turn out great! I then post them on our Facebook page and almost immediately, the “likes” and comments start rolling in.

The more photos you send to me, the more we can tell the beef story and show life on a ranch. It creates a place where people can come and know that they will see authentic images of what is happening on ranches by the ranchers themselves.

There are many ways we can work together to tell our story:

• Email your photos to: [email protected], indicating where the photos were taken and a brief caption
• Send them as a message to the MSGA inbox found on our Facebook page
• Upload the photos to your personal/business page and tag MSGA
• Tweet them to us at @MTStockgrowers

As always, if I’ve thoroughly confused you, please feel free to call or write with any questions you may have. I look forward to seeing more photos from you all!