Striking a Balance with Social Media Use on an Uneven Playing Field

Authors

• Stacey F. Stearns, University of Connecticut - StorrsFollow
• Jennifer E. Cushman, University of Connecticut - StorrsFollow

Volume

64

Issue

2

Abstract

Social media is now an integral part of Extension's communications and marketing strategies; however, it is an uneven playing field. While social media allows greater access to audiences and introduces Extension programs to new audiences, the social media companies also control the platforms and algorithms. The challenge is balancing the need to engage our audiences where they are with the lack of control Extension professionals have over the platform and how audiences access and use our content. This commentary includes a case study of an Extension Facebook page that Meta inadvertently deleted, and the repercussions the organization faced in rebuilding.

Authors’ Contribution Statement

SFS: conceptualization, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing; JEC: writing—original draft, writing—review and editing

Data Availability

No datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

Conflict of Interest

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Stearns, S., & Cushman, J. (2026). Striking a Balance with Social Media Use on an Uneven Playing Field. Journal of Extension, 64(2), Article 17. https://doi.org/10.66752/1077-5315.8957