Extension Is Unpopular—On the Internet

Authors

• Heidi B. Rader, University of Alaska Cooperative Extension ServiceFollow

Volume

49

Issue

6

Abstract

The first Extension-authored link in Google Search (2011a) for "how to garden" was ranked an abysmal 82nd. Worse, Internet users selected the top-ranked site significantly more often than they selected the second-ranked one, and they rarely selected any site ranked lower than #10 (Granka, Joachims, & Gay, 2004). An Extension-commissioned poll in Alaska found only 16% of the "Net Generation" had even heard of Extension, compared with 73% of those 60 years or older (Dittman Research & Communications Corporation, 2010). Extension's websites are so unpopular, those who seek research-based, unbiased information will likely not find it. This article proposes solutions.

Creative Commons License

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

Recommended Citation

Rader, H. B. (2011). Extension Is Unpopular—On the Internet. Journal of Extension, 49(6), Article 11. https://doi.org/10.34068/joe.49.06.11