Abstract
Effective social media communication relies on using the most appropriate channel for information dissemination. However, many extension workers and agricultural stakeholders often overlook the importance of selecting the right social media platforms for their communication needs. This research examined the use of social media by extension workers in the Bogoro Local Government Area of Bauchi State; Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select 109 respondents. Descriptive statistics and logit model were utilized to meet the study’s objectives. Findings revealed that majority of the extension workers (59.6%) were male, with an average age of 54 and a literacy rate of about 98%, as most had completed tertiary education. Approximately 80.5% of the workers were married, and 68.8% had 21 to 30 years of work experience. The average household size among these workers was 9, and their mean annual income was N549,568. Of the 109 respondents, 91 (83.49%) engaged with some form of social media, while 16.51% did not use it at all. Furthermore, the findings show that among the 91 social media users, the three most preferred platforms were Facebook (100%), WhatsApp (92.31%), and YouTube (61.54%). Factors significantly influencing social media usage include age, education, work experience, and gender. All the factors were positively significant at the 5% level except for age which was negatively significant at the 1% level of probability. Major challenges reported by 83.5% of extension workers included poor network connectivity and 82.6% cited high costs of accessing social media. The study recommends that the government enhance network infrastructure to facilitate social media usage. Additionally, it calls for policies to improve the welfare of extension workers, which would encourage more individuals to pursue careers as extension agents.