The Farm Bill is officially titled the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. It is a long, complex document outlining the funding sources and programs relevant to agribusiness. The seemingly nominal legislations of the government gain little notice, but affect our livelihoods on a wide scale. The Farm Bill is such an example. It affects the agribusiness scale on market value and product development amongst other instruments. When you peruse the supermarket and see a change in price points, it hits you.
Social media has been a key instrument in connecting others for geopolitical affairs and causes over the last six years. Domestically, it has reformed political discourse, galvanizing movements in light speed. I believe that it has had a mixed impact on informing the public of basic government legislation. Our executive and legislative branches of government are seen in such a disillusioned scope from the perspective of society. I wonder if this is a large factor in why specific bills with deep impact do not gain much mainstream discussion. For better or worse, social media is ingrained to the content pipeline. If you Tweet it, they will talk.
Organizations like Food + Tech have done an exemplary job of outlining the documents’ issues. On Saturday, December 3rd, the Food + Tech publishers will host the Farm Bill Hackathon. The event could set a benchmark for online discourse of government legislation. The Hackathon represents a timely forum where social media applications will be at the forefront for driving media leads. According to this report, several journalists, organizational leaders, and scholars will post materials and relevant data to an official Wiki site. Members of the digital community, including developers, designers, and marketers will take the content and shape it into accessible formats for public discourse. You can expect to see social media campaigns, video webinar discussions, and other engagement tools.
Food + Tech’s event has a chance to start a seismic transition. I hope that with the continued rise in unemployment of talented individuals, we see an intellectual shift where interactive marketing focuses a spotlight on pure government legislation. The solutions could be a point and a click, ended with a return.
Abdul Fattah Ismail is an interactive marketing specialist with expertise across a range of online strategies. He lives in New York and is an MBA graduate in Marketing Management from St. John’s University. He has contributed articles for Blueliner Marketing and Talent Zoo.