Study: Scientists should use social media to fight advocacy group disinformation about modern agricultural biotechnology

Scientists should use social media to fight misinformation on modern agricultural biotechnology.

This was one of the salient recommendations of a research report conducted by the College of Development Communication (CDC) of UPLB and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, Inc. (ISAAA) among 1,180 respondents from various stakeholder groups in the Philippines.

The study, “Revisiting Public Perception of Agri-biotechnology: 16 Years After the Public Debates on GM Crops”, found that the social media sites Facebook and YouTube were the most frequently used platforms by their respondents, while scientists were the most trusted sources of agri-biotech information. Hence, they called on scientists to actively reach out to the public by maximizing the use of social media to bring credible information and to bust agri-biotechnology myths. The authors believe that social media could significantly advance public understanding of agri-biotech and various communication strategies that could be used in educating the public, such as partnering with influencers or producing engaging short-form videos.

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