Quail pro advocates new technologies’ unlimited options
Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Dale Rollins, 325-653-4576, d-rollins@tamu.edu
SAN ANGELO – Social media is everywhere these days and a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service wildlife expert is doing his best to harness the fast-evolving technology to spread the word on quail management and other key wildlife-related topics.
“Quail, specifically bobwhite quail, are my favorite species of study and my personal passion,” said Dr. Dale Rollins, AgriLife Extension wildlife specialist at San Angelo. “They are indeed social critters, so I’ve found it fitting to use social media to educate ‘students of quail’ from all walks of life.”
“As an AgriLife Extension communicator, I’ve been a strong advocate of using various media opportunities,” Rollins said. “I’ve done many TV and radio interviews over my career, had a weekly network radio program for almost a decade and written regular columns in farm publications since 1995. Basically, I’ve tried to take advantage of any form of media that brings positive attention to our educational efforts and credibility to our programs.”
Rollins currently uses YouTube “webisodes,” frequent Facebook posts, a monthly e-newsletter and an up to date website to reach an audience that may live hundreds of miles from him. Most of his social media efforts deal with quail conservation and are done in conjunction with the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch at Roby www.quailresearch.org . His “e-Quail News” www.facebook.com/rpqrr reaches about 2,650 readers monthly and the ranch’s Facebook page currently reaches about 4,000 people weekly while the number of “friends” who “like” the page has doubled since February.
Of the 23 webisodes he’s published over the past two years, “Sounds a Quail Makes” at www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp6E9s5up6Y remains the most popular with 25,000 views.
“There are many advantages, but also some disadvantages to these various social media types,” Rollins said. “From my perspective, they offer a time- and resource-efficient method for reaching various clientele without having to burn up the roads to do it. I’ve found social media to be a good way to create program awareness and to pique a stakeholder’s interest in learning more.”
Rollins said once social media users are “hooked” he’s often able to entice them into more hands-on efforts such as his “QuailMasters” program for serious students of quail or the “Bobwhite Brigade,” an award-winning youth camp that uses quail as a nucleus to teach a variety of leadership skills. He said his final payoff comes when casual social media users complete one or more of the intensive educational workshops to become advocates and ambassadors for proper wildlife management.
“About the only disadvantage I’ve found to using social media stems from my landowner stakeholders, OK, ‘old ranchers,’ then,” Rollins said. “Not many of the 65-plus crowd are wired into social media. They prefer a hard copy of something they can look at while sipping a cup of morning coffee. So, for that reason, I’ll never give up traditional print media outlets for social media, but in reality, I’ve found they do complement each other quite well.”
Rollins soon hopes to enter the world of “apps” and already has some definite ideas.
“I’m hoping to produce some apps for quail managers soon,” he said. “The first will probably be an e-field guide called something like Key Plants for Quail. It will feature 50 plants important to quail and quail managers, plus tips on how to foster such plants on the Back Forty.”
For now though, Rollins keeps several student interns busy at the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch developing weekly Facebook posts as part of their duties.
“Their efforts help our Facebook page by keeping fresh, varied content posted that helps the interns experience firsthand the importance and power of public relations and information management via social media.”
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