Evaluating the benefits and risks of social media for wildlife conservation
Given its extensive volume and reach, social media has the potential to widely spread conservation messaging and be a powerful tool to mobilize social change for conserving biodiversity. We synthesized gray and primary academic literature to investigate the effects of social media on wildlife conser...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Canadian Science Publishing
2022-01-01
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Series: | FACETS |
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Online Access: | https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/facets-2021-0112 |
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author | Jordanna N. Bergman Rachel T. Buxton Hsien-Yung Lin Magdalena Lenda Kayla Attinello Adrianne C. Hajdasz Stephanie A. Rivest Thuong Tran Nguyen Steven J. Cooke Joseph R. Bennett |
author_facet | Jordanna N. Bergman Rachel T. Buxton Hsien-Yung Lin Magdalena Lenda Kayla Attinello Adrianne C. Hajdasz Stephanie A. Rivest Thuong Tran Nguyen Steven J. Cooke Joseph R. Bennett |
author_sort | Jordanna N. Bergman |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Given its extensive volume and reach, social media has the potential to widely spread conservation messaging and be a powerful tool to mobilize social change for conserving biodiversity. We synthesized gray and primary academic literature to investigate the effects of social media on wildlife conservation, revealing several overarching benefits and risks. We found that social media can increase pro-conservation behaviours among the public, increase conservation funding, and incite policy changes. Conversely, social media can contribute to species exploitation and illegal trade, cause unprecedented increases in tourism in protected areas, and perpetuate anti-conservation behaviours via misinformation. In most cases, we found that content sharing on social media did not result in a detectable impact on conservation; in this paper, however, we focus on providing examples where conservation impact was achieved. We relate these positive and negative outcomes of social media to psychological phenomena that may influence conservation efforts and discuss limitations of our findings. We conclude with recommendations of best practices to social media administrators, public social media users, nongovernmental organizations, and governing agencies to minimize conservation risks while maximizing beneficial outcomes. By improving messaging, policing online misconduct, and providing guidance for action, social media can help achieve wildlife conservation goals. |
first_indexed | 2024-12-24T11:18:03Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-d909ec9dcfe343d791fd2403bae9ab80 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2371-1671 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-12-24T11:18:03Z |
publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
publisher | Canadian Science Publishing |
record_format | Article |
series | FACETS |
spelling | doaj.art-d909ec9dcfe343d791fd2403bae9ab802022-12-21T16:58:19ZengCanadian Science PublishingFACETS2371-16712022-01-01736039710.1139/facets-2021-0112Evaluating the benefits and risks of social media for wildlife conservationJordanna N. Bergman0Rachel T. Buxton1Hsien-Yung Lin2Magdalena Lenda3Kayla Attinello4Adrianne C. Hajdasz5Stephanie A. Rivest6Thuong Tran Nguyen7Steven J. Cooke8Joseph R. Bennett9Department of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, CanadaDepartment of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, CanadaDepartment of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, CanadaDepartment of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, 111 Ren’ai Road, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215123, ChinaDepartment of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, CanadaDepartment of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, CanadaDepartment of Biology, University of Ottawa, 75 Laurier Avenue E, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, CanadaDepartment of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, CanadaDepartment of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, CanadaDepartment of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, CanadaGiven its extensive volume and reach, social media has the potential to widely spread conservation messaging and be a powerful tool to mobilize social change for conserving biodiversity. We synthesized gray and primary academic literature to investigate the effects of social media on wildlife conservation, revealing several overarching benefits and risks. We found that social media can increase pro-conservation behaviours among the public, increase conservation funding, and incite policy changes. Conversely, social media can contribute to species exploitation and illegal trade, cause unprecedented increases in tourism in protected areas, and perpetuate anti-conservation behaviours via misinformation. In most cases, we found that content sharing on social media did not result in a detectable impact on conservation; in this paper, however, we focus on providing examples where conservation impact was achieved. We relate these positive and negative outcomes of social media to psychological phenomena that may influence conservation efforts and discuss limitations of our findings. We conclude with recommendations of best practices to social media administrators, public social media users, nongovernmental organizations, and governing agencies to minimize conservation risks while maximizing beneficial outcomes. By improving messaging, policing online misconduct, and providing guidance for action, social media can help achieve wildlife conservation goals.https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/facets-2021-0112endangered speciesFacebookInstagraminvasive speciesinternetTwitter |
spellingShingle | Jordanna N. Bergman Rachel T. Buxton Hsien-Yung Lin Magdalena Lenda Kayla Attinello Adrianne C. Hajdasz Stephanie A. Rivest Thuong Tran Nguyen Steven J. Cooke Joseph R. Bennett Evaluating the benefits and risks of social media for wildlife conservation FACETS endangered species invasive species internet |
title | Evaluating the benefits and risks of social media for wildlife conservation |
title_full | Evaluating the benefits and risks of social media for wildlife conservation |
title_fullStr | Evaluating the benefits and risks of social media for wildlife conservation |
title_full_unstemmed | Evaluating the benefits and risks of social media for wildlife conservation |
title_short | Evaluating the benefits and risks of social media for wildlife conservation |
title_sort | evaluating the benefits and risks of social media for wildlife conservation |
topic | endangered species invasive species internet |
url | https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/facets-2021-0112 |
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