Using social media as an effective tool for conveying conservation messages and tracking the social...
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TITLE: Using social media as an effective tool for conveying conservation messages and tracking the social impact of conservation issues *Shana Mian; Kaveera Singh; Surina Singh; Deborah Robertson- Andersson and Gan Moodley University of KwaZulu-Natal; School of Life Sciences, Westville Campus, Life Sciences Building, University Road, Private Bag X54001; Durban 4000, South Africa *[email protected] ABSTRACT Despite global concern and awareness of plastic pollution there is continuing use of plastic products, due to its cost- effective and convenient nature, however improper waste disposal of terrestrial plastics account for approximately 80% of the plastics found in marine environments. Due to the far reaching effects of plastic pollution several marine conservation education programs have been developed to address waste disposal/pollution. To date, these have been largely ineffective. Scientists and psychologists now realise that human behaviour plays an important role in determining the success or failure of any conservation initiative. The main issue appears to be how conservation messages are conveyed to the general public. In a changing world, citizens are experiencing an information overload and scientists therefore need to critically assess the way in which conservation messages are conveyed. Social media are found to be an effective way to communicate with the general public. This study aims to 1) examine current strategies used by Social Media based awareness campaigns, 2) determine certain public biases around plastic pollution and 3) track the spread and impact of marine plastic pollution conservation messages. Twenty biodiversity-related YouTube LLC videos were selected, ranked on criteria related to message impact and a cluster analysis was run to determine the 10 highest-ranked criteria. These were used to create two YouTube LLC videos (one which included the highest- and the other the lowest-ranked criteria) which were compared using Likert Scale questionnaires given to focus groups, to test the efficacy of conventional conservation message transmission. Memes of selected marine animals and scenes affected by plastic
Transcript of Using social media as an effective tool for conveying conservation messages and tracking the social...
TITLE: Using social media as an effective tool for conveying conservation messages and tracking the social impact of conservation issues
*Shana Mian; Kaveera Singh; Surina Singh; Deborah Robertson-Andersson and Gan Moodley
University of KwaZulu-Natal; School of Life Sciences, Westville Campus, Life Sciences Building, University Road, Private Bag X54001; Durban 4000, South Africa
ABSTRACT
Despite global concern and awareness of plastic pollution there is continuing use of plastic products, due to its cost-effective and convenient nature, however improper waste disposal of terrestrial plastics account for approximately 80% of the plastics found in marine environments. Due to the far reaching effects of plastic pollution several marine conservation education programs have been developed to address waste disposal/pollution. To date, these have been largely ineffective. Scientists and psychologists now realise that human behaviour plays an important role in determining the success or failure of any conservation initiative. The main issue appears to be how conservation messages are conveyed to the general public. In a changing world, citizens are experiencing an information overload and scientists therefore need to critically assess the way in which conservation messages are conveyed. Social media are found to be an effective way to communicate with the general public. This study aims to 1) examine current strategies used by Social Media based awareness campaigns, 2) determine certain public biases around plastic pollution and 3) track the spread and impact of marine plastic pollution conservation messages. Twenty biodiversity-related YouTubeLLC videos were selected, ranked on criteria related to message impact and a cluster analysis was run to determine the 10 highest-ranked criteria. These were used to create two YouTubeLLC videos (one which included the highest- and the other the lowest-ranked criteria) which were compared using Likert Scale questionnaires given to focus groups, to test the efficacy of conventional conservation message transmission. Memes of selected marine animals and scenes affected by plastic pollution were uploaded on social media sites. The number of ‘likes’, ‘shares’ and ‘comments’ were used to interpret reactions and determine meme bias. The results indicate that conservation education messages should promote conservation activities as a lifestyle preference to encourage sustainability.
KEYWORDS: Marine Conservation; social media; conservation education; marine plastic pollution.
