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Social media’s potential to promote conservation at the local level: an assessment in eleven primate range countries

In: Folia Primatologica
Authors:
Cate Twining-Ward Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA

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Jorge Ramos Luna Red de Biología y Conservación de Vertebrados, Instituto de Ecología AC, Xalapa 91070, México

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Janaína Paula Back Escola de Ciências da Saúde e da Vida, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, 90610, Brazil

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Joselyne Barakagwira Center of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda

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Júlio César Bicca-Marques Escola de Ciências da Saúde e da Vida, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, 90610, Brazil

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Mathilde Chanvin Macaca Nigra Project, Tangkoko Conservation Education, Tangkogo Reserve, Sulawesi, Indonesia

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Nona Diko Macaca Nigra Project, Tangkoko Conservation Education, Tangkogo Reserve, Sulawesi, Indonesia

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Julie Duboscq Macaca Nigra Project, Tangkoko Conservation Education, Tangkogo Reserve, Sulawesi, Indonesia
UMR7206 Eco-anthropologie, CNRS-MNHN-Université de Paris, Musée de l’Homme, 75016 Paris, France
Department for Behavioral Ecology, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach Institute for Zoology and Anthropology, Georg August University Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

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Pengfei Fan School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510275, China

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Carmen Galán-Acedo Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, C.P. 58190, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico

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Jan F. Gogarten Viral Evolution & Epidemiology of Highly Pathogenic Microorganisms, Robert Koch Institute, 1335 Berlin, Germany

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Songtao Guo Shaanxi Key Laboratory for Animal Conservation, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, China

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Diana C. Guzman-Caro Conservation Bridges Foundation, Bogotá, Colombia

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Rong Hou Shaanxi Key Laboratory for Animal Conservation, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, China

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Urs Kalbitzer Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany
Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany

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Beth A. Kaplin Center of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda

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Sean M. Lee Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA

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Addisu Mekonnen Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada

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Paulin Mungongo Veterinary medicine faculty, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Himani Nautiyal National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560012, India

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Patrick Omeja Makerere University Biological Field Station, Fort Portal, Uganda

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Veronarindra Ramananjato Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

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Nasandratra Nancia Raoelinjanakolona Zoology and Animal Biology Program, University of Antananarivo, Madagascar

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Onja Razafindratsima Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

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Cécile Sarabian Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan

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Dipto Sarkar Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada

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Juan Carlos Serio-Silva Red de Biología y Conservación de Vertebrados, Instituto de Ecología AC, Xalapa 91070, México

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Risma Yanti Macaca Nigra Project, Tangkoko Conservation Education, Tangkogo Reserve, Sulawesi, Indonesia

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Colin A. Chapman Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
Shaanxi Key Laboratory for Animal Conservation, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, China
Wilson Center, Washington, DC 20004, USA
School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Scottsville, 3209, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8827-8140
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Abstract

Historically, Internet access has been linked to a country’s wealth. However, starting a decade ago, this situation changed dramatically and Internet access became increasingly available in primate range countries. The rapid growth of smartphone use in developing nations has created new avenues to communicate conservation. Here we assess the potential of social media to promote primate conservation at the local level within primate range countries. We interviewed 381 people in communities associated with 18 conservation projects from 11 countries to assess their use of social media. We found that 91% of the people had at least one social media account and 95% of these people checked their accounts daily. The median number of contacts per person across all platforms was 453 and 300 considering only each person’s most used platform. We also documented that local conservation projects had a diversity of information they wanted to relay to the local community through social media. Our research highlights the potential for social media to be an extremely useful communication tool for tropical conservation scientists. Thus, we encourage more conservation groups to explore using social media to communicate to local communities and to report on the impact it has on conservation.

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