“Let Me Take a Selfie”: Reviewing the Implications of Social Media for Public Perceptions of Wild Animals

Christian Lenzi; Siobhan Speiran; Chiara Grasso

doi:10.20944/preprints201904.0123.v1

Preprint Review Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Version 1 : Received: 8 April 2019 / Approved: 10 April 2019 / Online: 10 April 2019 (09:35:16 CEST)

Social media has become a powerful tool for spreading information and awareness campaigns on environmental issues, especially as they pertain to the conservation of wild animals. It is a double-edged sword, however, since it also facilitates the legal and illegal trade of wild animal species as well as the propagation of ‘wild animal selfies.’ This review presents some key literature to date which concerns the impact of social media on public perceptions of animals (such as through ‘viral’ videos), changing trends in animal encounters at wildlife tourism destinations, and the wildlife trade as it is facilitated by social media. Finally, avenues for future research are suggested with urgency, since the impact of social media on the welfare and conservation of wild animal species is most likely underestimated yet bears serious consequences.

social media; selfies; wild animals; wildlife tourism; wildlife trade

Your full name

Your affiliation information (e.g., name of your university/institution/organization)

Not displayed online.

Your Email address (not made public)

Please leave your comment to this article below.

Mathematical equations can be typed in either LaTeX formats \\[ ... \\] or $$ ... $$, or MathML format <math> ... </math>. Try the LaTeX or MathML example.

Type equation:

Preview:

Copy equation into message below

Close menu

Please click a symbol to insert it into the message box below:

Please enter the link here:

Optionally, you can enter text that should appear as linked text:

Copy link into message below

Close menu

Please enter or paste the URL to the image here (please only use links to jpg/jpeg, png and gif images):

Copy image into message below

Close menu

Type author name or keywords to filter the list of references in this group (you can add a new citation under Bibliography):

No existing citations in Discussion Group

Wikify editor is a simple editor for wiki-style mark-up. It was written by MDPI for Sciforum in 2014. The rendering of the mark-up is based on Wiky.php with some tweaks. Rendering of mathematical equations is done with MathJax. Please send us a message for support or for reporting bugs.

Close menu

Please declare any conflicts of interest you may have with this paper, financial or otherwise.

I do not have a conflict of interest

I would like to declare a conflict of interest

Display my name on the website I want to get recognition for my comment on Publons

[what’s this?]. Link your accounts here

Captcha

Renew

I accept the following conditions:

Comments must follow the standards of professional discourse and should focus on the scientific content of the article. Insulting or offensive language, personal attacks and off-topic remarks will not be permitted. Comments must be written in English. Preprints reserves the right to remove comments without notice. Readers who post comments are obliged to declare any competing interests, financial or otherwise.

Notify me about updates to this article or when a peer-reviewed version is published.

Upload a Image(max file size 2MB)

“Let Me Take a Selfie”: Reviewing the Implications of Social Media for Public Perceptions of Wild Animals

Abstract

Keywords

Comments (0)