Presenter: Sarah Arnell
Faculty Mentor: Autumn Shafer
Presentation Type: Poster 3
Primary Research Area: Social Science
Major: Journalism, Public Relations
Large environmental organizations operating in the U.S., such as Sierra Club and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), are widely considered to be influential in shaping political policies and public opinion in regards to climate change, greenhouse gasses, preserving ecosystems, energy, and water consumption. In addition to relying on private public donors for funding, environmental organizations often call members to action in support of local and national lobbying efforts and community-based volunteer activities. One key outreach channel used by such organizations is Twitter. Although many of these organizations send several tweets a day to hundreds of thousands of followers, an initial review of the Twitter accounts of the largest U.S. based environmental organizations revealed most have extremely low engagement among their followers (i.e., less than 1% of followers are engaging with their tweets). In this study, we will conduct a quantitative content analysis of the Twitter feeds of four major environmental organizations and analyze successes (i.e., WWF has 3.7 times as many followers as Sierra Club, yet recent WWF tweets were shared 8.8 times and liked 21.1 times more often) and opportunities to better engage with their publics. We will compare organizations and tweets based on content, such as message framing (e.g., gain and loss frames), and follower engagement. This research will provide insights as to what types of tweets are most effective in motivating engagement.