Framing of visual content shown on popular social media may affect viewers’ attitudes to threatened species

BALLEJO, FERNANDO; PLAZA, PABLO IGNACIO; LAMBERTUCCI, SERGIO AGUSTÍN

Scientific Reports

Nature Publishing Group

Año: 2021 vol. 11

Content published on social media may affect user?s attitudes toward wildlife species. We evaluatedviewers? responses to videos published on a popular social medium, focusing particularly on how thecontent was framed (i.e., the way an issue is conveyed to transmit a certain meaning). We analyzedvideos posted on YouTube that showed vultures interacting with livestock. The videos were negativelyor positively framed, and we evaluated viewers? opinions of these birds through the comments posted.We also analyzed negatively framed videos of mammalian predators interacting with livestock, toevaluate whether comments on this content were similar to those on vultures. We found that theframing of the information influenced the tone of the comments. Videos showing farmers talkingabout their livestock losses were more likely to provoke negative comments than videos not includingfarmer testimonies. The probability of negative comments being posted on videos about vultures washigher than for mammalian predators. Finally, negatively framed videos on vultures had more viewsover time than positive ones. Our results call for caution in the presentation of wildlife species online,and highlight the need for regulations to prevent the spread of misinformed videos that could magnifyexisting human-wildlife conflicts.