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

What is it about?

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. 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. Our research highlights the potential for social media to be an extremely useful communication tool for tropical conservation scientists.

Featured Image