Spread the word: Sharing information on social media can stabilize conservation funding and improve ecological outcomes

Abstract

Conservation needs adequate support and funding to address our ecological crises. People support conservation in different ways, from social media engagement to donating money. Various factors influence how people choose to support conservation, including social norms and ecological status. The rise of social media has provided people with an easy and low-cost way to support conservation: sharing information online. How valuable is social media engagement and activism for conservation funding and outcomes? Here, we develop an evolutionary game-theoretic framework to understand the complex interactions between individuals in the context of social media information sharing, conservation philanthropy, and how these interactions ultimately impact ecological outcomes. From a game theory perspective, we can consider donors to be hard-cooperators, sharers of information on social media to be soft-cooperators, and those who do nothing to be non-cooperators. Our model shows that soft-cooperators can help stabilize conservation funding flows and develop social norms. Supporting conservation through social media sharing can ultimately contribute to conservation success. Our study conceptualizes the complex decision-making processes of conservation funding and affirms the importance and value of mobilizing all types of supporters in conservation.

Conservation philanthropy: Growing the field of research and practice

“…The study by Takashina et al (2023) is unique in the collection in exploring funding flows from individuals rather than organizations, focusing on the role of information sharing on social media and how that shapes social norms for conservation donations. Drawing on a mathematical model, they argue that "soft-cooperators" who share information on social media-even without actively donating-play an important role in generating greater and more stable funding for conservation by influencing norms about charitable giving (Takashina et al, 2023).…”

“…Although the term “philanthropy” is often associated with the ultrarich (Holmes, 2012), small donors are also important. In the United States, they contribute “the overwhelming majority” of philanthropic giving (Reich, 2020, p. 10) and crowdfunding is an increasingly important conservation finance mechanism (Gallo‐Cajiao et al, 2018; Takashina et al, 2023). This surge in philanthropic spending will have ripple effects throughout the funding ‘ecosystem’ for biodiversity conservation by supplementing, catalyzing, and influencing public sector spending (Beer, 2022).…”