#ProtectNature-How Characteristics of Nature Conservation Posts Impact User Engagement on Facebook and Twitter

Social networks expand the communication tools of nature conservation. Nonetheless, to date there is hardly any scientific literature on nature conservation communication in social networks. For this reason, this paper examines 600 Facebook and Twitter posts of three German nature conservation organizations: Federal Agency for the Conservation of Nature (Bundesamt fur Naturschutz, BfN), Naturschutzbund Deutschland e. V. (NABU), and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Germany. Using the Mann-Whitney U method and Spearman's rank correlation analysis, it reveals how post design affects communication success and provides respective recommendations for German conservation organizations. Communication success was divided into four indicators: reactions, comments, shares, and overall engagement as a synthesis of the three. On Facebook, the use of hashtags, images, and many characters (up to 1500) leads to higher success, whereas emojis and videos can reduce it. On Twitter, links, images, and longer posts promote user interactions. Emojis have a positive influence on comments and overall engagement, but a negative influence on reactions and shares. In addition, hashtags reduce overall engagement on Twitter. These results are discussed with reference to similar studies from other political fields in order to provide recommendations for conservation organizations. A validation and expansion of the presented results is recommended due to the growing relevance of digital nature conservation communication.

Automated summary

This study analyzed the posts of three German nature conservation organizations on Facebook and Twitter and found that different post designs have varying impacts on communication success. It recommended specific design elements for German conservation organizations to enhance their communication effectiveness on social media. The results showed that using hashtags, images, and longer characters on Facebook can improve success, while emojis and videos may decrease it. On Twitter, links, images, and longer posts are effective in promoting user interactions.