What Happens When Animals Tweet? A Case Study at Brookfield Zoo

Social media has created the opportunity for organizations to reach a larger audience via the internet. Zoos are interested in using social media to engage people beyond or in lieu of a zoo visit with one of the primary goals being conservation education. This paper describes a novel fifteen-month experiment where zoo animals participated in the Brookfield Zoo Twitter feed. Over 3200 tweets about animal behavior were transmitted and retweets (RTs) were observed. At the core of each tweet was a simple description of what the focal animal was doing at that moment. Tweet content varied according to six key elements: voice, species popularity, type of behavior, natural history fact, animal´s given name and link to photo. RTs were considered a measure of engagement. Regression analysis was utilized to understand how each of the elements impacted the likelihood of RT. In addition, the retweeters were analyzed in terms of number of RTs, content retweeted, and location. These results provide insight into the feasibility of utilizing social media to emulate zoo experiences that are linked to positive learning outcomes.