Society for Conservation Biology

Scientists at ICCB 2017 used twitter to deliver conservation messages and research to a worldwide audience.  

 

More than 19,000 tweets sent in the month prior to and after the Congress included the official congress hashtag #ICCB2017, with nearly 15,000 sent during the Congress (23 – 27 July). Since 13 June, tweets with the hashtag #ICCB2017 have been delivered to nearly 46 million twitter streams.

 

Not surprisingly, "conservation" was mentioned more than any other word. Other high-use words include Colombia, biodiversity, science, social, need, species, and conservationoptimism.  

 

Local volunteers from Yuca Pelá, a research lab in environmental communication at the Universidad Tecnológica de Bolivar helped to cover ICCB 2017 through video production, photography, and social media. Team members from left to right: Humberto Ochoa, Samuel López, Jeimy Bula, Esdras Devoz and María Clara Valencia. Photo by Edo Devoz.

Excluding the official Congress twitter account @ICCB2017, the most active twitter accounts to mention #ICCB2017 were @IbuAnggrek (Lauren Gardiner), @AzurigenMCS (Travis Nielson), @Rebecca_Jarvis, @WhySharksMatter (David Shiffman), and @ultimatemegs (Megan Barnes). Lauren Gardiner was also the most active twitter user at ICCB-ECCB in Montpellier, France in 2015. 

One of a collection of ICCB 2017 Instagram posts on Storify.

ICCB plenary speaker EJ Milner Gulland (@EJMilnerGulland) received the most user mentions at ICCB. Her plenary talk was titled "Rethinking Conservation in an Uncertain World." 

ICCB attendees were active on other social platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Check out a selection of ICCB 2017 Tweets and Instagram posts on Storify. 

The Society thanks the members of the ICCB 2017 Communications Committee for leading the initiative to make Twitter an integral component of the Congress, including committee chair Rachel Golden, co-chairs Maria Clara Valencia and Sandra Pompa Mansilla, vice-chairs Mather Herbert and Nathan Spillman and members Angelica Viviana Camacho Martinez, Chelsie Romulo, Amy Rosenthal, and David Shiffman.