Social media conservation messaging mirrors age‐old taxonomic biases in public domain

Abstract

AbstractIn this global extinction crisis, we must act urgently to prevent the loss of species. The public plays a key role in ensuring the future of our biodiversity, by impacting funding decisions, creating behaviour change, and pushing change in corporations to prevent species loss. The Threatened Species Bake Off competition is a social media initiative created by the Australian Government in 2017 to raise awareness of nationally listed threatened species. In this study, we assessed the trends of the competition by collating entries via Instagram and Twitter in its first 5 years. Representations of 356 unique species were baked, 261 of which were listed as nationally threatened species. Birds and mammals were the most popular groups represented. Frogs, reptiles, fishes, and invertebrates were reasonably well represented; however, plants were drastically underrepresented in the competition. This is evidence of taxonomic bias towards the charismatic animals, and a problematic lack of representation of other threatened species that play essential roles in our ecosystems. Although the Bake Off is an innovative conservation messaging approach, it reinforces awareness of the same groups that traditional messaging techniques encouraged (i.e., charismatic megafauna). Public engagement in this competition reflects current conservation messaging, including media and education focus on charismatic animals, demonstrating engrained biases. Future competitions should address this by highlighting less popular but equally important threatened species, especially plants.