The role of visual framing in marine conservation communication

Abstract

Marine conservation programs face significant challenges engaging different audiences to participate in conservation actions. While it is understood that images can play a crucial role in shaping people's behaviours, in the context of marine conservation, research has focused on the effect of words. We know little about the effect of images on influencing people's intentions. Thus, there is scant guidance for marine conservation programs wanting to use images to improve communication and engagement strategies. This study addresses this gap by assessing how images are used in social media in Australian turtle conservation programs. Specifically, using visual framing analysis and online surveys, we assessed whether images of conservation actions or conservation threats increase participants emotions, self-efficacy, and intentions to engage in pro-conservation behaviours, using flatback turtles as a case study. We find that 1) images of animals are commonly used on social media, with certain types of images (e.g. landscapes, conservation actions) generating higher user engagement; 2) images on Twitter and Instagram generated higher user engagement than on Facebook; 3) images of conservation actions increased feelings of hope and self-efficacy, while images of conservation threats increased feelings of fear and reduced self-efficacy; and 4) feelings of self-efficacy increased participants' intentions to support low-effort conservation actions. Results suggest that the types of images posted on social media can influence viewers' emotions and intentions to engage in pro-conservation behaviours. Our findings provide guidance for conservation programs and managers to develop improved communication and engagement strategies through visual media.