Social Media as a Lens for Citizen Science: Investigating Visitor Contributions in a Forest Recreational Area

Shoma Jingu (), Yui Ogawa, Kazushige Yamaki, Asako Miyamoto and Norimasa Takayama ()
Additional contact information
Shoma Jingu: Department of Forest Management, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Forest Research and Management Organization, Tsukuba 305-8687, Japan
Yui Ogawa: Degree Programs in Life and Earth Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8577, Japan
Kazushige Yamaki: Department of Forest Management, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Forest Research and Management Organization, Tsukuba 305-8687, Japan
Asako Miyamoto: Department of Forest Management, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Forest Research and Management Organization, Tsukuba 305-8687, Japan
Norimasa Takayama: Department of Forest Management, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Forest Research and Management Organization, Tsukuba 305-8687, Japan

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 13, 1-22

Abstract: The primary challenge in collecting biodiversity information using citizen science is to encourage a diverse range of people to participate. This is crucial in fostering a Nature Positive society. Social media approaches have the potential to engage not only nature lovers but also a wider range of citizens, including those indifferent to nature. However, current understanding of the traits of individuals who contribute to widely prevalent social media platforms is limited and insufficient. This study focuses on individuals who contribute to a forest recreational area and the photos they share on a popular social media platform; it sheds light on the untapped potential of social media as a source of citizen science data and contributor sources. We developed a taxonomy of 22 classifications for 1066 photographs that illustrate human–ecosystem interactions and identified the relationship between these subjects and the history of social media activities of the 136 photo contributors. Our findings indicate that different behavioral styles exist among different types of visitors regarding their posting behavior and associated forest recreation types. This can encourage future contributions to the recruitment of citizen scientists and the collection of biodiversity information at small spatial scales.

Keywords: cultural ecosystem services; social media; citizen science; photo analysis; interpretation; phenology monitoring; bird watcher; symbolic species (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/13/5804/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/13/5804/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:13:p:5804-:d:1430966

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().