Q&A: USING INSTAGRAM STORIES FOR SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
This Q&A features Brook Gamble, Community Education Specialist, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR), California Naturalist Program. The interview was conducted by Rose Hayden-Smith, Extension Foundation Education Technology Fellow. About the UC ANR California Naturalist Program: The mission of the UC ANR California Naturalist Program “… is to foster a
diverse community of naturalists and promote stewardship of California's natural resources through education and service. The program is designed to introduce Californians to the state’s varied and unique ecology, and to engage the public in study and stewardship. The California Naturalist program uses a science-based curriculum that incorporates hands-on learning, problem-solving, participatory science , and community service. ”
To date, nearly 4,000 volunteers have been certified through the program. The program’s Instagram account may be found at uccalnat .
“ Pay attention to delegation of staff resources to social media. Our leadership recognized that social media is an important way to reach a wider audience and allowed each staff member to devote some time to this method of outreach. I attribute this one thing to a lot of the gains we have made. People with boots on the ground are sharing timely, relevant information. ”
– Brook Gamble
Rose Hayden-Smith: Your team is known for extending #scicomm work via Instagram Stories. What inspired you to utilize this particular platform and feature? What kind of stories do you share? How do you use the platform? Brook Gamble: We were a little late to the table when we joined Instagram. I was the sole full-time employee and social media manager until a few years ago. I had my hands full with trying to build our Twitter and Facebook following and producing and sharing content. When we hired another full-time staff member we had more capacity to experiment. It felt like a natural time to expand our efforts into Instagram. We knew we were missing a huge part of our community by not engaging on Instagram, namely a younger demographic, so that was a big motivation. Also, Instagram is so visual, we knew it would be a great way to amplify our colleagues and partners’ messages and share the original natural history content that our community produces every day. We were excited to expand our reach and connect our statewide community to each other that way. We share science-based natural history content. Our message is positive, constructive, and hopeful.
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