## 3 Media-Based Communication Strategies
### Social Media  
Social media represents a shift from traditional, largely noninteractive forms of communication, such as print and television, to a broadly accessible, user-driven network that allows for interactions between organizations, individuals, and communities. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Flickr have the potential to engage and inform the public on conservation issues, and to serve as valuable sources of ecological and sociological data to inform conservation actions. Conservation organizations are increasingly using social media tools to improve public awareness of conservation issues and distribute the findings of conservation research [93], and such tools can also improve the accountability of public officials and individuals in response to conservation crises [94]. Moreover, engagement of the public in biodiversity monitoring and conservation using social media tools has been cited as having led to a \"rebirth of natural history\" in countries around the world [95]. Such platforms allow the public to interact with experts in the field of conservation science [96], and can be used to assess public perceptions of conservation actions [97]. Social media also shows substantial, if underutilized, potential for informing conservation research, management, and planning efforts [98; 99; 100; 101; 102; 103]. However, successful development and implementation of the most effective methodologies require accounting for numerous potential challenges. In order to leverage social media to its full potential, a strategic approach is required beyond simply creating a social media presence, such as taking steps to prompt interactions and stimulate discussion [90]. Such a strategy might begin with efforts to understand the behavior of different demographic sectors of an organization's online audience in order to strategically target each group [104; 105; 106]. Strategic elements can also include identifying which types of content (such as photos and videos) stimulate more discussion and user interactions [90], timing the sharing of posts on days and times with the highest user engagement [107], and aiming for frequency and regularity of posts, which can increase engagement [108]. In terms of content related to wildlife research and conservation, more charismatic species, particularly birds and mammals, tend to receive far more attention than other taxa [93; 109]. Furthermore, larger bodied animals receive much more attention than smaller ones, and both factors lead to social media users interacting with a significantly biased subsample of conservation issues and science [87]. In the aquatic realm, this poses a challenge for drawing attention to taxa such as fishes. However, the Mekong is home to more large-bodied freshwater fishes than any river on earth, and social media content related to these species has indeed proved to be very popular (Table 4, see Case Study below). Critically, generating engagement alone does not guarantee achieving outreach goals, such as informing the public on key conservation issues [110], and the strategic development of messaging is essential. Consideration must be given to the specific knowledge an organization is seeking to transmit, whether highlighting threats from human activities, or effectively describing conservation efforts and methodologies to improve public understanding [110]. While social media engages audience members remotely and requires access to technology, such digital interactions are becoming increasingly common and normal. A moderate amount of effort is required to develop and curate social media content, particularly in a strategic way to include elements such as visual media and themed posts. However, comparatively little effort is needed to distribute the content via social media platforms, and there is potential to reach hundreds of thousands of people, especially if stories go \"viral\". Overall, successfully leveraging the power of social media does require encouraging public participation.