| |
| author |
Janna Fadler
| | title |
Representation of the Environment on Social Media Through Australian and Amazon Forest Fires
| | abstract |
Due to the relatively recent surge in media usage, social media as an educational tool for a
variety of fields is an exciting and developing area of study. Additionally, determining whether or
not a topic is addressed accurately on social media, and the representation to the public that
follows, is an increasingly relevant issue. In this study, the Instagram profiles of three different
environmental organizations and three different popular culture figures were compared using a
post qualitative analysis. In order to use Instagram posts that gained a significant amount of
attention and were in recent memory, the study used the forest fires of Australia and the Amazon
in 2019-2020. Included in this paper is a synopsis of the information available on both cases of the
fires, the connections to climate change, the background of social media and the environment, and
further possible explorations of how the environment can be more aptly represented on social
media. From the analysis of eight different Instagram posts on their caption content as well as
imagery, environmental organizations typically had less engagement than popular culture figures.
This thesis provides a unique perspective of environment and social media as it directly compares
Instagram posts based on their content.
| | school |
The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University
| | degree |
B.A. (2021)
|
| advisor |
Lisa Jordan
|
| full text | JFadler.pdf |
| |
