In the United States, almost three-quarters of teenagers who are active on line participate in social networking sites, and social networking's fastest-growing demographic is users over the age of 25. Social networking sites are an important part of life, and this paper's authors believe that environmental educators could use better use social networking to connect people and spur action. The authors report on how participation in a climate change-related application in Facebook called Hot Dish affected people's knowledge and behaviors related to climate change.
The Hot Dish application--part of a larger research-and-development project to use social media to increase civic engagement around climate change issues--helps people share information and ideas, and provides incentives and recognition for performing pro-climate behaviors. The authors explain:
Key features included the ability to post original story entries; share articles from online sources; browse or read deeply; curate, rank, and comment on posted entries; craft a personal profile; showcase usage statistics and contributions; and participate in Action Team challenges, or activities both online and offline, such as recycling, volunteering for an environmental organization, writing a letter to the editor, or signing an online petition, that upon completion were showcased within the Hot Dish environment.
This format was inspired by ideas related to free-choice learning, social learning, and behavior change, and the researchers sought to find out how the application affected what users learned and did.
The researchers analyzed user statistics, administered an online survey and online focus groups, and analyzed users' comments during an 8-week launch and promotion period. The survey was administered at the end of the launch period, and asked users about their knowledge and behaviors. The researchers conducted two online focus groups, one with medium-to-high-frequency users and the other with low-frequency users and covered topics such as why users joined, what they learned, and so on. Finally, the researchers also analyzed the comments users posted on the most-discussed stories and analyzed the comments “for evidence of learning and behavior changes.”
The researchers found that Hot Dish users were more informed about climate change than the general public. Nevertheless, there were gaps in their understanding. For example, more than a quarter of respondents did not understand the function of the ozone layer, confusing it with the greenhouse effect. The results also indicated that Hot Dish users joined because they wanted to interact with like-minded people, and that they “benefited from the social learning environment of online discussion.” Users' comments and choices of articles to share indicate an interest in learning about positive environmental behaviors. Stories on responsible consumerism were the most popular, and comments often reflected participants' interest in doing more to limit their carbon footprint.
Users' reports of environmental behavior support this finding. Users reported their behaviors before and after participating (though they reported all of this on one survey administered after they had participated), and there was a significant difference in the reported behavior. Although the difference was significant, it was small. The researchers surmise that the users were already engaging in many pro-environmental behaviors before participating in the program. But the authors think that any increase in behavior in such an already-motivated group is an important finding.
Users also enjoyed the competitive aspects of the program, either engaging in behaviors in order to earn points, or simply being happy to receive recognition for the things they were already doing. In all, users reported completing over 1,500 challenges during the study period. Although the program created an online community, many of the challenges helped people connect to their local community. Of the completed challenges, 22% were activism in the local community, such as attending a town meeting, volunteering for an environmental group, or writing a letter to the editor of a local paper.
Although this study suggests that Hot Dish users increased knowledge and behaviors as a result of their participation, the authors note that this was a self-selected group with already-high levels of knowledge and civic engagement. In addition, this study involved a relatively small number of participants for a short period of time. Another limitation was the technique of asking about behaviors before and after exposure to Hot Dish in the same survey. It's always difficult to know how accurate self-reported behaviors are, and asking for this information all at once makes these results less reliable. Finally, while the authors believe that the results indicate that online social networks may be an effective tool for spurring knowledge and action, they don't believe that online experiences can replace actual experiences outdoors.
The Bottom Line
This analysis of an online social networking application in Facebook called Hot Dish suggests that educational social networks are a promising new area for environmental education. This application offered users the chance to share information and ideas about climate change and what we can do about it, and provided recognition and incentives for positive behaviors. The approach embraces the ideas of free-choice learning and social learning theory. But this research was highly descriptive and represents only a first step in understanding the true impact of this approach to online education through social networks. Much more research is needed to understand how best to use these these tools to educate large numbers of people, and, perhaps more importantly, move them to action.