Abstract
To the Editor:
At our recent journal club, a spirited discussion about “The Associations Between Visitation, Social Media Use, and Search and Rescue in United States National Parks” 1 prompted several questions. We work closely with the park rangers at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, and the expansion of mobile phone reception further into the parks has highlighted the potential correlations between park visitor safety and social media use. The authors’ ability to use University of California Irvine’s database of Twitter posts obviously proved useful, but we ask about expansion to other social media platforms and more specific data.
The authors referenced a study that found there were more Instagram than Twitter posts across multiple national parks in South Africa and Finland, and additionally found Instagram to be a more reliable predictor of park visitation than other social media platforms. 2 The data from Instagram use in the parks could be very helpful in their research, particularly the geotagged usage data that could point to specific areas inside the park. Did the authors attempt to use Instagram or other social media platform data, and, if so, why where the authors not able to use it?
Additionally, we wondered if Twitter might offer an additional layer of useful data. Because the data used in the paper were all aggregate, it seems that it was difficult to find more specific and meaningful correlations between visitation, Twitter activity, and search and rescue (SAR) activity. The authors mention in the paper that the Cloudberry application also collects geographic data on Twitter posts. Is there the possibility of using these data rather than keywords to locate where users are posting? We also wondered if there is any way to gather data from individuals on personal social media use and SAR activations? It would be very interesting to know if social media activity increases an individual’s risk of being the subject of a SAR mission.
This paper shared insights that may inspire further research on social media and wilderness safety. An awareness of any methodological limitations the authors encountered might inform future investigations.