Zoos Are Among Big Cats in Twitter Kingdom
Some people might argue that the Internet is a zoo. Well, that may be more accurate than you think.
Zoos and national parks rank fifth on a new list by NetProspex of the most active industries on Twitter.
Of the 221 institutions that are members of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, at least two-thirds use social media of some kind, and the number is growing, Linda Cendes, a member of the association’s communications team, recently told blogger Ari B. Adler for a post titled “Zoos are going wild for social media.”
Not surprisingly, the search engines/online portal sector sits atop the NetProspex list, followed by traditional media, banking and advertising/marketing.
But zoos and national parks come in ahead of industries like beauty care (No. 6), HR/recruiting (No. 7), toys and games (No. 8), IT (No. 9) and software (No. 10).
This ranking makes you wonder whether the zoo animals have been put to work on Twitter. In some cases, they have (wink, wink).
For instance, one of the Galapagos tortoises at the Chicago area’s Brookfield Zoo (Galapagos tortoise 4.2, to be exact) tweeted: “I am basking under the light with my three siblings. Galapagos tortoises are not very good swimmers due to our weight.”
The Brookfield Zoo boasts more than 1,900 Twitter followers. It appears that Brookfield and other zoos understand the weight of Twitter. According to Zoochat.com, more than 130 U.S. zoos and aquariums maintain Twitter accounts.
The San Francisco Zoo, with nearly 8,200 Twitter followers, recently tweeted: “We are proud to announce that the Zoo has three new flamingo chicks!”
In a post on the website of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, Ciri Haugh, marketing coordinator at the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, said social media “offers yet another resource for cultivating relationships with visitors and advocates.” She said the zoo’s active participation in social media, including Twitter, has given the “medium-sized zoo a big, new voice in the community and beyond.”
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