Social media is often used to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and engage the public, which can change the public's attitudes and behaviors and may be used to benefit conservation. Moreover, widespread social media use provides an alternative data sourcing platform to inexpensively access countless potential respondents. However, social media data have rarely been used in conservation regardless of the potential benefit to conservation science and practice. We administered a questionnaire via the #CougarOrNot Twitter game, a mountain lion‐focused social media campaign, during 26 December 2016 through 16 February 2018, to access a large respondent sample (n = 1,481) and assess a subset of social media users’ attitudes toward mountain lions in North America. We then used cumulative link models in an information theoretic approach to gauge the association between respondent level of engagement with #CougarOrNot and other sociodemographic predictors with user attitudes toward mountain lions. Respondent attitudes toward mountain lions were largely positive (83%), with frequent participants in #CougarOrNot, females, pet owners, nonconsumptive recreators, and households with fewer children exhibiting positive attitudes. #CougarOrNot participation had a stronger correlation with respondent attitudes toward mountain lions than commonly used predictors employed in prior studies (i.e. age, education level, livestock ownership). #CougarOrNot may promote positive attitudes toward mountain lions, though additional research is needed to determine the direct effects of playing the game. Stakeholders interested in mountain lion conservation or other conservation topics could be identified via social media networks attached to specific outreach campaigns and possibly mobilized to support conservation actions that aid mountain lions and conservation in general. © 2021 The Wildlife Society.

中文翻译：

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社交媒体用户对北美山狮的态度

社交媒体通常用于促进知识交流和公众参与，这可以改变公众的态度和行为，并可以用于保护环境。此外，社交媒体的广泛使用提供了一种替代性的数据来​​源平台，可以廉价地访问无数潜在的受访者。但是，社交媒体数据很少用于保护，而不管对保护科学和实践的潜在好处。我们在2016年12月26日至2018年2月16日之间通过#CougarOrNot Twitter游戏（以山狮为主题的社交媒体运动）进行了问卷调查，以获取大量受访者样本（n = 1,481），并评估了社交媒体用户对北美山狮的态度的一个子集。然后，我们在信息理论方法中使用了累积链接模型，以评估与#CougarOrNot互动的受访者参与程度与其他社会人口预测因素以及用户对山狮的态度之间的关联。受访者对美洲狮的态度在很大程度上是积极的（83％），经常参加#CougarOrNot的女性，女性，宠物主人，非消费性娱乐场所和小孩少的家庭都表现出积极的态度。#CougarOrNot参与与受访者对山狮的态度相比，比先前研究中常用的预测变量（即年龄，受教育程度，牲畜所有权）具有更强的相关性。#CougarOrNot可能会提升对山狮的积极态度，尽管还需要其他研究来确定玩游戏的直接效果。可以通过附加在特定宣传活动上的社交媒体网络来确定对山狮养护或其他养护主题感兴趣的利益相关者，并有可能动员他们以支持总体上帮助山狮和养护的养护行动。©2021野生动物协会。