Social media, starting with Facebook of course, are mostly portrayed as a source of hatred and 'fake news'. Behaviors and dynamics that obviously occur but which represent only a part of what happens. Facebook recently announced that in favor of non-profit organizations and personal causes, worldwide, more than 5 billion dollars have been donated through fundraising on Facebook and Instagram, of which 2 billion since February 2020.
ANSA and DataMediaHub they wanted to investigate one of the good sides of Facebook by analyzing the conversations related to the adoption of dogs within the most populated platform on the planet, and in our country, in Italy, from the beginning of 2021 to yesterday
.
Overall, just under 52 thousand posts on the subject were produced within the fan pages, public groups and verified profiles.
Posts that generated about 2.5 million interactions (like + 'reaction' + comments and shares) from people.
The post that generated the most involvement was posted on January 26th within the group 'All together passionately with animals'.
Although the group has just over 3 thousand members, the post got over 2 thousand likes and other reactions and, above all, more than 75 thousand shares.
A story with a happy ending since, as it was not difficult to imagine, we were able to verify that the dog in question has been adopted.
The other two posts that generated the most engagement are from one of the main voluntary organizations, the International Organization for the Protection of Animals (OIPA), which from the page of the Naples section has launched an appeal for the adoption of four puppies, and that of the page of the National Agency for the Protection of Animals (ENPA), which has as its protagonist a puppy with a sad story behind it. In both cases, the goal of finding a home for the dogs in question was achieved. The infographic provides further details of the data on the likes, reactions, shares and comments of the three posts in question.
Two of the three posts in question are related to dogs in Sicily, and the third also concerns Naples and therefore Southern Italy.
In fact, unfortunately, the phenomenon of stray dogs and the abandonment of dogs is particularly widespread throughout the South, and there are countless thousands of dogs (and other pets) that come daily, thanks to the work of volunteers and 'relays'. brought to the Center-North to the people who generously decide to take care of it.
So then we asked the coordinator of a network of volunteers of the Municipality of Grammichele (CT), Graziella Palmieri, some things about the phenomenon.
1) How does the municipality of Grammichele fight the phenomenon of straying and abandonment of dogs? The Municipality of Grammichele, through the volunteers accredited to its Stray Animals and Animal Welfare Office, also present on Facebook with its own page, implements the guidelines for combating stray dogs of the Health Department of the Sicily Region, in force since 2018, which provides for the census of the wandering dog population and the limitation of births through free sterilization, carried out through the ASPs of competence for the territory and district. Obviously, without the volunteers, however few compared to the needs, we are about 8, plus a few good-hearted citizens, nothing would be feasible.
2) How many volunteers actively work to care for and feed the dogs you give hospitality to through the animal welfare office and fight against stray dogs? How do you support yourself financially? We subsidize ourselves for the most part with our own means, donations from private individuals also from Malta and sometimes adopters of our puppies. The municipality currently manages to provide small grants that cover very little. The numbers reached in the last year between sterilizations, registry and adoptions are quite satisfactory, we have had about 70 adoptions from last summer to today, all through the support of other volunteers and families reached through social networks, appropriately evaluated by the volunteer who takes care of the adoptions ( that would be me). The biggest problem and obstacle at present is the lack of shelter,we currently use a single municipal garage and numerous private and personal stalls always collapsing, including our homes.
3) How relevant is Facebook to help you find people who want to adopt the dogs you host? Facebook, sharing, word of mouth, collaboration with volunteers and structures in the North and Malta, in our case, are of vital importance. It is the only window that gives us visibility. In short, the work of the volunteers would risk being in vain in giving home and love to the dogs if these through Facebook were not able to give visibility to their work and therefore get in touch with those who choose to adopt them.
We have further explored the topic by analyzing the conversations within some of the main pages and main groups, by number of followers / members, who do this work of dissemination and communication that we have seen to be so relevant. The Facebook page with the highest number of followers, among those examined, is that of the National Body for the Protection of Animals (ENPA). This is followed by the Animal Emergency Room TV and Casa Bau, One for All - All for Them.
One of these, Casa Bau, has had more than 12 million interactions in less than four months. Of these, 9.03% were shares, equal to a total of just under 1.1 million shares. We are not able to establish if this number of shares correspond to as many people or not, since the data is rightly anonymized, but this is a truly extraordinary support for the cause. The highest engagement rate, on the other hand, is for La Zampa, an ad hoc section of the newspaper La Stampa, which has an engagement rate of over 5%. Out of over 2.5 million interactions, 13%, about 335 thousand, are shares. Also in this case the infographic provides the details of the data of all nine Facebook pages analyzed.
There are countless groups dedicated to the adoption of dogs, and more generally of animals. Virtually every municipality, even the small ones, has its own group, as you can easily verify by doing a search within Facebook. Of the many we have selected nine. Those that from our analysis appear to have the greatest number of members, of subscribers. The most numerous of all is Amici degli Animali, which has more than 429 thousand members. Followed by Cuccioli & Co in Search of Adoption and Dog Gift, both with over 100,000 members. If you exclude the Cubs in Adoption group, the number of posts people put within these groups is impressive. They range from a maximum of 767 average posts / day of Mondo Animali Adopzioni to a minimum, so to speak, of 58 posts for Amici degli Animali.The group that generates the highest number of interactions is Cuccioli & Co in Cerca di Adopzione within which more than a million interactions have been generated. 38.1% of these are shares, equal to a total of over 390 thousand shares in less than four months.
The infographic, once again, provides the details of the data relating to the other groups examined, but one thing is certain: the amount of people who take action to find accommodation for dogs and other animals looking for adoption is extraordinary.
It's the good side, or more likely one of the good sides, of Facebook and, above all, of people.
If you are one of these we hope to have also provided you with a useful list of which pages and groups to attend to give a hand to these poor animals in need of help.