Know whose social media content has become some of the most often liked, shared, retweeted and utterly viral? The National Park Service, that’s who.
And oddly enough, it’s the work of one person. Yes, one. One person is creating all that snappy content, with faux PSAs like “Trails always look flatter on the map,” and “If you come across a bear, never push a slower friend down…even if you feel the friendship has run its course.”
That one person creating the genius content is Matt Turner.
And, notes the San Francisco Gate Daily, “Whatever the National Park Service is paying Matt Turner, it’s not enough.”
You might think Turner is an analytics guru who gets photos and pushes them out on social media but doesn’t interact with parks, nature or customers. Not so. He is actually a longtime employee of the National Park Service (he started in 2005), he wears the uniform and he shows up for work – work that, since 2018, now includes management of the social accounts.
SF Gate notes, “Since then, the agency’s social media celebrity has taken off. On Instagram, the National Park Service hit 1 million followers in the summer of 2019 and then hit 2 million that fall. Now, that number sits at a hefty 4.9 million. It’s much the same story on Facebook and Twitter, where followers clock in at 1.7 million and 1.2 million, respectively.”
The funniest thing about the funniest social media account around isn’t actually that funny: it’s serious. While the various posts are hilarious (a picture of a bison and the words, “Do not pet the fluffy cows,” for example), at their heart is visitor education.
“Beyond the funny, there is usually a safety message, a deeper dive into park resources or policy, or a fun fact,” Turner noted in another interview.
And sadly, people do need to be educated in how to behave around wildlife. In Yellowstone, a baby bison had to be euthanized after a park visitor tried to help it out when it appeared to be struggling across a stream, leading the animal to approach visitors indiscriminately – and the herd to refuse to accept it afterward.
Other individuals have to be ordered away from bears by rangers, and have later complained that their “bear selfies” were rudely interrupted.
Nine.com in Australia (and let’s face it, the land down under is pretty much ground zero for absolutely terrifying wildlife) even noted, “The U.S. National Park Service advises visitors to never approach bears, warning they "may appear tolerant of people and then attack without warning.” So, what looks like it's going to turn into a cool new Facebook profile pic can rapidly turn into something resembling a crime scene photo.”
“We’ve done a lot of bear safety,” Turner said. “That really grabbed a lot of attention, especially by a lot of media. But it was all packaged together with a lot of bear safety tips. That was a moment that we really saw the power of social media.”
For every funny tweet (“Oh, you’re headed out to bear country? That salmon scented body wash was a bold choice”), visitors are told not to touch, pet or approach animals – even the ones that look small, cute or harmless.
Case in point: “Did you know if you hold an ermine up to your ear, you can hear what it’s like to be attacked by an ermine?”
If you’re not already following the NPS social accounts, here they are:
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube | Flickr
And, notes SF Gate, “There’s one place where the National Park Service doesn’t have an account: TikTok (the White House has banned the controversial app at federal agencies).
However, Turner stays on top of the platform's latest trends through a personal TikTok account he created for his cat.”
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