#iam4rhinos campaign takes Twitter by storm

(Image: Esculapio, via Wikimedia Commons)

WWF South Africa's (WWF-SA) hashtag, #iam4rhinos, set up to raise international awareness on rhino poaching, has been trending on the South African Twittersphere for six days.

Over the course of the weekend, it also trended briefly at number one worldwide - a phenomenal accomplishment for a campaign emanating from South Africa.

#iam4rhinos has seen a number of record-breaking highlights, including the most number of tweets cast for a single campaign in South Africa - well over 150,000 tweets. The hashtag also made over 320 million impressions (the number of times it was delivered to Twitter timelines).

"WWF-SA has been completely blown away by the groundswell of enthusiasm and encouragement received through #iam4rhinos," says Morné du Plessis, WWF-SA CEO. "The extent of a Twitter storm such as this is believed to be unprecedented, certainly in South Africa, and possibly the world over."

A world-wide response

Tweets have been cast from more than 100 countries, including the United Kingdom, Brazil, France, Viet Nam, China, Thailand, Canada, Ireland, Indonesia, Spain, Sri Lanka, and beyond. The campaign gained momentum in South Africa first and then went global. Roughly 50% of the traffic came from South Africa, while the rest came from around the world.

#iam4rhinos gathered support from thousands of ordinary concerned citizens, and was also endorsed by major local and international icons, including Gary Player, Bryan Habana, Gareth Cliff, Trevor Noah, Kendra Wilkinson, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Fry, Kirstie Alley, The Who and a number of Bollywood stars, including Abhishek Bachchan. Boxing legend Lennox Lewis promised to answer any questions directed at him within half an hour that were tagged #iam4rhinos. The response was so overwhelming he had to promise to return to answer the questions he could not get to at a later stage.

Dr Jo Shaw, WWF-SA Rhino Co-ordinator explains, "Increasing global awareness about the current threat to rhinos caused by demand for their horn from Asia is just a small part of the strategic approach that WWF-SA is taking to tackle this issue. We are also working on targeted campaigns speaking to key user groups in Viet Nam and engaging rural communities living alongside critical rhino populations in South Africa."

It got people talking

WWF-SA worked with local web and social media company Flow Communications to create the campaign. Says Flow CEO Tara Turkington: "The #iam4rhinos campaign has been one of the most exciting and rewarding Flow has ever worked on. The campaign pushed boundaries and got people talking about rhinos on the Twittersphere like never before."

"We see this as the start of an important conversation," says Du Plessis, "and will continue to promote the #iam4rhinos hashtag as we strive to draw global attention to the plight of this endangered species. We didn't achieve the original, very ambitious, target of a million tweets, but we have created a global conversation about the plight of our rhinos."

The www.iam4rhinos.com website, which attracted visits from 103 countries in the past week, will remain live, and a place where the ongoing #iam4rhinos conversation is collected.

The conversation - and the conservation - will continue. Keep pledging your support: #iam4rhinos, and a resounding thank you to the many, many people who have already lent their voice to this cause.

Quick facts and figures:

• Over 150,000 tweets containing #iam4rhinos tweeted
• Over 320 million impressions (number of times #iam4rhinos hashtag appeared in Twitter timelines around the world)
• 53,624: number of individuals who Tweeted #iam4rhinos
• Tweeter with biggest following: Stephen Fry @stephenfry (over 6 million followers)