Communicating biodiversity research on YouTube: An experimental comparison of scientists and third-party presenters

Online videos are a popular medium for science communication. These videos can be presented from many perspectives, including scientists sharing their own work or a third-party presenting research findings. A mixed between- and within-subjects experiment (n = 620) was conducted in the United States to assess the impact of narrative perspective on the communication objectives of increasing knowledge, changing perceptions, and influencing behavior related to bee diversity. Results indicate that watching a video presented by a scientist was associated with higher levels of perceived competence and a higher likelihood to mention a person or persons when recalling the video. However, we did not find significant effects of narrative perspective on knowledge gain and behavioral intentions to help support bee diversity.