Alexandra Cotrufo

Alexandra Cotrufo

A young woman with dark brown, wavy hair, wearing light beige cat-eye glasses, silver hoop earrings, and a cream-colored knit sweater over a black collared shirt. She has a subtle smile and looks directly forward against a plain light background.

Alexandra Cotrufo is a fourth year university student studying in the Professional Communication program at Ryerson University. She was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario and now lives in Toronto, Ontario. She aims to implement sustainability practices into her everyday life and has always been interested in studying how human actions affect the environment in both positive and negative ways. As a communication student, she was eager to research how information is communicated on social media about environmental and natural disasters.

Research

The impacts of social media when used to communicate to the public about the 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires.

A detailed infographic titled 'Impacts of Social Media When Used to Communicate About The Amazon Rainforest Wildfires' by Alexandra Cotrufo. The graphic features a prominent image of a forest fire with large flames and heavy smoke. It describes a study of 41 participants concerning the 2019 Amazon wildfires. Key findings include that 70% of participants wouldn't have known as much without social media, many felt sad and helpless, and barriers to accurate information included fake news and algorithms. A bar chart illustrates that hearing about the fires motivated participants to make environmentally-friendly choices (highest), donate to rescue efforts, protest against climate change, and start an organization. A pie chart shows weekly social media usage, with 77.5% spending less than 5 hours. The text concludes that social media can prompt positive action, but misinformation caused frustration, loss of interest, and decreased empathy.
Lightning Talk
Project Webpage

Project Tags

Social media, environment, environmental disaster, communication
Scroll to Top