Share a pet photo, plant a tree? Check before you join a trend, experts say
Global News
Plant A Tree Co. won't follow through on its Instagram pitch to plant trees in exchange for pet posts, which has experts reminding users to do due diligence before resharing posts.
It was a simple invitation: share a photo of your pet and someone will plant a tree.
But who would plant those trees, and where is this invitation coming from? Experts say Canadians should be asking those questions before jumping in on the latest trends.
“So many of the predominant platforms that we use are designed to be constantly scrolled to make us move really quickly and not pause,” said Ramona Pringle, an RTA Media professor at The Creative School with Ryerson University.
“We as users need to do our due diligence, which is to take that time to understand that they’re designed in a way to make us act in a really reactionary, fast way.”
A viral Instagram campaign circulated recently asking users’ to share pictures of their pets with the sticker: “We’ll plant 1 tree for every pet picture.”
The sticker was created on Nov. 2 by Plant A Tree Co. using Instagram’s new feature “Add Yours,” which rolled out on the application the day before and allows users to contribute to a thread in the “Stories” features.
Plant A Tree Co.’s trend quickly gained traction with millions of shares and continued building momentum over the weekend. On Tuesday, the group thanked users for their pet photos, and included that it was shared more than four million times.
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