Situation
Great Ape Trust is on track to be the largest great ape facility in North America for the noninvasive interdisciplinary studies of apes’ cognitive and communications capabilities. Unlike a zoo, Great Ape Trust has limited visitation capabilities so spreading the word about the research that is being done at the Trust is of vital importance for a number of reasons; most importantly to generate income for this 501c3 organization through membership fees.
Solution
Working closely with the administrative staff and scientists of the Trust, Trilix established a Great Ape Trust YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/GreatApeTrust). The channel features videos of the ape residents and scientists in Des Moines, as well as other videos of interest. The channel also allows for social interaction through the use of such tools as rating the videos, commenting on the videos, sharing the videos through embedded links and searching for other videos of similar interest.
Results
Response to the site has been overwhelmingly positive. Some videos have been posted on sites such as National Geographic and National Public Radio. The social networking aspect of the channel has allowed bloggers and other national media to embed the videos in their stories which has opened up a number of new audiences.
To date, the channel has nearly 370 subscribers and almost 14,000 channel views. Great Ape Trust has received roughly 265,000 total video views. The most watched videos typically feature the apes and their ability to demonstrate their understanding of language. A few videos have reached more than 70,000 views after being posted for a short amount of time.