Ten years of fat bears

This column was originally published on Catie Miller’s blog at Public Social, I Love You and was republished here with permission from the author.

What fat bears and baseball have in common

Fans. Lots of fans. Both the Chicago White Sox baseball team and brown bears in Alaska have a devoted following. And managing those communities and feelings are a big part of the job for a social media professional.

Big losses 

The White Sox have had quite the losing record this season. They won only a quarter of their games this year (not good) and just set the modern record for most games lost in a single season (121).

It’s the sort of year that makes White Sox fans wear paper bags to games to stay unrecognized. Yet their social team is winning. How? By embracing the suck. Instead of working to #staypositive, they started posting content like this:

I really appreciate this approach. One, it’s hilarious. Two, it acknowledges their fans’ feelings. The unwritten rule of baseball social media is to post the final score after the game, win or lose. But these posts were so often bad news that fans didn’t want to hear. So why not acknowledge it? Lean into the disappointment of it all with a well placed joke or two? The social team did just that.

These posts make the account feel more like a fellow fan, or at least someone who “gets it” about their shared suffering.

Public social accounts, take notice. Are there opportunities for us to acknowledge a loss or less than ideal news? It may or may not be a joke per se, but a clear acknowledgement can go a long way when working to deliver tough news. Examples that come to mind include Washington State’s DoT construction updates and Utah’s DoT safety reminders.

Even bigger bears 

For the uninitiated, #FatBearWeek is a bracket style social media competition that features the brown bears in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve. To survive hibernation, these bears must eat a year’s worth of food in six months. The week-long competition takes place each October at the tail end of their salmon feast.

The competition is made possible by many National Park staff members, volunteers, collaborators, and explore.org wildlife cameras. The bears quickly drew a devoted fan base after the cameras were installed in 2012. It was fan comments on message boards which inspired creator Mike Fitz to create this bear bracket.

When I say devoted, I mean it. There are several forums where fans can post about the bears year round, including a fan wiki. Commentators have made a trophy, requested an “I voted” sticker and stuffed the ballot box in 2022.

I spoke to Public Information Officer Matt Johnson about preparations for the tenth annual celebration and public information campaign.

CM: Who is currently managing the social media at Katmai National Park and Preserve? How large is the team?

MJ: The park has a web page and social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube. This is all managed by the Katmai media team. This is three to four park rangers.

We rely on tech support, infrastructure, web pages, funding and more from our partners at Explore.org, the Katmai Conservancy, and our National Park Service co-workers and volunteers.

CM: What is the prep like for this bracket style competition?

MJ: The bears first appear in June or July at Brooks Camp, and depart in late September. While the bears are present the media park rangers gather information, constantly take pictures, and perfect the themes and stories that need to be told.

Our partners provide year-round support that includes a team of interpreters and tech experts to repair and maintain the webcams and to help train new media park rangers.

Our co-workers in the National Park Service provide support such as permitting, project oversight, transportation to and from King Salmon, and more.

Collectively we understand that the best stories are told by the bears themselves, so we wait and hope for them to reveal these compelling, magical stories to us.

Catie Miller: How do you take and then select the pictures of the 12 competitors each year?

Matt Johnson: Mostly it is the responsibility of the Katmai media team park rangers. Katmai National Park employees and volunteers take the pictures of the bears in and around Brooks Camp. We try to take side profiles of the bears so people can get a full look at their petite spring figures. The bears tend to straggle in during the month of July. However they don’t all show up all at once or some may not show up at all, so obtaining pictures of them at their skinniest is a challenge.

CM: What happens once you have the photos? What’s next? 

Each bear is then assigned a name and number. A bio is written where we describe their personality and share other factors people may choose to take into consideration as they place their vote.

The media park rangers put these bios together with the help of our partners. We gather the information from web chats with Katmai bear fans, the webcam footage, observations of the bears obtained on our own or from other park rangers stationed at Brooks Camp, and our experiences with bears, knowledge of their ways, and stories and insights attained over the years of our lives.

Finally, bears are matched against each other in a tournament style competition. Online visitors vote for their favorite bear. Over 1.3 million votes were cast in this week-long event in 2023.

CM: You have a legion of devoted followers year round and during the week itself. How do you manage that community? What is your policy for responding to fan comments and questions?

MJ: There are different yet similar policies for the varied forums that host Fat Bear Week chats, information, and questions. Generally we are empathetic to viewer feelings and viewpoints. We believe their concern for bears is a good thing. People sometimes have a hard time accepting natural processes.

The National Park Service created Fat Bear Week and uses its website and social media channels (at the park, regional, and national levels) to communicate this interpretive effort. We conduct numerous press interviews communicating the event, individual bear histories, and interpretive themes of Katmai connected to bears, water, salmon, and other park resources. The primary interest is education and interpretation for the public and the ability to work with partners to host an online voting contest.

CM: Since this is a beloved multi-year campaign, how do you ensure smooth personnel transitions and consistency from year to year?

MJ: People tend to love the work so fortunately a lot of them return year after year with their experience, knowledge, and insight. Mike Fitz, the Katmai park ranger who started Fat Bear Week, is still involved through Explore.org.

CM: I have to ask, do you have a favorite bear? 

MJ: I’m new to Katmai and have not spent much time with the bears yet, but last summer, one of the park’s most beloved bears, Otis #480, didn’t show up when he usually does. It was mid-July and prime time for bears to catch the salmon run. Many of the other bears were there. But where’s Otis?! He’s an older bear. Bears usually live to be about 20. Otis is 27 and a four-time fat bear week crown winner. You can identify him by grey streaks in his coat, damage to left ear, and only two teeth left. Week after week he doesn’t appear. Did he not make it?! Suddenly on July 26, there he is!

This year Otis has not yet appeared. Fans have been paying homage to the true super-sized hero. 

 CM: Anything else you want to share about the bears or Fat Bear Week?  

MJ: Bear researcher Craig Severn said that “the future of bears depends on the hearts and minds of those who live with the bears.” So true! Bears depend on us and the ecosystem they live in. They depend on the park, plentiful salmon, other animals, and people who live with them. One of the things you can do for them is allow these bears into your heart, and then include the community that supports the bears. Get to know the animals around your home, even the little ones, and include them in your world. Fat Bear Week helps us appreciate the natural world as well as our national parks.

Ten years of well fed kings and queens! Congratulations to the National Park team at Katmai, the bears, and their partners at Explore.org and the Katmai Conservancy.

​​Matchups are open for voting October 2 – 8 between 12 – 9  p.m. Eastern (9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Pacific) on fatbearweek.org.

The largest and most successful competitors can catch and eat more than 30 salmon (over 120 pounds) per day! Can’t get enough? Or simply want to explore all the elements of their campaign? Former Ranger Mike Fitz covers highlights with others on YouTube.

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