As social media platforms develop, they potentially provide valuable information for wildlife researchers and managers. NOAA’s Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program (HMSRP) is exploring how social media can help scientists understand the biology, ecology and threats to this endangered species. By using the media sharing and social networking service Instagram, we extracted pertinent data while disseminating information and inspiring support for Hawaiian monk seals. Specifically, we investigated how Instagram could: 1) expand our normal data set by identifying individual animals not detected by standard methods, 2) help categorize type and severity of human interactions, 3) provide early warning of concerning seal behaviors, and 4) help assess public perceptions of monk seals. We searched the keyword #monkseal examining a total of 640 public posts from a possible 8,808 available. From these, seals were individually identifiable in 80 posts representing 15.6% of the subpopulation and approximately 108 human-seal interaction events ranging from close approaches to physical interactions. The nature of comments on posts indicated that the general public attitude towards seals is less than 1% negative and that self-policing sometimes occurs on inappropriate posts. Besides gaining information, we were also able to advise the public about seals of concern and solicit information to aid HMSRP’s emergency response. Maximizing benefits on social media requires consideration and tact, especially when promoting a collective mind-shift like responsibly coexisting with wildlife. This relatively new tool has the potential to yield vast amounts of data and soon, developments will streamline data collection, utilization and sharing. Science and technology continue to evolve, and wildlife programs should take advantage of progressive and broadly inclusive tools like social media for the benefit of species conservation.