Which is better for shelters and rescue groups to post on Facebook: photos or video?

Great photos of our available pets have long been the secret sauce in adoption groups' recipe for success. Are those days over on Facebook?

If you believe the results of data collected by social media agency Socialbakers and reported in "Posting a photo is the worst way to get people to see your Facebook post," yes.

But if you listen to Shelter Pet Project and Maddie's Fund social media manager Christie Keith, not now and probably not ever.

"The Socialbakers report looked at Facebook performance of different content types across a number of businesses," Keith said. "They weren't looking specifically at nonprofits, nor at pet adoption pages. The chances that people are going to get sick of sharing great pet photos is, frankly, pretty much zero."

That doesn't mean shelters and rescue groups shouldn't pay attention to the report. "What I did find compelling is the identification of video — not links to YouTube, but videos uploaded directly to Facebook — as the number one content type," Keith said.

"On the Shelter Pet Project, links to YouTube videos have not done well, not even close to as well as photos. But for some of my other clients, directly uploading short videos to Facebook has been very successful. I think shelters and rescue groups should try it."

Will you be testing this out for your available pets? Tell us on our Facebook page!