Arts and Twitter (Erm, yeah?)
Posted in Technology on 16. Feb, 2009
Museum Marketing Blog asks if it’s time for arts organisations to start using Twitter, due to the increase in users being so massive that its being considered seriously.
I look at my 570+ friends and 430+ followers on twitter and see how many are museums, art galleries, artists and museum professional there are (a majority) I would say, “yes, get onto Twitter. In fact, why aren’t you?”
I should point out the massive lack of UK twitterers. I think I’m following about 5 UK museums and friends with about 15 fellow Brits. I try to be as inclusive as possible and follow anyone who follows me as long as they has even the remotest connection with the cultural sector. (I’m highly suspicious of people with “twitter marketer” in their bio”.
In answer: Yes. Get on Twitter. Say something interesting. Don’t spam it constantly with links. Try to speak to other people. Talk about arts because I know there are at least 400 other people who are only too eagar to do so.
There are a heap of arts organisations in Birmingham (UK) that have been experimenting with Twitter over the past year or so. The museums in the area have been rather slower to catch on but hopefully it’s coming.
Funny you should write about this today. On Friday I was asked to start sending out a tweet a day about what I’m doing (I’m an objects conservator) on the museum’s account. I’ve started a Flickr set on a project that I just started working on and I thought I’d link the two. I’m just not sure how to express what’s going on in 140 characters without linking to photos on a regular basis. Got any suggestions? It’ll be a grand experiment, in any case.
Museums are so worried about image, but if you do not make an impression online, you will be out of the loop. With more and more people using twitter, Yelp and other online outlets to plan trips it is a must. I took on the twitter for our museum because people in the department that should head it do not know anything about it.
To Nancy Ravenel: Bravo for the pilot program you and your museum are pursuing. I’m working a museum trying to work out plans for similar collaborations with conservation and curators. My opinion is that Twitter is okay for trading quick blips of communication, but I believe a lot of the value is trading high quality links. I know Pete is a proponent of communications over exclusively using to send links, Iit’s a matter of degrees. IMO It’s all in the balance–linking to FlickR for your project only makes sense. By all means, do. Just as an example, sending a message of this length isn’t possible within 140 characters. To me sometimes Tweets look like messages that have been corrupted: ”whr ru 2 the imha?” BTW, any chance of you posting a link to your project? Quite interested.
I’ve found the best museum-twitterers are those who mix a) links to their work (be it flickr, their own blogs etc.) b) links to news stories c) get involved in discussions d) keep it very on-topic. (I would add e) be personal, but some may disagree).
Museum people who are unfamilliar with twitter need to start as personal users. Listen
I’ve been on twitter for only a short time (@vandalog), but I completely agree with you: it is very helpful, everyone should be on it, and there are not enough fellow brits there.Just in the past two weeks, I’ve seen a couple UK street art galleries and blogs getting on twitter, and they seem to be doing pretty well with it. @beautifulcrime in particular did a twitter based treasure hunt on the 14th which went really well.Also agree with Pete. In general, twitterers need to mix up their work with other people’s (otherwise you’re just a “twitter marketer”), as well as stay involved in discussions. I try and to do that, I’ve just got to do a better job of staying on topic.
Rohn Jay Miller – Thanks for the encouragement. The Flickr set for the project is herejavascript:nicTemp(); I’ve been asked to do one tweet per day as @ShelburneMuseum, and I’m planning on starting tomorrow. The Twitter account is very new to the Museum and hasn’t been fully outfitted with the brand yet, but it got a few followers just about as soon as it was put on there. I’d love to hear more about the project that you’re working on too.Pete- I tend to agree with you about what makes a good museum-twitter. I think Twitter lends itself towards being personal. I am finding the idea of blending my voice with that of the museum’s to be a bit daunting since I’m pretty new to Twitter myself.
Nancie, our conservators are using Twitter to inform the public when they will be working on artwork in our visible conservation lab. The conservators never know in advance when they will be working on pieces. A real world use for the tweet: it sends a txt msg to the head of our visitor services who can let the front desks know that conservation is taking place and send visitors up the see it. And it informs our local conservation followers the same.
Hi Jeff- I follow the Lunder Center’s tweets! Julie Heath talked about it on Daniel Cull’s blog last week What I like about the tweets is that they are specific about what object is being treated, and since so much of SAAM’s catalog is online, my impression is that one could find an online image of the object being worked on. To your knowledge, do the tweets generate discussion on Twitter?
Twitter isn’t scary. Anyone who say so is lying.