tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37032121.post5670372069754712263..comments2024-03-27T05:04:39.476-07:00Comments on Museum 2.0: Does Your Museum Need its Own Social Network? Case Study and DiscussionNina Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11723930679606298550noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37032121.post-6880369711168334802008-11-25T12:28:00.000-08:002008-11-25T12:28:00.000-08:00What about ning.com for craeting your own social n...What about ning.com for craeting your own social network?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37032121.post-67644492697967500612008-01-21T18:48:00.000-08:002008-01-21T18:48:00.000-08:00No one seems to ever mention the enormous success ...No one seems to ever mention the enormous success that the Saatch Gallery's Stuart social network seems to be . . . . I've blogged about it over at <A HREF="http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/dmsblog/index.php/2008/01/21/the-most-popular-online-museum-user-generated-content-and-social-networking/" REL="nofollow">Fresh & New</A>.<BR/><BR/>Here is a social network run by a museum (ok, 'gallery') that gets more US traffic than Bebo!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37032121.post-23460387985715991752008-01-18T09:21:00.000-08:002008-01-18T09:21:00.000-08:00Thanks for all the great thoughts on this post. A...Thanks for all the great thoughts on this post. A couple of responses:<BR/><BR/>@Mike:<BR/>While I love and <A HREF="http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2007/04/postsecret-lessons-in-meaningful-user.html" REL="nofollow">have written</A> about my love for PostSecret, I don't think of it as a social network, but as a massive user-generated content project. It's more focused on creation than on connecting with each other. <BR/><BR/>I think that surprisingly few museums actually put any time or lip service towards the typical aim of social networks: to encourage and support user-to-user interaction. We're all about institution-to-user interactions, so I think it is a stretch for a lot of museums to even consider moving into a platform where the institution is functionally absent as a member. In that way, I think social networks could represent a significant departure/extension from core mission, which may or may not be wise.<BR/><BR/>@Vicky, I absolutely agree with you that in most cases, we should be looking to the networks people are already using. The Bay Area Discovery Museum does a wonderful job of this by putting their Yelp reviews front and center on their general info website, acknowledging and tacitly supporting the networks through which our visitors/tourists get their information.Nina Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11723930679606298550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37032121.post-4141653581295534732008-01-17T12:11:00.000-08:002008-01-17T12:11:00.000-08:00I love that Indianapolis relates their social netw...I love that Indianapolis relates their social network directly back to an exhibition on site - I think this is particularly important for children's museums, where there are different schools of thought RE: the appropriateness of technology aimed at children. It's a different beast in museums where the visitors are over 13 vs under 13.<BR/><BR/>We're creating a new <A HREF="http://www.baykidsmuseum.org/blog/" REL="nofollow"> blog</A> aimed at engaging the grown-ups who love our children's museum as much as their kids do - we do not intend to provide content on the web to children who might attend here (particularly as our average age of child visitor is about 3.7...)<BR/><BR/>BTW - our blog is scheduled to launch around 2pm TODAY (Thursday!) so excuse any rough edges for the next hour or two!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37032121.post-20946209302884961542008-01-16T07:43:00.000-08:002008-01-16T07:43:00.000-08:00Hi there, I recently asked a similar question abou...Hi there, I recently asked a similar question about tourism destinations.<BR/><BR/>Does each tourism destination or niche sector really need a social network? Or is it not best to capitalise on the critical mass of existing networks (and if possible exchange value with those).<BR/><BR/>Your points in this post and those in the comment are useful to the tourism destination too, as I fear they are equally at risk of deathly quiet networks, that don't reach the critical mass necessary for a lively community (and do not necessarily have the commitment from those energetic people needed to really keep the community alive in those painful early days).<BR/><BR/>Great article - thanksAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37032121.post-52902467009592422122008-01-16T02:32:00.000-08:002008-01-16T02:32:00.000-08:00Hey Nina..So much to say and so little time...1. A...Hey Nina..<BR/><BR/>So much to say and so little time...<BR/><BR/>1. Absolutely agree: do tech because you have a <A HREF="http://electronicmuseum.wordpress.com/2007/07/02/thought-clarification-just-do-it-but-for-a-reason/" REL="nofollow">reason </A> to do tech. There is a very distinct tendancy for museums to follow the crowd and create "bad" (I'd say bad=lacking in life) social networks just because everyone else and his dog is.<BR/><BR/>2. The concept of aligning social networks with your organisational mission is a bit of a red herring IMHO. On the one hand you can pretty easily bend any strategic goal for a modern museum so that it fits social networking. Find me a museum which doesn't have "engage more users" as one of its mission statements in some shape or other and I'll buy you a drink..On the other hand, I believe that there is some responsibility of tech evangelists in museums to actually *push* at the corporate mission. If we hadn't been here doing stuff at the edges then museums probably wouldn't have websites at all, let alone the kind of diversity and interest which you can see today. In other words: museums need to be challenged, and social networking does that very nicely.<BR/><BR/>3. I agree that it takes planning - I absolutely don't agree that it takes large quantities of budget or necessarily effort. A successful community has tech which *supports* that community at its focus, not tech which *creates* the community. Something like <A HREF="http://postsecret.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow">PostSecret</A> for example is an extremely popular community which has taken (technically) little more than creation of a blogger account. It just happens to be a rockingly good idea which people readily engage with and really want to be a part of.<BR/><BR/>4. Yes, communities take some stroking to encourage and nurture them, but I think the myth that this is massive amounts of hard work, needs vast quantities of staff time, eats up resources is simply not true. In my experience, the kind of moderation, responding, working with, encouraging can usually be cushioned within a day job. It very much depends on the scale of the community, what topics you are covering, etc. I've spent many a meeting where the museum worried hugely about the moderation of a site, for example: in reality, it turns out that audiences are *usually* pretty good at moderating themselves. If people are willing to invest time, they usually invest sensible time, not silly time...<BR/><BR/>I'm absolutely not belittling the effort required - you're right, it does require thought, strategy and DOING IT FOR A REASON. BUT...I also think that good things can be done with minimal effort and - dare I say it - by not actually *thinking too hard*...<BR/><BR/>I'm sure you and your readers have read it but Derek Powazek's book <A HREF="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Design-Community-Derek-Powazek/dp/0735710759" REL="nofollow">Design for community</A> is an insightful and interesting read. It's old by web standards (pub 2001) and the examples are way out of date, but the concepts about how to build community, what it takes to manage it etc etc are still relevant in a big way today.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37032121.post-6107360170937954722008-01-15T14:48:00.000-08:002008-01-15T14:48:00.000-08:00See what we can do in France :http://www.buzzeum.c...See what we can do in France :<BR/>http://www.buzzeum.com/2007/12/21/le-chateau-de-versailles-sur-youtube/<BR/>http://www.buzzeum.com/2007/10/31/le-quai-branly-a-lair-du-web-20/<BR/><BR/>But you're totally right. What's the point of the social network for museum ? ...<BR/><BR/>Thanks for your article ! A very good one.Dianedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15155259053297446012noreply@blogger.com