It’s not about social media. It’s about being more social. See our blog post at www.museumsandtheweb.com/blog

1. Welcome to
“What Do We Really
Know about Social
Media in Museums?”
It’s not about social
media. It’s about
being more social.

2. Hashtag to follow:
#musesocial
In the room now
• Elissa Frankle, US Holocaust Memorial
Museum, @museums365
• Georgina Goodlander, Smithsonian American Art
Museum, @bathlander
• Victoria Portway, National Air and Space
Museum, @sluggernova
• Jeff Gates, Smithsonian American Art
Museum, @outtacontext
• Darren Milligan, Smithsonian Center for Education
and Museum Studies, @darrenmilligan

3. Hashtag to follow:
#musesocial
• Rachel Greiner, National Air and Space Museum,
@gator_rach
• Brian Alpert, Smithsonian Office of the CIO,
@balpert
• Erin Blasco, Smithsonian Postal Museum,
@erinblasco
Twitterly here:
• Sarah Banks, National Museum of Natural History,
@sbanks20
• Amelia Wong, US Holocaust Memorial Museum,

4. Intended Outcomes
• document the state of social media in
museum practice
• help each other tackle big questions,
issues
• become better communicators
• be bold, be brave
• record awesome thoughts
• keep the #musesocial conversation
going

5. Polls, Storify, & More
www.museumsandtheweb.com/b
log
In our #musesocial blog post
there, you’ll find links to our
poll
questions, Storify, SlideShare
, and wiki

6. Audiences (broadcast
mode) vs.
Communities (dialog mode)
Audiences are no
longer relevant. Long
live communities!
.
Discuss passionately.

7. What do our visitors want from online
outreach?
3% said “valid science and authentic history.”
97% said “cats.”

8. Learning
People don’t learn
through social media.
And even if they do, you can’t
tell.
.

9. Measuring learning on social media:
L LURNING
Secret algorithm:
This day in history tweet
+ link to collections
+ learning outcome approved by education dept
+ curatorial and PR review
cute cat photos lacking connection to mission
+ cat photo deeply relatedcurator tweets today. Sleeping in a basket of clean laundry.
No kitty to mission
/ number of followers
= Lurning score = 82
Pandasonian @Pandasonian
Gave you L+ in social media learning

10. Roles
Everyone should
speak on behalf of
museums.
Discuss interdisciplinarily.

11. We can’t let *everyone* speak on behalf of
the museum via social media.
Pandasonian @Pandasonian
You wouldn’t believe what they made me eat
today. Think I might hurl on a tourist. Cheap food.
Pandasonian @Pandasonian
Woot, my girlfriend is knocked up! Wait, was I not
supposed to share that yet?
Pandasonian @Pandasonian
So many people taking my photo. Does this new
landscaping make me look fat?
Pandasonian @Pandasonian
My poop on Instagram: instagr.am/p/pandapoop

12. Metrics
We don’t measure
engagement with
exhibits. Why should we
measure it with social
media?
Discuss with vigor.

14. Having lots of followers doesn’t
indicate success!
#justsayin!

15. Let’s keep
talking!

16. Hashtag to follow:
#musesocial
In the room now
• Elissa Frankle, US Holocaust Memorial Museum,
@museums365
• Georgina Goodlander, Smithsonian American Art
Museum, @bathlander
• Victoria Portway, National Air and Space Museum,
@sluggernova
• Jeff Gates, Smithsonian American Art Museum,
@outtacontext
• Darren Milligan, Smithsonian Center for Education
and Museum Studies, @darrenmilligan

17. Hashtag to follow:
#musesocial
• Rachel Greiner, National Air and Space
Museum, @gator_rach
• Brian Alpert, Smithsonian Office of the
CIO, @balpert
• Erin Blasco, Smithsonian Postal
Museum, @erinblasco
Twitterly here:
• Sarah Banks, National Museum of Natural
History, @sbanks20
• Amelia Wong, US Holocaust Memorial
Museum, @amelialikespie

18. Polls, Storify, & More
www.museumsandtheweb.com/b
log
In our #musesocial blog post
there, you’ll find links to our
poll
questions, Storify, SlideShare
, and wiki

19. The end!
Pandasonian @Pandasonian
Burp. Sorry. #toomuchbamboo