I tweet...quite a lot...
as some of you know ;-)
Hi. I'm Janet.
I tweet...quite a lot...
as some of you know ;-)
I also use FaceBook; post lots of photos onto Flickr; am starting to look at how to use Google Wave etc.
For those that don't know me, have a look at my Twitter page:
http://twitter.com/janetedavis
and do follow the link in the info column to my personal web site that tells you a little more about me and gives you a few more links to my former work & current things.
I don't automatically follow people back. I have too many people following for me to feel I can read everything if I follow everyone back. I do follow a lot of UK cultural heritage institutions, professionals and academics (and the occasional tweeting museum object) on Twitter - and lots follow me. I tweet also with British bridges, buildings, monuments, fictional characters and historical (i.e. dead) people.
I do look through all new followers and weed out the bots and the snake-oil merchants. Twitter should not be about numbers of followers but the type of follower. We are getting broader engagement with people by tweeting. I sometimes talk to people engaged with developing public services policies and strategies; London cabbies; software developers; comedians; artists; engineers; farmers; scientists (following CERN's tweets from the test of the Large Hadron Collider the other week was genuinely exciting & had a sense of our being able to engage directly in the process scientific discovery). I even tweet directly with MPs sometimes.
We cannot keep museums in a museums ghetto. That strange sound, in between a grinding noise and a high-pitched hum, is the sound of axes being sharpened to cut budgets. It has been stated in print that most Local Authorities will cut cultural heritage budgets before most other things (but this should not be a surprise). This was always going to be a tough period for cultural heritage, even before the general recession appeared.
Twitter is currently free to use. Yes, it costs staff time and the general costs of being online. But how much does it cost to design and print hard copy about exhibitions and events?
Twitter can be used as a broadcast medium.
It's good at broadcasting that an event is happening - with a link to the web page that enables buying tickets/finding out more info/map with directions etc!
Some museums are using it well to highlight what their real or online gift shops have to offer in Christmas shopping season!
But museums are missing a hell of a lot if they just use it for that.
It can work as a channel for dealing well with customer feedback. Some big corporations have started to use it because it can work better than e-mail in such situations.
You can use it to find a different audience. Sometimes, you only have to get through to a few people who communicate widely in their own communities in order to widen your audience.
It may not get you through to the hard-to-reach communities directly - but you might find that it gets you noticed by the people who work with/in those communities who think you have something relevant for them!
Museums can get useful info from using Twitter. It would be very good for smaller museums as a medium for asking help with things. Twitter is excellent for provding quick technical answers, for example.
Museums could use Twitter to provide some educational material and to engage interest in educational resources and collections.
Twitter is best when used for real dialogue. I have been impressed with the way in which some people use it for dialogue. The Science Museum took note quite recently that some of us were discussing how much fun it would be to have sleep-over events for grown ups. That is just one example. If museums engage with people, they can gain goodwill that can help find informal volunteers who help disseminate information and help get people through their doors. They may find future sponsors, donors or influence the ideas of people who manage cultural heritage.
Can museums afford not to listen to people? Twitter is simply one medium that enables them to listen and respond. It is potentially one of the most time-efficient communication media - but it works in combination with other channels.
Janet
Janet E Davis
Twitter: @janetedavis
Flickr: je.davis
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