By Elaine Macintyre, Digital Media Content Manager
Thursday 17 March was a busy day for the Digital Media team at National Museums Scotland. Not only were I and our Head of Department, Hugh Wallace, leading a social media knowledge exchange workshop with representatives from museums across Scotland, but we were also taking part in Picture a Museum day – talk about social media in action!
Picture a Museum day was a global initiative which encouraged visitors to take photographs at museums all over the world and upload them to a new Flickr group, #MuseumPics. We asked our followers on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr to add their photos, and to tell us their favourite pictures from our Flickr photostream. Here are some of the pics they chose.
Aztec pottery dog.
American bison skeleton.
Bronze Age gold collar.
We also sent our roving Content Creator, Anita, out into the galleries to take some snaps on the day, to capture the museum at that moment.
The Connect gallery on Picture a Museum Day.
The Scottish Sports Hall of Fame, in the Scotland: A Changing Nation Gallery.
With visits to our Flickr page more than doubling that day, the event has been a great success for us, helping us introduce the vast range of our collections – from Aztec pottery to archive photos – to a much wider audience.
Meanwhile, Hugh and I very much enjoyed meeting the enthusiastic delegates at the social media knowledge exchange workshop. This free, informal event, run by our National Partnerships team, allowed us to share our experiences in setting up and running our Twitter, Flickr and Facebook accounts – and of course this blog. If anyone’s interested, we’ve posted the handouts from the session on the website – enjoy!
Let’s hope we encouraged those contemplating dipping a toe into social media waters to take the plunge. It’ll all go swimmingly…
March 25, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Museums using social media are popping up across the continents – and it’s wonderful to witness! I would have loved to have attended your social media workshop, but am thankful to at least peek at your brochure.
One thing you touched on in regards to your facebook page management advice, was to identify the administrators. People who know me might believe I’m a broken record when transparency is concerned, but let’s just say I’m a huge advocate for putting names and faces to the tweets/posts/blogs. Way to go on connecting with your audience and making it interactive and interesting.
Thanks also, for the links! Chances are you’ve followed what’s being said on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, but if not – check this great special from NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/arts/design/museums-pursue-engagement-with-social-media.html?_r=3&ref=artsspecial
March 30, 2011 at 9:04 am
Hi Jenn,
Thanks for your comment – glad you found it interesting. At National Museums Scotland we haven’t specifically put a name and face to our tweets and Facebook – although we don’t attempt to hide the fact that it’s usually me!
Elaine
April 8, 2011 at 1:27 pm
Well, keep up the great work Elaine!
Cheers!
Jenn Seeley
Community Engagement Specialist – Radian6
@jenn_seeley
April 12, 2011 at 8:37 am
Thank you!