Getting Past the Tweets: How Museums Can Use Twitter

Tweets and twitter, is the Internet going mad? Not yet! Twitter is the latest website in the social media toolbox. It is a micro-blogging site which means it allows users to post updates, called tweets, of no more than 140 characters for followers to read. The site began in 2006 and Wikipedia estimated by the end of 2008 there were about 6 million users and it ranked third among social media sites - Facebook and Myspace being number one and two. Obama used Twitter during his campaign, Oprah recently pushed the site into the media spotlight when she tweeted for the first time on her popular show and there is a raging online debate as to when the Pope will start twittering. The world is talking about Twitter and museums can get involved.

Let's face it, not many people in the world care about what you had for breakfast - no matter how good it was. The sad reality is that the mundane is what many people tweet about. However, don't despair, Twitter can take you beyond that. It is a great tool for building relationships, sharing substantive content and getting people excited about your museum.

A few Twitter examples from the museum world - the Smithsonian maintains about 20 Twitter feeds which contain interesting information from the brains of curators and links to artifacts, video and audio. The Vancouver Police museum used Twitter recently to organize a group tour for bloggers that follow them on Twitter. The bloggers attended the tour and then wrote about it - giving the museum some great, free publicity. The Royal Ontario Museum used Twitter to send exclusive behind-the-scenes content on an upcoming White Rhino exhibit to followers. The Brooklyn Museum has been bringing together and growing it's volunteer base via a strong Twitter community.

All of these museums understand that Twitter is a tool to create interest in their museum and use it for more than just a news flash or event posting. A few good rules of thumb for Twitter:

• Provide regular content - give users a reason to come back and give them a reason to get excited about your museum.
• Provide interesting content - it isn't always about event dates! Give users something engaging - a piece of trivia on an object, a piece of gossip on a local historical figure or the history behind a painting.
• Provide exclusive content - give users something you don't already say on your homepage. Make them feel special and they will keep on coming back.
• Provide the quirk - each museum is different and has their own personality, let it come through on Twitter.
• Provide discussions - Twitter is the ideal tool to spark conversation with users and get them talking about your museum.

As with all social media, it comes down to why. Why should a small museum with limited resources and time invest in Twitter or any other social networking site? Aside from driving traffic to a website and making a collection more accessible, I am a firm believer that if you engage a community, they will come. They will visit and they will talk about you and they will support you. The Brooklyn Museum has shown that there is a tangible return on a social media investment. The museum offers a socially networked museum membership for it's online community called 1stfans. $20 a year gets you curated, online content and apparently it is quite popular. So, tweet away!

David Alexander (david@zeroonedesign.com) from Zero One Design had bran flakes, yogurt and orange juice for breakfast.

Twitter: twitter.com

Smithsonian Museums on Twitter: twitter.com/Smithsonian

The Vancouver Police Museum on Twitter: twitter.com/policemuseum

Brooklyn Museum on Twitter: twitter.com/brooklynmuseum

The Royal Ontario Museum's Schad Gallery of Biodiversity on Twitter: twitter.com/greenroom

Brooklyn Museum's 1stfans: www.brooklynmuseum.org/join/1stfans/