Unit 1

SOCIAL MEDIA IN GLAMs: AN OVERVIEW

1.1. Social networks in an interconnected world - GLAMs’ action through digital means


Social media, web-based digital platforms enabling people to get access to new information, share ideas and interact with each other, has become an indispensable part of our daily activities. Undoubtedly, they have revolutionised the way people live and perceive their everyday life. In this context, social media have facilitated communication, rendering it much easier and faster among users. They allow the exchange of user-generated content like texts, data, pictures and videos to take place and to come in different forms such as blogs, business forums, podcasts, microblogs, photo sharing, product/service review, weblogs etc.

Culture is shaped by, hence it shapes the use of social media to connect to its audience, current and potential

To foster relations with existing and/or potential visitors and engage them in their collections, exhibitions, and events GLAMs have come to realize the value of including these technological trends as parts of their communication and outreach activities.

Social media can assist GLAMs in:

  • expanding their audience
  • spreading messages
  • displaying their collection

In this way, GLAMs take advantage from:

  • Fostering relationships between brands and customers
  • Sharing their expertise
  • Expanding their visibility
  • Upskilling their audience
  • Ensuring anytime connection

1.2. Youth engagement through social media in cultural activities

When it comes to youth engagement, we specifically refer to the active participation of youth in culture. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok and YouTube, are some of the digital tools young people engage with on a daily basis. Furthermore, this interaction takes place through new images, special content and sophisticated graphics that exhilarate their interest!

Therefore, a very significant element to take into consideration when aspiring to achieve youth engagement through social media, is the design and the visual interpretation of cultural artefacts. According to Stuedahl (2018), “visual interpretation, social semiotic, semantic and spatial practices are inherent in the everyday social media use”.

Specifically, Stuedahl research focuses on Instagram and how users can engage with cultural heritage through this digital platform.

Learn more about Stuedahl research based on Instagram here.

1.3. Social media as means of disseminating educational material

Social media function as a catalyst for creating opportunities in the field of education, as they encourage the spreading of digital media use and learning initiatives. Considering that new technologies are influencing the way young people learn, play, socialize and participate in civic life, it has become crucial to educate ourselves about social media; thus, acquire knowledge of innovations launched on the internet that can help us communicate with younger audiences.

In particular, several afterschool programs, libraries and museums have already developed digital media practices to support extracurricular learning. There is still though a long way for institutions to go through in order to reach their true potential in forging participatory culture and youth engagement. According to the MacArthur report (2006), which focuses on how youth-serving organisations in the USA have adopted technological practices into their educational programs, institutions should address issues like the unequal access of youth to skills development lessons, the importance of educating youth to recognize the way social media can shape our views and values and the evolution of traditional forms of education and training needed to prepare young people to integrate into new public roles.

Considering that social media are tools to create personalized learning and engagement pathways inside GLAMs and to promote connectivity, we focus now on strategies and opportunities arising from their use. Specifically, we will outline the strategies and approaches for deepening audience engagement with digitally-mediated cultural heritage following the study of Charatzopoulou et al, (2016).

This report examined several strategies by means of case studies, interviews, a survey of the literature and GLAMs’ institutional documentation. Essentially, the research of Charatzopoulou K., Hagedorn-Saupe M., Prehn A., (2016), focuses on the need of cultural institutions to develop a digital strategy that will include a series of actions from the digitization of collections, the use of social media-oriented to enhance audience engagement, the introduction of digital products and services (online shops, e-tickets etc.), to the training of the staff of the institutions so that they can adopt digital practices as part of their everyday action plans. According to the strategies outlined in the Charatzopoulou K., Hagedorn-Saupe M., Prehn A., (2016) report, GLAMs should:

  • embrace a holistic vision, aligned to the institutional mission
  • assess whether an organisation is digitally ready
  • develop a non- digital-centric- ness approach
  • embrace change, renewal and openness as part of the strategic vision
  • infuse a culture of openness in the organisation
  • bring attention to efficient work in multidisciplinary teams
  • capitalise on existing assets and resources and prior digital programmes
  • use effective, flexible and user-centred design methodologies.
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Social media and social networks serve various entrepreneurs and institutions such as museums, libraries, galleries and archives in their effort to enhance their influence and grow their audience through these technologies.

Following the strategies reported in the research above, we will create a set of actions for GLAMs to learn how to engage with their audience through social media channels to ensure knowledge transferability and better meet the needs of their target groups.

1.4. Social networks for GLAMs during the pandemic

In April 2020, when almost all museums around the world were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) ran a survey on cultural institutions in order to better respond to the emergency and the difficulties arisen in its network (ICOM, 2020). According to this survey, 94,7% of the museums that participated in it were closed.

During the lockdown, many museums reconsidered and revalued their digital activities. Although it was shown that half of the museums that were part of the survey had already a presence on social media, digital communication activities have been augmented in at least 15% of the cases. Cultural institutions used their social networks in order to engage with the audience, by using mainstream digital tools (email, website) and social networking tools. Therefore, social media activities saw an outstanding increase in numbers in more than half of the museums surveyed.

Under the pandemic circumstances, UNESCO also launched a study to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on museums and cultural institutions (UNESCO, 2020).

In this study, Unesco appraised museums’ initiatives around the world. Some of the digital activities developed during museum closures were:

  1. The use of previously digitised resources
  2. Digitisation of planned activities during the months of lockdown
  3. Increased activity on social media
  4. Special activities created for lockdown
  5. Professional and scientific activities organised in the context of lockdown

Click here to find out more about the UNESCO report.

Families and especially young people benefited the most from the situation, as they represent the part of the population that is most active online, interacting through an average number of 4-5 digital platforms (such as Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram) on a day-to-day basis.

We will now have a quick look at practices and actions organized remotely by cultural organizations (GLAMs) aiming to ensure interactive and creative activities for everyone during the pandemic.

In this context, Europeana, a distinguished institution that empowers the cultural heritage sector in its digital transformation, showcased a variety of cultural initiatives during the pandemic. All of them were carried out through digital media channels and especially, social media in order to facilitate access to the institutions’ cultural content and forge youth engagement in their activities.

Museums have primarily based their actions on their existing resources, like online collection portals and social media accounts and focused on creating new content, such as virtual exhibitions and virtual tours of their galleries via streaming platforms or realising digital educational material for children and adults.

Follow Europeana’s collection of initiatives to get inspired by ways cultural heritage organisations engage audiences with their collections in times of pandemic and mobility restrictions.

Creator, Sebastiaan Ter Burg; Institution, Europeana Foundation; Country, Netherlands; CC BY 2.0, Image by https://pro.europeana.eu/page/creative-approaches-and-collaborations

Additional action was proposed by NEMO, the Network of European Museum Organisations. NEMO organised a webinar that guided the participants in the search for meaning during the pandemic, exploring the role and relevance of museums under these challenging times.

NEMO- Museums trends in 2020+, The search for meaning, image via https://www.ne-mo.org/news/article/nemo/now-online-nemo-webinar-on-the-next-museum-trends.html

In this NEMO Webinar, Ece Özdil, founder of Jüniör, shared eight museum trends and related design methods to redefine how to deal with the digital audience and physical and digital (phygital) context that shape museums’ actions in the short-,mid- and long- term period (24:20 - 45:22 for the eight trends).

Find more info about the NEMO network, its practices and the impact of the Covid-19 on GLAMs in Europe following the links:

NEMO Webinar on the next museum trends. Ece Özdil, founder of Jüniör, deals with the role of museums during the pandemic crisis and tries to shape a diverse future for these cultural institutions.

Survey on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on museums in Europe The report comprises nearly 1,000 survey responses collected between 24 March and 30 April 2020 from museums in 48 countries, mainly from Europe. The survey findings focus on: economic support for museum operations; investment in digital cultural heritage; and making museums fit for crises.

Follow-up Survey on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on museums in Europe. This survey was answered by 600 museums from 48 countries between 30 October and 29 November 2020, the majority coming from Europe. The themes addressed are: Consequences of income (and other) losses; The increased importance of digital museum offers; Adapted operations and preparedness during and for crises.

Museums in 2020+. The search for meaning. This text reports eight trends that will guide museums in 2020 and beyond, to help museum-leaders, workers and enthusiasts, make mindful decisions, thinking about a new kind of audience and context where they can inform both their short-, mid- and long-term actions for their museum.

Finally, another way to collect GLAM initiatives designed to increase audience participation remotely is, among others, this map designed by Chiara Zuanni, University of Graz. The map brings together digital initiatives organised by museums during the pandemic.

Image via https://digitalmuseums.at/

Quiz 1


Watch the video (06:13-28:45) and answer the following questions.