Mobile Social Media and Emerging Business Models

 

 

Tours and mobile programs are beginning to include popular social media functions as standard now, such as 'Tweet this!', share to Facebook and commenting functions. But does this make them mobile social media? What are the different kinds of conversations and audience relationships that arise from different ways of using social media in mobile platforms, and how do these support new business models for the museum?

 

Slides from my presentation.

 

Here are some premises for my talk - I'm keen to hear what you think!

 

• In the age of social media, the museum is enmeshed in a distributed network of platforms, analog and digital, on which audiences engage with its collections and content, whether it wants to be or not.
• Over half of these platforms are already mobile, and we should not expect visitors to leave their mobile 2.0 habits at the door when they enter the museum or download our apps. But simply adding 'tweet this' or 'post to Facebook' does not per se make a mobile program have a social media effect.

• As Max Anderson has argued, museums are 'red ink' businesses:

  “We must be able to say truthfully and with a consistent voice that we are first and foremost serving the public interest, rather than emulating commercial attractions,” where, Anderson argues, “we risk being perceived merely as incompetent members of the entertainment sector.” "Prescriptions for Art Museums in the Decade Ahead" in CURATOR, The Museum Journal, Volume 50, Number 1, January 2007.

• But as social media upends traditional business models, it also offers new opportunities for museums to structure new relationships to their audiences and constituencies - generative of both revenue and other kinds of value - that are organized around 'collaboration' rather than Institutional hierarchies. (see "Clay Shirky on institutions vs. collaboration")

 

Here are some ideas for how to leverage mobile social media to create the kind of conversations that can help meet the museum’s metrics of quality, relevance, and sustainability - and hence support its 'business' - in the age of social media. They supplement my slides from this presentation above.

 

1. Quality 

• Put the content everywhere: platforms, APIs
• Recommendations: “if you liked…”
• Timely contextual info and alerts
• Location-based services: ‘repatriating’ collections Augmented reality
• Personal adventures, games

 

2. Relevance

Know our mission, goals, target audiences and what we want from them; connect these to:

• Mobile metrics: what are audiences looking at, where and when? Whom are they sharing it with & how?
• Search, interactive maps & social tags
• Comments and questions
• Collections, likes, favorites and bookmarks
• Professional audience research

 

3. Sustainability

• Encourage forums, citizen scientists/curators, communities of interest
• Facilitate the community/conversation with comments, answers, or new content ‘just in time’
• Integrate across platforms and with real world connector events
• Follow and respond to tweets and comments; use (and data mine) hashtags
• Rewards and incentives for connecting

 

Speaker's bio:

With a PhD in American art history and a background in filmmaking, curation and art criticism, Nancy Proctor published her first online exhibition in 1995. She co-founded TheGalleryChannel.com in 1998 with Titus Bicknell to present virtual tours of innovative exhibitions alongside comprehensive global museum and gallery listings. TheGalleryChannel was later acquired by Antenna Audio, where Nancy headed up New Product Development for nearly 8 years, introducing the company’s multimedia, sign language, downloadable, podcast and cellphone tours. She also led Antenna’s sales in France from 2006-2007. When Antenna Audio was acquired by Discovery Communications in 2006, Nancy worked with the Travel Channel’s product development team and subsequently headed up research and development for the nascent Discovery Audio brand. She joined the Smithsonian in 2008 as Head of New Media at the American Art Museum, and in 2010 took on the role of Head of Mobile Strategy and Initiatives across the Institution. She continues to teach, lecture and publish widely on museum interpretation for digital platforms, while managing MuseumMobile.info and its wiki and podcast series on mobile interpretation, content and technology for cultural sites. In 2009 Nancy was appointed Digital Editor of Curator: The Museum Journal. This year Nancy is Program Chair for the 2010 Museums Computer Network (MCN) and co-organizer of the Tate Handheld conferences.