Participatory Communication with Social Media

TLDR

Major museums worldwide are adopting social media—blogs, podcasts, and content shares—to engage users through participatory communication, marking a shift in how they publicly convey their custodial role and sparking debate over cultural authority, while opening new avenues for museum learning. The article aims to show how participatory communication via social media can be integrated into museum practices and argues that this space offers an ideal opportunity to build online communities around authentic cultural information. The authors report on a range of initiatives that demonstrate how participatory communication via social media can be integrated into museum practices. The study concludes that social media offers an ideal platform for museums to build online communities around authentic cultural information and provides recent findings and recommendations for implementation.

Abstract

Abstract Major museums worldwide are starting to use social media such as blogs, podcasts and content shares to engage users via participatory communication. This marks a shift in how museums publicly communicate their role as custodians of cultural content and so presents debate around an institution's attitude towards cultural authority. It also signifies a new possible direction for museum learning. This article reports on a range of initiatives that demonstrate how participatory communication via social media can be integrated into museum practices. It argues that the social media space presents an ideal opportunity for museums to build online communities of interest around authentic cultural information, and concludes with some recent findings on and recommendations for social media implementation.